Commandos: Origins

Claymore Game Studios realized what made the original Commandos games so great, retained the heart and soul, and sanded off all the prickly edges. Commandos: Origins is a love letter to the originals in everything it does. The mechanic-heavy sandbox gameplay, the unique cast of commandos, the gorgeous environments, and the level design, all of it coalesces into an experience that is contemplative and intense. It’s a brilliant and challenging strategy game. And doesn’t it feel damn good to punch Nazis?

Mistakes on established systems and minor oversights significantly reduce the experience of a decent effort.

A revival in style for the Commandos series. The game is meticulous, with open-ended missions where your creativity will be put to the test to achieve your goal. A must-have for fans of the series and new players alike.

Lots of light, little shadow! The new Commandos adventures are every bit as good as the old games and, naturally, even better than they were back then in technical terms. The test version was already in perfect condition, with no crashes or stuttering whatsoever. However, Claymore Games must be criticized for not breaking any new ground in terms of innovation and relying entirely on the old warhorses who liked the gameplay back in 1998 and have no desire for major changes. Because there's nothing really new here. So if you like the gameplay and first got to know it through a game like Shadow Tactics, then we highly recommend taking a trip to the mother of the sub-genre. However, if you were actually expecting something new in the realm of real-time tactics, you might be slightly disappointed. The origins are also reflected in the game design – this is a return to the roots, not a move towards new branches.

Commandos: Origins strikes a great balance between the classic stealth tactics games and modern streamlined ideas, creating tons of potential for finding creative solutions to problems like “too many living fascists.” Pruning out elements like inventory management may not be to every older fan’s tastes, but that’s focused a spotlight on strict stealth – and it’s here Origins shines. Sneaking through its massive maps, each of which are swarming with hundreds of enemies, takes hours and hours of patient planning and careful clicking. I regularly gleaned a ton of pleasure from executing a perfect coordinated strike and fading away into the background, with the remaining Nazis none the wiser. No plan survives contact with this many bugs, but quick-loading will get you past nearly any issue and this otherwise might be the sneakiest fun you can have going commando with your underwear on.

Commandos: Origins is a great game in a genre that sorely needs one. With a difficulty that'll challenge even the most tactical minds, combined with refreshing visuals and characters that are fun to play, what you get is a satisfying,, rewarding experience that has you reloading save after save, believing the next strategy you try will be the winning one. The difficulty may cause the odd frustration here and there, and you may wish for a bit more besides a satisfying gameplay loop, but overall this is a win for the fans of RTS games out there.

Commandos: Origins brings the strength and weaknesses of the original-series to the table. While it suffers from a lack of user-guidance and certain inconsistencies, it also gives players a lot of freedom and creates some really satisfying moments.

Commandos Origins is, without a doubt, a love letter to the franchise, with familiar sensations and a modern touch. Even so, its ruthless design and some technical flaws make it hard to recommend to the general audience. If you are a hardcore stealth gamer, you should definitively check it out.

Commandos: Origins is a good reboot for the stealth RTS series, but lacks courage.

As an Real-time tactics title, Commandos: Origins stands out as a solid entry in the genre. It carries over key elements from the original series while blending in modern mechanics and stylistic choices reminiscent of Shadow Tactics. The generous number of missions offers plenty of content, inviting players to revisit and refine their strategies. That said, persistent bugs and technical hiccups remain noticeable issues and they might just become the unpredictable factors on your road to victory.

Commandos: Origins stays true to the classic formula, updating it with modern mechanics and solid level design. The gameplay is deep and rewarding—especially for players who prefer brains over brute force. However, the lack of cohesive narrative progression, some technical shortcomings, and occasionally unbalanced abilities prevent it from reaching true excellence. A compelling comeback for those seeking challenge and precision, as long as you're patient enough to deal with its rough edges.

A loving return to the classic stealth strategy formula with beautiful maps, a smart tactical pause system, and modern visuals, though its steep difficulty curve, design quirks, and lack of optimization may alienate newcomers and frustrate even veterans at times.

While a bit too rigid and buggy at times, Commandos: Origins is a worthy enough return to nerve-wracking tactical WWII scenarios that are a blast to figure out.

A good, challenging real-time tactical game with a high puzzle factor and the typical Commandos charm. Unfortunately, it's less sophisticated than the competition.

It's great to see this iconic game series—one that introduced the term 'Commandos-like' to the gaming world—back in action after so many years. The fact that it preserves the traits of the characters we love and successfully blends the mechanics of the first two games is among its biggest strengths. However, there are so many minor and major bugs that they end up dragging down the overall experience. It definitely needs a few solid patches.

Commandos: Origins plays like a true sandbox experience. Here, the player must come up with their own solutions and overcome obstacles. At all times, the game encourages experimenting with different ways to tackle each challenge—and most importantly, to think through every move.The missions are well-designed and the enemies are intelligently placed, making the return of Commandos a compelling and challenging entry in the real-time tactics infiltration genre. That said, the game does have some technical shortcomings, particularly when it comes to controls and certain gameplay mechanics.

Solid, honest, and fun – but ultimately too straightforward for its own good, Commandos: Origins neither disgraces the series nor breathes new life into it. It sticks rigidly to the genre’s old-school roots without really trying to modernize or innovate. That nostalgic conservatism isn’t exactly a flaw, but it does mean the game fails to leave a lasting impression. You’ll have a good time sneaking through WWII battlefields, but chances are, you’ll forget the mission as soon as it’s over.

Commandos: Origins is a well-executed nostalgia trip. Those expecting a major leap forward for the genre may end up disappointed, as Claymore Game Studios’ work closely follows the traditional blueprint of classic real-time tactics games, with only a handful of modern adjustments—aside from a much-needed quick save system. The end result is a game that’s as challenging as it is intriguing, rewarding well-thought-out strategies and the occasional bit of improvisation. That said, some clever ideas can fall apart due to a few too many technical hiccups—issues we hope will be ironed out with future patches.

There's also a sneaking sense that Origins is stuck in the past. As a reimagining of the original game with modern visuals, it's a triumph, but it doesn't do much to move the realtime tactics genre forward, with little of the innovation seen in, say, Mimimi's Shaodow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. [Issue#410, p.116]

Solid revival of the Commandos series that feels too slow in terms of gameplay at times.

Commandos: Origins pushes the limits of real-time strategy, yet while it can be difficult at times, the mix of strategies available make it fun to try out different options.

The problems inherent to stealth games hold back Commandos Origins, but it's still a high-stakes, high-intensity RTS where even the smallest action can feel meaningful. Meticulous, difficult, and demanding, it will test your patience as much as your tactical insight, but when you finally get it right, Commandos Origins is rewarding.

Commandos: Origins offers gameplay that hits the mark for real-time tactics fans, but everything surrounding it feels like it’s stuck in the past. The visuals and audio are functional at best, with little flair, and the story is exactly what you'd expect—and nothing more. With its $49.99 price tag, it's hard not to feel like you're paying a bit too much for something this straightforward.

Origins can be a lot of fun, but the game lacks freshness and boldness. The mechanics turn out to be underdeveloped and glaring with numerous bugs. Commandos fans will find something to enjoy here, but it is not the refreshing breath the genre needed.

The game’s single most difficult obstacle is the fundamental imprecision of your elite commandos when they fumble to carry out your orders.

I had quite high expectations for Commandos: Origins. I wasn't disappointed in the most important aspect - it's a good stealth game, in which quietly eliminating enemies is rewarded and even desired. However, I cannot turn a blind eye to its archaisms and poor technical aspects.

Commandos: Origins does not have an exciting storyline, does not offer any interesting situations, and does not haunt the imagination with unprecedented tactical possibilities. The game simply wasn't ready for release — you can see this at every turn.

For reasons unknown to us, Commandos: Origins turned out to be a very archaic game that feels drawn out, terribly linear and incredibly tedious. Don't forget about a bunch of bugs.