Star Wars: Zero Company is one of the most interesting Star Wars games on the way, and not just because it lets people say “Star Wars XCOM” and feel immediately understood. That shorthand works, sure. Turn-based tactics. Cover. Squad positioning. Bad decisions. The beautiful horror of watching one missed shot turn a clean plan into a smoking crater. But Zero Company is starting to look like more than a simple genre reskin. This is a single-player, turn-based tactics game set in the twilight of the Clone Wars, developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. Players step into the role of Hawks, a former Republic officer leading an unconventional squad of professionals for hire through a gritty original Star Wars story. In other words: Clone Wars tactics, squad drama, battlefield consequences, and enough character tension to make every mission feel like it could ruin your evening….
Squad Bonds
Star Wars Zero Company Sounds Less Like XCOM With Blasters and More Like a Squad Drama
The easiest way to describe Star Wars Zero Company is still “Star Wars XCOM.” It’s useful shorthand. Everyone gets it. Turn-based tactics, cover, squad management, bad decisions, probably at least one mission where you stare at the screen and whisper, “I’ve ruined everything.” But the more EA, Bit Reactor, and Lucasfilm Games show of Zero Company, the less that comparison feels complete. Yes, this is a tactics game built by people who know the genre inside out. Bit Reactor was founded by former Firaxis developers, and creative director Greg Foertsch and lead designer James Brawley both worked on modern XCOM projects. The bones are there. The experience is there. The danger of losing someone because you got greedy with a flank is almost certainly there too. But Zero Company is starting to sound like it wants players to care about the squad in a much more personal, messy, BioWare-ish way….