Worms: Galactic Tactics, the new 3D roguelike spin-off announced on 25 August 2026, is heading to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC in 2027, and it looks like nothing the series has attempted before. Where the original Worms and Worms Armageddon gave you flat battlefields and a shared arsenal, Worms: Galactic Tactics 2027 hands you a customised three-worm squad, fully destructible 3D arenas, and a roguelike loop that strips almost everything back when you die.
Absolutely Games Takes the Reins
The title is being developed by Absolutely Games, according to Gematsu, with Team17 publishing. That development credit matters: this is not simply an internal Team17 iteration on a familiar formula, but a collaboration bringing fresh eyes to a franchise that has been going since the mid-1990s.
The game draws its structural DNA from XCOM-style tactical combat, as Play Asia noted in their coverage. If you have spent time commanding squads through cover-based, turn-by-turn engagements and agonising over action-point budgets, that framing will click immediately. The Worms series has always been turn-based at heart, of course, but the move to 3D arenas and a squad-building progression system shifts it somewhere genuinely different from the artillery-angle calculations of the classic games.
The Roguelike Loop and the Juice Economy
The roguelike structure is where Worms: Galactic Tactics stakes its biggest claim to novelty. The official Steam listing states that ‘when you inevitably perish, cash in your Juice and upgrade your worms, then dive straight back into the action.’ Juice, then, is the one currency that survives a run. Weapons, builds, and tactical advantages accumulated during a session are gone; Juice is what you carry forward to mod your loadout before the next attempt.
The Steam page also promises that ‘after every battle you’ll be offered fresh ways to annihilate your opposition,’ which reads exactly as you would expect from a roguelike: procedurally refreshed options keeping each run from feeling identical to the last. For veterans who can still recite the arc required to land a bazooka shot on Worms Armageddon, that unpredictability will either be a delight or a mild affront, depending on temperament.
According to Maxi-Geek, players assemble and customise a three-worm squad, each carrying a unique loadout of weapons. The weapon list confirmed so far includes series staples given a galactic gloss: exploding sheep, Cosmic Donkeys, and holy hand grenades are all present. Anyone who spent formative hours trying to land a holy hand grenade precisely enough to avoid blowing up their own worm will feel the familiar pull immediately.
Worms: Galactic Tactics 2027 Release Platforms and the Galactic Gauntlet Storyline
The setting leans hard into science-fiction spectacle. Players and their squads have been abducted from across the galaxy and must fight their way up through the ranks of the Galactic Gauntlet, with the ultimate goal of confronting Emperor Flugg. It gives the whole thing a gladiatorial, Hunger Games-inflected quality that suits the roguelike loop well: each failed run is just another bout in an arena designed to grind you down until you get smart enough, or lucky enough, to advance.
The arenas themselves are fully destructible, which has been a Worms series hallmark since the earliest games. In 3D, with tactical squad positioning to manage, the terrain destruction should carry more strategic weight than it did when the main concern was whether to use the girder to block an opponent’s shot.
Graphically, the announced footage represents a considerable distance from the pixelated landscapes of the original Worms and Worms 2. The 3D presentation looks kinetic and detailed, which is fitting for a game pitching itself at an audience that grew up with those early titles but now expects current-generation visuals.
Worms: Galactic Tactics is confirmed for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and Steam, with a 2027 launch window. It can be wishlisted on Steam now.
