Sumerian Six is Commandos by way of Guardians of the Galaxy

This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

One of the most underrated video game genres is stealth tactics. This genre, which emerged through series like Commandos, combines elements of real-time strategy and stealth games to create an experience where players can feel the sense of satisfaction that comes with slowly wiping out an entire stronghold of soldiers one by one and being forced to react on the fly if enemies spot them.

While many of these games are great, they’ve failed to catch and go mainstream. Mimimi Games, the developers of some of the best examples in this genre, such as Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and Desperados 3, even had to shut their doors last year. The good news is that the genre isn’t dying with that studio, as Devolver Digital and Artificer are releasing Sumerian Six.

Sumerian Six harns back to Commandos, the crown jewel of this genre, with its World War II setting. However, it takes a more science-fantasy approach to the war as a ragtag group of super soldiers takes on Nazis using a powerful energy source called Geiststoff. While I found some of its characters and their banter annoying, upon playing through the first few chapters of the game, I saw that this was a very polished and competent take on the stealth tactics genre. Maybe Sumerian Six’s approachability and Guardians of the Galaxy-like crew of protagonists is exactly what the stealth tactics genre needs to be a hit.

In Sumerian Six, players are trying to defeat a Nazi scientist named Kammler. He was part of a group of scientists called the Enigma Squad who learned to harvest arcane energy called Geistoff, but defected to help Hitler build a weapon that could win the war. The game sees a new Enigma Squad form to take him down. The first few missions of Sumerian Six are spent introducing players to these playable characters and rebuilding the team.

It’s clearly going for a Guardians of the Galaxy-style vibe, as snarky characters with large personalities have to come