Sumerian Six runs the risk of being just another entry in the all-too-familiar real‑time tactical stealth genre, except that it differentiates itself by being set in an alternate‑history World War II, built around some pretty interesting ideas. The player commands the Enigma Squad — a team of scientists‑turned‑commandos each with unique abilities, who must infiltrate Nazi strongholds and attempt to stop a supernatural weapons programme powered by a mysterious substance called Geiststoff.
We’ve seen similar settings before — even going back to the core concept behind Escape From Castle Wolfenstein — where ideas of the occult and magic are mingled with the Nazis’ use of technologies. Here, Geistoff becomes the catalyst for various mutations, abilities and magical powers that give Sumerian Six a very different flavour to some of the other also-rans in this fairly packed space.
The structure of Sumerian Six is straightforward. It features a multi chapter campaign in which you move through historically inspired locations, completing missions that usually emphasise observation, timing, and coordinated takedowns in a stealthy manner. Missions are designed around slipping past patrols, thinning enemy numbers quietly and using the squad’s abilities in combination to neutralise threats. Sumerian Six runs in real time, so positioning and timing matter as much as planning.
Like some of my favourite games in this genre (such as Desperados III) it’s possible to use a planning mode to pause, set a series of actions in motion and then revert to real time to watch them carried out. The need to do so is frequently reinforced by the fact that enemies escalate from standard guards to heavily armed, mutated, and supernaturally enhanced units as the story progresses, and if you try to tackle them without using this feature, you’ll be in serious trouble very quickly.
Each squad member’s abilities are grounded in their scientific background. Rosa Reznick uses chemical compounds, Wojtek Galica brings brute force as “The Werebear,” and Siegfried von Adelsberg contributes psychological and esoteric powers. Sumerian Six’s core ideas come from chaining these abilities together — distracting enemies in one place, disabling automated defences in another and then eliminating enemies through coordinated actions is the key. This is not a run‑and‑gun experience; it is a stealth‑first design where being detected can quickly unravel a mission.
On Xbox Series X, Sumerian Six looks fairly good. The world looks good and features nicely detailed environments and characters. It has the art style that this kind of game is well known for, with lots of small details that in the main, you’ll never interact with. Sadly, Sumerian Six is at the weaker end of the “environmental interaction” spectrum, with places that it looks like you can go but can’t, huts and such that might make good hiding places but won’t open and so on.
Thematically (and without spoilers) Sumerian Six blends pulp‑style occult science with WWII espionage. The narrative centres on stopping a specific person who I don’t want to name because it might spoil the story, but who is now leading Nazi occult research to create a Wunderwaffe powered by Geiststoff. The campaign takes players across multiple continents, with each chapter introducing new environments, enemy types, and tactical challenges. The variety of locations both geographically and in terms of specific facilities is nice, and there’s a lot to lille.
Structurally, Sumerian Six is a single‑player experience and that’s probably how I would have played it anyway. The focus is entirely on executing missions with precision, learning enemy patterns, and mastering the interplay between squad abilities. It’s a nice idea to think that cooperative play would work in this kind of game, but in practice I’ve never been able to make it happen. To counter this lack of human interaction, Sumerian Six’s progression system strengthens the squad as missions are completed, unlocking new tactical options and making later encounters more flexible to empower the lone player.
Taken purely on factual grounds, Sumerian Six is a tightly defined real‑time tactical stealth game with a supernatural WWII theme, a strong campaign, a squad‑ability system built around scientific specialisations, and a focus on coordinated stealth over direct combat. On Xbox Series X, it arrives as an optimised title that looks good and plays smoothly. With all the basics present and correct, it’s the theme that elevates Sumerian Six beyond some of its competitors, and whilst it’s not perfect, I enjoyed my time with it quite a bit and would welcome more content.
Sumerian Six is available now for PC, Xbox and PlayStation.
