Worms: Galactic Tactics hands-on: more than just a comedy XCOM

Worms: Galactic Tactics is a turn-based grid battler from Absolutely Games, published by Team17, due sometime in 2027. Rock Paper Shotgun got hands-on time with the developers at Gamescom, and the early impressions suggest it has genuine tactical depth rather than just riding the XCOM wave.

The game is fully 3D, singleplayer-focused, and built around a roguelike campaign structure where three named worms fight through a televised murder tournament. Classic weapons — Holy Hand Grenades, Concrete Donkeys, the Prod — are present but locked behind upgrade paths you'll work toward across multiple runs. Multiplayer, both online and local, is planned but clearly not the priority. The biggest mechanical hook is the aiming system: instead of clicking a target and watching a hit-chance percentage decide your fate, you manually aim projectile weapons and then hit a timing-based minigame to determine accuracy. Nail the sweet spot and you score critical damage; miss it entirely and your shot goes wild, potentially detonating your own teammates. It keeps the skill expression intact while making every mishap entirely your own fault. There's also no turn timer, but that brief aiming window injects enough urgency to compensate.

Positioning matters as much here as it always has in Worms. Height advantage is almost always available, and the aiming system rewards elevation — it's easier to land crits shooting downward, and harder for enemies to return fire effectively from below. Terrain deformation is in, too, though arenas are small and grid-based rather than pixel-by-pixel destructible. Team17 famously stayed away from 3D Worms for roughly two decades after the early 2000s experiments were poorly received, so greenlighting this is a notable shift in direction.

Based on the Gamescom demo, Galactic Tactics feels like it's threading the needle — genuinely tactical without losing the chaotic, self-inflicted-disaster energy that defines the series. With a 2027 window still a long way out, there's plenty of time for the roguelike structure and multiplayer side to be fleshed out further.