Looking back, it seems surprising that we haven’t had a game like Star Wars Zero Company already. After all, combining XCOM-style turn-based strategy with the endlessly compelling Star Wars universe sounds like an irresistible prospect for fans of both.
Fortunately, Star Wars Zero Company looks set to fill that gap. Developer Bit Reactor appears to be bringing the best of tactical strategy and Star Wars together, from its character-driven story and cinematic presentation to its expanded action-point system. Here’s how the studio is putting its own galactic spin on the genre.
Penned by lead narrative writer Aaron Contreras, whose previous credits include Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the story of Star Wars Zero Company comes with an impressive pedigree.
Set during the Clone Wars, the game centres on the titular band of mercenaries and its leader, Hawks. A former Republic officer, Hawks hopes to guide this ragtag group of misfits towards a more prosperous future.
Burdened by a substantial debt to the notoriously merciless Hutt crime syndicate, Hawks accepts a high-risk contract from a Republic Intelligence operative. The mission soon reveals that a cult known as the Infinite Coil has ties to the growing Separatist movement and plans to use a dark-side weaponised Galactic Plague to devastate the Republic and its allies. Fun times!
Caught between loyalty to his company and a multi-faction conflict involving Separatists, Hutt enforcers, droid armies and rogue mercenaries, Hawks must do everything in his power to save both the galaxy and the unconventional family he holds dear.
It has all the ingredients of a proper Star Wars tale, albeit one unfolding in a different corner of its sprawling universe.
Rather than simply dropping the Star Wars setting into a turn-based strategy game and hoping for the best, Bit Reactor has gone to considerable lengths to capture the audiovisual identity of the wider universe. The result is a game in which every element looks and sounds as though it belongs in that galaxy far, far away.
Visually, Star Wars Zero Company employs photorealistic texture work to evoke the cinematic language of the saga. Details range from the familiar colours and contours of Clone Trooper armour to laser blasts that illuminate the environments around them. Iconic locations such as Coruscant and Tatooine are also recreated with an impressive degree of fidelity.
The soundtrack completes the picture. Composer Gordy Haab, whose previous work includes Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, delivers a sweeping score that dynamically adjusts its pace and grandeur to match the action on screen.
In short, Star Wars Zero Company looks ready to deliver an audiovisual experience that feels unmistakably Star Wars.
In many turn-based tactical games, it can be difficult to grow attached to a squad filled with randomly generated names and faces. By grounding its units in a character-driven narrative, Star Wars Zero Company aims to give the operatives under your command genuine emotional weight.
Alongside cinematic cutscenes that advance the overarching story, the game gives its dysfunctional crew plenty of downtime in the Den. This central hub provides opportunities to uncover the characters’ backstories, strengthen relationships and handle conflicts between members of Zero Company.
These interactions are more than narrative window dressing. Depending on how you respond, disputes can positively or negatively affect morale and loyalty, with tangible consequences on the battlefield. Deepening the bonds between particular crew members through dialogue and event choices can also unlock tactical synergies, passive perks and a little battlefield banter for good measure.
They might be a dysfunctional collection of mercenaries, malcontents and occasionally vicious idiots, but they’re your dysfunctional collection of mercenaries, malcontents and occasionally vicious idiots. That connection should make the game’s permadeath system hit considerably harder when a beloved operative meets an untimely end.
A quick look at the screenshots and footage released for Star Wars Zero Company makes Bit Reactor’s XCOM influences clear. However, the game appears to do more than simply replicate the familiar formula, adapting its tactical and management systems to make better use of the Star Wars setting.
XCOM fans will immediately recognise the isometric perspective, different levels of cover and overwatch lanes that trigger automatic fire when an enemy moves into view. One of the most significant changes, however, concerns the action-point system underpinning each encounter.
Whereas XCOM games typically give units two actions per turn, allowing them to move before firing, fortifying a position or using a gadget, Star Wars Zero Company gives each operative three action points per round. In practice, this should provide greater freedom to combine movement, abilities and attacks in creative ways. Complementing this more flexible approach is the Shared Advantage Meter. Successful attacks charge the meter, eventually allowing players to call upon other operatives and hero units for devastating, suitably cinematic tandem strikes.
The game also takes full advantage of the wider Star Wars universe when assembling its roster. Players can recruit wandering Jedi equipped with lightsabers and Force abilities, Mandalorian warriors, reprogrammed droids and other familiar character types.
One moment, you might be setting enemies ablaze with a Mandalorian, providing covering fire with a former Clone Trooper or Force-pushing opponents across the map. The next, you’ll be exploring the Den from a third-person perspective. The hub provides more than an opportunity to begin dialogue sequences and spend time with the loyal, or perhaps not-so-loyal, members of your crew. It is also where you can manage upgrades through a Black Market contact and review your current contracts.
By combining tactical combat with character relationships, squad management and the unmistakable sights and sounds of Star Wars, Zero Company has the potential to offer something both familiar and distinctive. XCOM fans should find plenty to recognise in its cover systems, overwatch mechanics and high-stakes encounters, while the expanded action-point system and Shared Advantage Meter promise greater flexibility on the battlefield.
More importantly, Bit Reactor appears to understand that the magic of Star Wars extends beyond lightsabers, familiar locations and a sweeping orchestral score. It lies in the unlikely alliances, personal conflicts and hard-won bonds formed along the way. If Star Wars Zero Company can bring those qualities together with meaningful tactical choices and a crew players genuinely care about, it could become the turn-based Star Wars adventure fans have been waiting for.
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