Star Wars Zero Company
Developers: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: EA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X (Reviewed)
Release Date: August 27, 2026
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Sometimes certain ideas manage to click into place that make one wonder why no one ever thought of it before. Especially when certain companies were bleeding talent after some under-appreciated gems were released and picked up by a larger company. Such is the case with Star Wars Zero Company, developed by Bit Reactor and headed by many former members of Firaxis Games best known for their work on XCOM and Midnight Suns. Bringing this type of talent aboard it only seemed like a perfect fit to do something that, somehow, no Star Wars game has done before. Make a tactical shooting RPG set in the very galaxy that fans have come to know and love and what better place to have it set than right in the crux of the Clone Wars. Bringing together all of these ingredients to create a potentially great tactical game seems like a recipe for success, but is this one of those shots with a 90% chance of success that manages to still miss the mark?
Story
As the Clone Wars rage on throughout the Republic, a new threat of Separatists have appeared calling themselves the Infinite Coil. While not an obvious threat at the moment to the grander Jedi Council, a small faction of the Republic is concerned that the cult that is targeting various planets and converting more people to its cause with every conquest is not only a growing threat, but one that might tip the scales in the wrong direction especially since the cult seems to be capable of using a supernatural force beyond the Force itself, infected with the Shadow Plague and growing stronger as the plague infects them more, even as their fellows die, the threat of the Coil is one that a small faction of the Republic refuses to ignore.
Unable to directly send forces against the Coil, the Republic uses some back-roads to contact a disgraced ex-Republic commander known as Hawks who has since formed their own crew of pros from all walks of life, be it a “deserted” clone trooper, a technological wizard that speaks as literally as slowly and literal as possible, and more. That’s if they can get out from the debt they owe to the Hutts first. Players join Zero Company mid-mission as they are tracking down an unknown artifact that they were hired to acquire by a mysterious commissioner and despite the unusual circumstances, their lack of paying customers and ever growing debt means they’ll take on any mission, even if it involves taking on some droids and a very odd looking soldier leading them, resulting in the death of one of their own at his hands.
Upon learning more about the situation, Hawks finds out that it was a lone Republic officer and a former baroness turned soldier whose planet was taken down by the Coil that has hired Zero Company, freeing them from the Hutts’ grip but pointing them down a path that is far darker than anything they could have expected as they find out just how cruel the Infinite Coil cult is, the deranged way they grow their numbers, and the new and unique allies that will join their cause if it means putting a stop to this threat that no one saw coming as the greater war rages on in the background.
Star Wars Zero Company makes a great deal of effort to feel like it is taking place right in the middle of a greater storyline happening in the background and it is all the more perfect for it. As players take on missions here and there, they will return back to “The Den” and hear radio broadcasts from the frontlines of the war, name-dropping famous Star Wars heroes and villains as they maneuver throughout the Clone Wars all while working to make sure that the actual actions of Hawks and the gang never feel like they are breaking out of the canon. First and foremost, players will be able to create Hawks however they want, while they can start as a default male human, players can make Hawks into a Zabrak, a Togruta, or even everyone’s favorite, a Twi’lek, and more as well as making them either male or female, with a voice to match. Each race of alien has a slew of hair and skin choices that vary depending on race as well giving players plenty of ways to customize their own main character.
The core storyline for Star Wars Zero Company is an incredibly interesting one since it is all about seeing new and undiscovered parts of a war that many knew about through other media but are only now seeing other sides of. Combine this with the dangerous new threat of the Coil, some shocking revelations that we won’t spoil here, and of course a handful of twists that the game throws the player’s way, including some involving their own allies, and the fact that the game features a time-based “Cycle” mechanic and there is a whole lot going on that players will be eager to see continue even if it means pushing their squad to the edge. As mentioned, every Cycle works as a day and while players can use intel to take on minor missions that generally reward credits or uncover actual fighting missions on the ground, the missions themselves will advance the Cycle forward and it is impossible to do everything at once. This may mean that players who mismanage their time will simply miss out on random side-missions or an activity to gain a bonus here or there, while it could be as costly as losing a valuable team member.
You see, one thing that Star Wars Zero Company features is a “bond” system of sorts. Fighting alongside allies or taking actions during commissions that they agree with, or even talking with them back at The Den and selecting the right dialogue options will increase their bond with Hawks and even other team members. In fact, players will make all dialogue choices for Hawks when there are any, though some don’t result in any bonuses one way or the other. While generally the reward for this is simply various cross-training boosts or extra skill points, it can also unlock special story missions for these characters. It is worth noting that if permadeath is enabled and one of these main characters die, their storyline is cut off entirely.
These pre-written team members and Den members are a perfect fit for a rogue backwater group of soldiers that are willing to do nearly anything for credits, but still err on the side of good when it comes to saving the galaxy. This will make players want to stop by each character’s set-up at the Den to hear what they have to say about the latest mission or even a passing comment, especially since they will chat with random characters as well. Characters, or astromechs, that the player hires will have randomly generated personalities or ones that players can set and don’t have storylines of their own and only small comments between missions or talking to proper Zero Company members.
The only problem is, if players happen to ignore these story missions for the real members of Zero Company, not the random ones players can hire, they may leave temporarily, return injured, or flat out die if the game decides to truly punish the player. Of course, permadeath is an optional choice, but it is one that players will need to be worried about. Though it is worth noting that a teammate will never defect or leave simply because they are unhappy with the way Hawks is running things which is a little disappointing from a narrative standpoint, or if they can then players really have to anger them to the point of no return as we never saw an instance of that throughout our time with the game.
Gameplay
At the core, Star Wars Zero Company is a turn-based tactical RPG where players will need to command their team of up to four dispatched operators (occasionally more in rescue instances) and face off against various members of the Infinite Coil, the Droid Army, and other thugs or smugglers depending on the mission. It is worth noting right off the bat that EA has given players a wide-array of customization options to tailor the game to their experience level, this includes keeping permadeath off, which is the default, or activating it so characters who suffer three injuries without being healed die in combat rather than being able to be revived, to modifying other elements of the game’s tactical combat will be. This includes reducing incoming enemy damage and increasing player damage, accuracy levels, and other things. This is useful since this may be many player’s first brush with the genre, drawn in by the Star Wars brand, and can be adjusted at any time when players are at The Den if things are too easy or suddenly players find themselves losing teammates.
The Den, conveniently located on the familiar Ring of Kafrene, is the place where players will spend all of their time between missions as it serves as Zero Company’s home base. Here players will get news updates from the frontline, interact and talk with their story and hired teammates, heal teammates that may have gotten injured (downed) in combat, purchase items from the black market, hire new team members, train their squad, and all manner of things. Progressing through the story will unlock additional upgrade points for The Den and construction elements, such as expanding the roster size of Zero Company, giving players more room to hire randomly generated soldiers (that can be entirely customized later just like Hawks), giving team wide boosts or weapon upgrades across blaster types, and more. Though players will want to make sure they have finished everything they want to in The Den before going to the Holotable because doing so will generally trigger players to start taking on operations and missions, and every departure from The Den will involve one Cycle passing.
At the Holotable players will initially be shown a handful of operations that they can take on at the cost of intel with each mission having a certain intel price. These are simple missions that are usually text only and may have choice based results and rewards, such as rewarding extra credits, weapon mods, or even improving the bond with some of the team. Sometimes though players will have operations from their own team members that include extra storyline bits for that character and ignoring it will make them angry or unavailable for a short time. Sometimes these operations also then uncover new tactical missions but more on that in a moment.
As players progress through the Cycles, they’ll notice that every operation has an expiration date and this means that it is impossible to do everything. There is an exception to this rule and that is when Crisis Operations are triggered. Crisis Operations involve Zero Company learning something about The Coil and needing to intervene to prevent one of two options from happening, but no matter what, one will. This usually means players will need to select which buff they do not want Coil members to have going forward in the game, as the operation chosen will remove that from the Coil but as a result they will receive the other one, growing stronger in power the next time players face them.
After players have finished using what intel they have they will then select a tactical mission to set out on. These missions can be story related, be tied to a teammate, or just be a standard skirmish mission as players are occasionally given free time to work with between story events and are allowed some wriggle room. The rewards for these missions vary but almost always reward intel, credits, and various degrees of zone influence, which can provide its own reward when reaching certain levels. They are also the ones players will be departing The Den for and taking their team down into the field and fighting for.
As mentioned earlier, combat in Star Wars Zero Company is an entirely turn-based affair with percentages to hit varying on range, height-advantage, flanking, and cover. At the start of a round every character on the player’s team starts with 3 AP which can be used in a number of ways. Moving around the field costs at least 1 AP with further movement taking extra AP, though using it to properly find at least half-cover to reduce the chance of incoming fire is better than nothing. Attacking an enemy with a blaster depends on the weapon. Rifles are the most balanced and will initially cost 1 AP to fire but then 2 AP for a follow-up attack, pistols deal the least damage but only cost 1 AP per shot, longarm blasters take 2 AP but make up for it in accuracy and damage, while repeaters can burn through a unit’s entire AP but deal more damage the more the unit has and is capable of destroying cover.
Alongside moving and blasting, every character can use AP in a variety of other ways as well. This includes using equipment that is often only available once per battle such as a grenade or healing item, triggering a special skill unique to their class, or even a special unique ability that story based characters possess, such as Kabb’s powerful uppercut melee attack that can restore all of his AP if he slays an enemy with it. There are also certain skills that make use of “Advantage Points” that players gain through combat and dealing damage to enemies and can be used to pull off other special abilities such as class-based sweeping fire-for-effect damage, long range explosives, and more. Finally, there is an important Overwatch ability that takes only 1 AP to activate but not only moves the unit out of cover but ends their turn. Placing a unit on Overwatch means they will fire upon any enemy that moves through that area or attacks in that area and, if they hit, will interrupt their turn which can be a vital tactical play, especially if players can position their team into laying down overwatch on where enemy reinforcements will be arriving.
Not every battle in Star Wars Zero Company is simply a fight to the death and that helps make it feel a bit more unique as different mission types are often popping up here and there. Some may require the player to place a hacking device on a chest and defend it for a set number of turns before retreating to an evacuation place. Others may require placing a bomb and then evacuating, or reaching and rescuing an injured survivor and keeping them alive while enemy reinforcements try to finish them off.
It is also interesting to note that while many enemies players face are lore accurate, including various Droids being inept or stronger than others depending on model and various thugs being stronger than the average droid, The Coil themselves are different beasts entirely. Not only do they gain buffs as players advance through the game as mentioned before, but they will absorb the Shadow Plague from fallen Coil members and receive buffs in return. This may mean that an injured and near-dead standard Coil soldier might receive two essences from fallen allies and suddenly fully heal and gain the ability to turn invisible, making them a new and deadly threat to watch out for and something that players will need to factor in when it comes to taking on Coil forces directly.
Audio & Visuals
Star Wars Zero Company is a rather impressive looking game and manages to replicate the various races that the franchise is known for quite well, especially since it gives players the chance to play as races never playable before in a game such as this. The character models are all highly detailed, with players being able to customize most elements of their character and even selecting how the tendrils of a Twi’lek will lay and the pattern they will have on them. Similarly players can eventually heavily customize astromechs and even change the outfits of various team members slightly if they are a story character or completely if they are a random hire. This means a male human can be converted to a female Togruta without anyone blinking an eye. As for the planet and level designs they are rather impressive and varied for the different biomes with the enemies fitting perfectly with what fans will remember of the Clone Wars. As for The Coil, their unique skin and eerie skin pattern fits their cult-like status perfectly. It is worth noting that in our pre-release build we did see a few instances of clothing glitching here and there as well as some slowdown when traveling back to The Den from a mission, though that will hopefully be fixed for launch.
The voice work throughout the game is handled well enough with players having one male and female voice to choose from for Hawks while all of the storyline characters are portrayed in a fitting manner, including dialect that is auto-translated such as Hutt language with subtitles. It is a bit disappointing that custom characters only have a list of personality types and voices to go along with them, since some personalities only are available to certain genders. The background music for the game is quite exceptional and while it may not feature some of the best music that Star Wars has had, it is fitting for the series.
Overall
Over the decades there have been many different Star Wars games covering nearly every genre, but somehow the most obvious one has never been tried until now with Star Wars Zero Company. Now, not only has Bit Reactor proven that their carried over talent from past works is as successful as ever, it works perfectly when mixed in with the Star Wars lore and setting. Featuring a strong storyline that mixes just enough canon elements that fans know and love with its own unique flare and some great characters alongside strong gameplay mechanics that anyone familiar with the tactical turn-based shooter genre will instantly recognize, Star Wars Zero Company is a successful experiment that proves sometimes thinking outside the box is the best way to move approach a long lived franchise.
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