Developer: Bit Reactor
Available on: Steam, PlayStation, Xbox
It’s saying something when I fall in love with a Star Wars game well before I ever hear my first lightsaber sound effect. Star Wars Zero Company thoughtfully combines a tactical, squad-based strategy game with one of the most well-known settings in the world. The result is a fantastic balance between tactical gameplay, memorable characters, and fun lore drops.
Read on for our review of Star Wars Zero Company!
Begun, the Clone Wars Have
Zero Company is set at the end of the Clone Wars, between Star Wars Episode II and III. The story focuses on the titular mercenary company, led by former Republic officer Tesh Hawks. Though they begin as a small scrappy force taking on dangerous work and paying off their debts, Zero Company becomes embroiled in the larger conflict between the Separatists and the Republic.
The primary antagonists are a new faction called the Coil, a mysterious cult based around an infectious disease called the Shadow Plague, which kills or empowers its victims. Hawks and crew primarily work for the Republic as they hunt down and attempt to stop the Coil from growing in power and threatening the galaxy.
Between missions, Hawks (who’s fully customizable) can run around the Den, our little home base on an asteroid. There I can chat with crewmates, manage their skills and weapons, unlock Den-wide upgrades, hire new recruits, and engage in operations. It never feels like trivial busywork, and everything is laid out compactly and neatly, which I appreciate!
There are a number of story-based crew members, and most of them can swap their classes around, allowing a ton of variety and playstyles.
Cutter Upper!
I absolutely love the gruff, blue alien Kabb (whom Hawks affectionately calls ‘Papa’). Kabb’s history of boxing gives him a unique and powerful punch attack. I gave him the flanker-based Assault class, and he became an absolute beast on the battlefield.
Not to mention some of the more unique characters, which hopefully aren’t too spoilery because they’re on the cover art, have completely different and fun playstyles to mess around with. These characters reminded me of why I loved XCOM Chimera Squad.
I almost never felt the need to hire, customize, and field my own random recruits (especially with how customizable most of the story crew are), but it’s a neat option.
Fielding a variety of different squad members becomes important due to the Bonds they can develop. In Zero Company, Bonds basically replace a traditional level up system. As my group completes missions together and assists each other in battle, they reach new thresholds of their relationships, gaining new passive perks like increased health, extra range damage, or better movement. They’re more incremental than explosive, but all these Bonds add up to making my crew an elite fighting force.
Z-COM
It’s not exactly subtle that the game’s subtitle abbreviates to Z-COM. This is another XCOM entry in all but name — though with smaller squads and maps, and an overall shorter mission structure. Every tactical mission drops my chosen four-person squad on a random map filled with cover. The Star Wars universe is just as full of boxes and crates as everywhere else!
In each mission I face off against either those silly-talking battle droids, or criminal gangsters, or the dangerous Coil.
The Coil have a unique feature. As they get killed, another Coil member gets a random bonus, buff, or health. The more you kill, the stronger they become, until you’re left fighting some pretty tough minibosses. It’s a neat feature that adds a nice twist to those battles.
I face stronger enemies as the story progresses, such as those cool rolling and shielded droidekas, but the limited enemy types also gets a bit repetitive. It would’ve been neat to face some truly crazy threats from the Star Wars universe, like a rampaging Rancor, or a beefed up Hutt.
The main story missions are definitely the highlight, often featuring some unique hazards, situations, or even shocking cameos. However, as with XCOM, there’s always a ticking clock to deal with.
Every mission advances the story by one ‘cycle,’ and available missions expire after a certain amount of cycles. It’s impossible to do them all, and naturally I want to prioritize the main critical missions (what happens if you miss them!?), and the character side-missions.
There are also Operations that cost intel and provide rewards, but they’re entirely text-based, occasionally offering some choices with different rewards.
Weirdly, the Operations are completed instantly. Normally, a squad game such as Midnight Suns would tie up the heroes I commit to these ‘off-screen’ operations, making me manage without them. But that’s never the case with Zero Company. The entire game leans on the easy side compared to many turn-based tactics games, thanks to the depth of customization, multi-classing, and the sheer awesome power of some of the unique character classes.
Prepare to destroy a lot of those ‘Roger Roger’ guys
The Rating
Star Wars Zero Company has been rated T for Teen by the ESRB. See our Game Picker entry for details.
The Takeaway
As a connoisseur of this particular brand of strategy game, I absolutely adore Star Wars Zero Company — even if I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan (especially the Prequels). I love how the Star Wars license continues to stretch neatly into different genres and eras. A must-buy for XCOM fans.
Star Wars Zero Company is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
