Star Wars Zero Company
Recruit a dynamic squad to tackle high-stakes battles and forge bonds on the battlefield that can turn the tide in your favor. Between missions, build a base and deploy informants across the galaxy to help navigate the high stakes of the Clone Wars.
Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: Bit Reactor
Release date: 27/08/2026
I feel that I should start with a confession. My name is Andrew and I’m an X-comaholic!
I’ve been playing the X-com games since Laser Quest first came out way back in the late 80’s, and ever since then I’ve been thinking, ‘how cool would it be if someone made a Star Wars version of this?‘ Well, it’a finally here – Zero Company. I don’t want to be melodramatic, but if this game sucks then my life could be over…
I’ve been playing Zero Company for just over a week, and I’m still here so it can’t suck that badly at least! Thankfully (for my wife and son) I really like it. Okay, it has not moved on that much the genre on much from the latest X-com game, but I think they have really caught the Star Wars feeling, and it’s caught my favourite part of it. The feeling that the Star Wars universe isn’t all about Han, Luke and Leia, but instead, it focuses on a ragtag bunch of fighters struggling to make their way in the galaxy and trying to get through the Clone Wars alive.
It’s fairly standard turn-based strategy fare. You build up your squad and go on missions, and between missions you can expand your base (The Den), train up your troops, heal up, and get some new equipment. It still has my least favourite feature of most turn-based games that I’ve played; a fixed squad size. Why would you only send four people in against what seems like half the Separatist army, and why are the mission types so limited? Go in, kill everyone, come home. No sneak in, just one or two people, find some intel and sneak out again, no all-out battles with larger groups.
So, what do I like about it? First, a lot of turn-based games feel like a board game. ‘Okay, I have taken my turn, now I’ll stand here and watch while you take your turn (apart from some overwatch shots)‘. When does that ever happen in war? Zero Company solves this, at least partially, by having things going on while you are taking your turn. Nothing that affects the game at all, but shots are still being fired, units are signalling to each other and so on. It just feels alive.
Secondly, the bond system. As characters interact with each other during missions, or even off screen back at base while you are playing other characters, they build bonds between each other. The strength of those bonds gives you focus points which can be used to train both the characters. Furthermore, some of the choices you make on missions determine if your bonds are strengthened or weakened. In one example, I was given the option of talking my way out of a problem or shooting my way out. Some of my team wanted to go one way, some the other, and there were even additional options being suggested by specific characters. It was clear that my choice was going to have consequences. It was equally clear that I could not make everyone (or even a majority) happy.
As with most new games, it has its bugs. Sometimes you click a button to fire, and nothing happens. So, you click again. And again. And again, then suddenly (and having done nothing differently), your operator wakes up and fires. Also, when you choose to take a shot, the game is supposed to automatically select the target you have the best chance of hitting. The only time I have seen it do this so far has been when there was only one choice of who to aim at. Usually, it seems to do the opposite and choose the one you are least likely to hit.
The introduction of the Coil as the major bad guys means this can sit to the side of the main Clone Wars story without having to worry too much about following canon. Sometimes they can be a bit over-powered, especially their brawlers who can become invisible then pop-up and kick your arse big time but that makes up for the truly weedy B1 battle droids who are almost always dispatched with a single shot.
I would have preferred for the setting to be in the classic Empire era, and maybe then to have had a choice of which side to play for, but maybe they’ll steal this idea for me for Zero Company 2.
All in all, I’m happy with the game. It has its flaws but, much like Outlaws, I’m pretty sure most of them will be patched away quickly.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a vital mission on Umbara….