Rainbow Six goes turn-based, Heroes of Might and Magic III is getting a full remake, Worms tries tactical roguelite combat, and more.
Not bad, really, not bad at all as an opening event for us turn based lovers. I woke up this morning to a flood of news announcing plenty of interesting stuff, so here’s the full recap of this first event from Gamescom 2026 with all the new trailers.
Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 was dominated by the usual mixture of action games, shooters, cinematic RPGs, and major franchise announcements, but turn-based fans actually came away with quite a few things to talk about.
Across the pre-show and the main presentation on August 25, six games caught my attention for TurnBasedLovers. Some were completely new reveals, while others returned with gameplay, release dates, or major updates.
And there was one announcement I certainly wasn’t expecting: Ubisoft is turning Rainbow Six into a single-player turn-based tactics game. Here are all the turn-based games shown during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics
- Developer/Publisher: Ubisoft
- Genre: Turn-Based Tactical Strategy
- Release: TBA
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Of all the announcements during Opening Night Live, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Tactics was easily the biggest surprise.
Ubisoft is taking the operators, gadgets, destructible environments, and carefully coordinated assaults associated with Rainbow Six Siege and rebuilding those ideas around a single-player tactical game.
You step into the role of Six, choosing assignments from headquarters before assembling a squad of up to four Operators. There will be 15 playable Operators, each carrying unique abilities, gadgets, and individual skill trees, with missions spread across more than 45 locations. Hostage Rescue, Bomb Disposal, and Target Elimination are among the mission types already confirmed.
What caught my attention most is the Breach Planning system. Before entering an area, actions can be coordinated across the squad and then executed together, essentially translating the synchronized room-clearing fantasy of Rainbow Six into a turn-based environment. Walls remain destructible too, meaning you can create firing lines, destroy cover, or simply make your own entrance when the original plan falls apart.
There is also a strategic layer between missions. Operators can be trained and the headquarters upgraded over time, so this doesn’t appear to be a simple collection of disconnected tactical scenarios.
Rainbow Six has experimented with strategy before, but this is something very different. Ubisoft is effectively taking one of its largest shooter franchises into territory normally occupied by games like XCOM. For me, it was probably the most interesting announcement of the entire show.
Heroes of Might and Magic III Remake
- Developer/Publisher: Ubisoft
- Genre: Turn-Based Strategy / Tactical RPG
- Release: 2027
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
The other major Ubisoft surprise is that Heroes of Might and Magic III is getting a complete remake, rebuilt from the ground up using Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine.
The familiar mixture of overworld exploration, hero progression, resource management, army building, and turn-based battles on tactical grids remains at the center of the remake. Visually, though, the change is substantial. The fixed 2D presentation has been replaced by a fully 3D world with free camera movement, 4K support, dynamic lighting, real-time weather, and changing seasons.
The remake includes Restoration of Erathia, Armageddon’s Blade, and The Shadow of Death, along with all nine original factions and campaigns. Ubisoft is also restructuring the narrative into one continuous experience and adding a new introductory campaign.
Multiplayer supports up to eight participants, with simultaneous turns, improved matchmaking, and, thankfully, the return of Hot Seat multiplayer.
One particularly nice detail for longtime fans is compatibility with the thousands of community-created maps and campaigns produced over the last 25 years. Updated editing tools and an integrated UGC hub are also planned.
Sea of Remnants
- Developer: Joker Studio
- Publisher: NetEase Games
- Genre: Turn-Based RPG / Roguelike
- Release: 2027
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, iOS, Android
Sea of Remnants wasn’t a new reveal, but its Gamescom gameplay trailer gave a much clearer idea of how its unusual structure actually works.
The ocean-fantasy RPG casts you as an amnesiac puppetfolk sailor who repeatedly departs from the city of Orbtopia to explore islands, recruit crewmates, discover equipment, and recover memories. The interesting part is the loop surrounding its turn-based battles.
Each voyage operates almost like a roguelite run. Enemies, potential companions, bosses, equipment, skills, buffs, and other variables can change between expeditions. Eventually you return to Orbtopia, where recovered resources contribute toward permanent character growth, ship upgrades, relationships, and other long-term progression.
On land, encounters use strategic turn-based combat, and the developers are deliberately trying to discourage repeating the same party setup indefinitely. Gear, crew members, Enhancement Dice, Shanties, buffs, and other temporary discoveries can alter the build available during a particular voyage. Naval encounters, meanwhile, play out differently from the land-based turn-based battles.
A global closed beta is scheduled for December 2026, with the full game currently planned for 2027.
Mewgenics
- Developer: Edmund McMillen / Tyler Glaiel
- Genre: Turn-Based Tactical Roguelite
- Console Release: September 8, 2026
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
Mewgenics already launched on PC earlier this year, and during Gamescom we got the console launch trailer.
After a live musical performance during Opening Night Live, Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel confirmed that their wonderfully bizarre cat-breeding tactical roguelite is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 8.
If you don’t know the game, the central idea is considerably deeper than the cats might suggest.
You breed generations of feline fighters, passing genetics, appearances, traits, mutations, and abilities down through their bloodlines before taking them into tactical turn-based encounters. Classes, equipment, positioning, environmental interactions, and roguelite progression gradually turn what begins as an army of questionable house cats into something much more dangerous.
The PC version arrived on February 10, 2026, and surpassed one million copies during its first week, so the console versions feel more like the next stage for a game that has already become one of this year’s biggest turn-based success stories. The Switch 2 version in particular feels like a natural fit for this kind of game.
Worms: Galactic Tactics
- Developer: Absolutely Games
- Publisher: Team17
- Genre: Turn-Based Tactical Roguelike
- Release: TBA
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
One of the most interesting announcements actually happened before Opening Night Live properly started. Worms: Galactic Tactics takes Team17’s long-running series into a tactical roguelite format while retaining the destructible battlefields and absurd weapons that have defined Worms for decades.
Absolutely Games, also responsible for Classified: France ’44, is handling development.
Squads enter the Galactic Gauntlet, a sequence of increasingly difficult tactical encounters. Death sends you back to spend accumulated resources on upgrades before making another attempt.
Combat still revolves around carefully aimed attacks, but the arsenal can now be modified with increasingly powerful upgrades. Height influences accuracy, weapons involve skill-based aiming mechanics, and the environments remain fully destructible. Classic weapons return alongside appropriately ridiculous new additions, including something called the Cosmic Donkey.
There is also local and online 1v1 multiplayer for anyone who wants something closer to the competitive side of traditional Worms.
HUMANKIND 2
- Developer/Publisher: Amplitude Studios
- Genre: Historical Turn-Based 4X Strategy
- Release: 2027
- Platform: PC
Amplitude Studios used the Gamescom pre-show to announce HUMANKIND 2, the sequel to its ambitious 2021 historical 4X.
The basic goal remains enormous: begin with early settlements and guide a civilization all the way into the Modern Age, founding cities, researching technology, negotiating alliances, managing an economy, and fighting wars along the way.
The first Humankind distinguished itself from Civilization through its culture system, allowing civilizations to evolve by adopting different cultures as history progressed rather than locking the player into a single identity from beginning to end.
The sequel appears ready to push that adaptability further.
Amplitude says decisions made during each era will influence what follows, while climate and the environment itself can change throughout a campaign. New progression systems, additional customization, a redesigned interface, visual improvements, and gameplay changes based partly on years of community feedback are also being introduced.
There is still plenty we don’t know about HUMANKIND 2, and the announcement trailer was more introduction than detailed gameplay breakdown. It arrives on PC sometime in 2027.
