Commandos: Origins guide: 10 tips to help you survive behind enemy lines

Commandos: Origins marks the long-awaited return of the legendary real-time tactics franchise after nearly two decades dormant. Developed by Claymore Game Studios, Commandos: Origins serves as a prequel, detailing how elite soldiers with nothing in common became an inseparable band of brothers.

Whether you’re a newcomer or a long-time fan, you’re bound to face numerous challenges as you take control of the Green Beret, Jack O’Hara, and his comrades. Thankfully, our Commandos: Origins guide has several tips to help you survive behind enemy lines as you get started with the new campaign.

 

Commandos: Origins characters guide—every hero’s unique abilities

One of the most important Commandos: Origins tips, especially for those who are playing a real-time tactics game for the first time, is to familiarize yourself with the playable characters and their accompanying classes. The real-time tactics genre centers on small squads up against insurmountable odds, which means you'll need to understand and utilize each hero’s abilities and quirks.

• Green Beret: The Green Beret is a versatile soldier who can climb rock formations, kick down doors, and stay in camouflage by digging underground.
• Sapper: The Sapper is essentially an engineer, and can cut barbed wire fences and place down traps. He’s also able to carry a lot of explosives, and can whistle to lure hostiles.
• Sniper: The Sniper can eliminate foes from a great distance. He’s also able to throw shell casings to distract enemies.
• Driver: The Driver can commandeer all sorts of vehicles. Even better, he can make use of machine gun emplacements to mow down scores of troops.
• Marine: The Marine is an amphibious assault specialist who can swim underwater to evade detection. Moreover, he can transport the rest of the team via the Zodiac boat.
• Spy: The Spy is the ultimate infiltrator, since he’s able to don the uniform of Wehrmacht officers to penetrate deep within enemy bases.

Commandos: Origins gradually introduces you to all of its characters as you progress through the campaign. Eventually, you’ll be able to swap between several team members and make use of their unique abilities.

 

Make every shot count: Sniper class tips

Speaking of classes, our favorite happens to be the Sniper, Francis Woolridge. That’s because he’s armed with the Springfield M1903 rifle. This silenced weapon can even kill two foes simultaneously as long as you aim in a straight line that penetrates both targets.

The only downside is that, by default, the Springfield M9103 only has five bullets. It goes without saying that you need to make each shot count in levels where the Sniper is available. Of course, you should also look for enemy snipers and loot them to refill your ammo.
 

Enemy types explained: How to deal with soldiers, officers, and more

Arrayed against your squad is an assortment of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht goons. These include the following troop types:

• Regular soldiers: These units are either stationary or out on patrol. They can be lured using character abilities or items.
• Officers: Unlike regular soldiers, officers aren’t affected by actions meant to lure hostiles. Distraction effects also don’t last as long, so you need to be careful when approaching them.
• Stationary gun crews: Gun emplacements are usually manned by one soldier. However, if that unit is slain, another nearby soldier typically takes control of the turret.
• Snipers: Enemy snipers are often perched atop vantage points. They have a narrower field of vision, but they can easily spot you if you’re not careful.
• Non-combatants: There are opponents like mechanics and clerks that don’t use firearms—but they can still cause problems if they call in reinforcements!

Understanding viewcones and alarm triggers

Enemies in Commandos: Origins have a viewcone, a.k.a. their field of vision as represented by a green arc on the ground. If you stand or run within this zone, enemies are likely to spot you and respond accordingly. However, you can avoid detection by crawling along the ground at the outer edge of the viewcone.

Each level also has an area alarm that’s triggered if troops see a dead body or noticeable hostile actions. This causes nearby units to investigate as well. Triggering three area alarms causes a global alarm where all enemies in the level go on high alert. Fortunately, this effect lasts for only a few seconds.
 

Tips for both lethal and non-lethal approaches: What to do with the bodies?

The button above your melee attack lets you switch between a knock-out punch (non-lethal) or a knife stab (lethal). Regardless of your approach, you should still hide the bodies of soldiers in nearby bushes, especially if you use a non-lethal takedown. That’s because opponents that have only been incapacitated will eventually regain consciousness unless you place them in hiding spots.

 

Environmental stealth tips: Obstacles, buildings, and distractions

As you advance further into the campaign, you’ll learn to use the environment effectively to your advantage. Here are some examples:

• Some characters are able to climb on telephone poles and cross gaps using the wiring.
• Enemy line-of-sight is broken if there’s a large object or obstacle in the way.
• Machinery and contraptions might have switches that you can interact with to cause an accident. Nearby soldiers will investigate the commotion, but they’re unlikely to check your hiding spot.
• The interiors of buildings and houses are cramped spaces, but you can hide behind doors and walls.

Save frequently with quicksave and quickload to survive

Perhaps the most important Commandos: Origins tip to remember is that you need to save as often as possible. A lot of things can go wrong in each level, whether it’s getting detected by an entire battalion or the poorly timed use of an ability or item. Your titular commandos have very little health and won’t be able to survive protracted firefights.

As such, tap the quicksave (F5 key) button regularly—especially before you do anything risky. If it all goes south, quickload (F8) can get you out of a bind.

 

Keep remote explosives handy if you need to destroy tanks and other vehicles

In some missions, you’re able to sabotage all sorts of equipment and materiel—such as water tanks, generators, and small vehicles—just by interacting with them. However, there are certain targets, such as tanks and planes, that you can only destroy using remote explosives.

Press the Tab key to see a highlight of the effective destructibility radius and figure out where you need to place your bomb. Then, head to a safe area before detonating the explosive remotely. For best results, make sure and blow up several Wehrmacht troops while you’re at it.

 

How to use Command Mode for tactical orders and coordinated attacks

While Commandos: Origins is a real-time tactics title, you can activate Command Mode by pressing the Shift key. Command Mode temporarily pauses the game so you can issue orders simultaneously to each character.

For example, let’s say there are four soldiers guarding a gate and you’re only controlling three characters, i.e. the Green Beret, Sapper, and Sniper. First, you'd position all three characters so they have their own targets. Then activate Command Mode and tell the Green Beret and Sapper to do lethal takedowns in melee range. The Sniper should have a clear shot that pierces through two opponents.

When you’re ready, press the Enter key to execute all three actions in real-time. If you did it right, your squad should be able to eliminate all four enemies without getting detected.
 

Tackle optional objectives and acquire collectibles

Each mission in Commandos: Origins has a main objective, but there are also optional tasks that you can tackle along the way. For instance, in the first level, you can rescue the remaining British soldiers instead of riding a vehicle to escape.

Missions also have several collectibles that you can obtain as you explore. These appear as documents, which you can pick up by holding the Ctrl key and clicking with your mouse.

That does it for our Commandos: Origins guide. We hope these tips help you as you sabotage the Nazi war effort from behind enemy lines.

Commandos: Origins is available now on the Epic Games Store. You can also opt for the Commandos: Origins – Deluxe Edition, which includes the base game, digital calendar, original soundtrack, and Green Beret 3D-printing template, as well as legacy skins for all six heroes (reminiscent of their character models from Commandos 2: Men of Courage).