Star Wars Zero Company Details Tactical Combat & Squad Systems

If you've spent any time in the XCOM community, you already know how many people have tried building their own Star Wars mods over the years, simply because the tactical formula fits the galaxy far, far away so naturally. Well, you no longer have to rely on fan projects.

Star Wars Zero Company is officially real, and it's bringing proper turn-based tactics to the Clone Wars era. After going through developer interviews, gameplay previews, and every detail released so far, there's a lot to unpack here, and the more you learn about it, the more exciting it sounds.

So let's get into why Star Wars Zero Company might end up being one of the biggest surprises of the year.

In essence, this is a solo turn-based tactics game set against the backdrop of the latter days of the Clone Wars. The player controls Hawks, an ex-Republic military man who leads a platoon named Zero Company made up of personnel recruited from all over the galaxy.

Rather than placing the player into the middle of the huge conflicts or the plots centered around Jedi, the game focuses on what has been termed "the war underneath the war." The player will find himself hunting for the secret organization known as the Infinite Coil.

You've likely played Clone Wars games before that centered on huge battles or a famous Jedi hero, but Star Wars Zero Company is taking a noticeably different route. It tells its own original story running parallel to the ones you already know.

With a squad made up of Republic veterans, ex-Separatists, bounty hunters, Mandalorians, and Jedi all working side by side. Part of the excitement also comes from who's actually making this game. Bit Reactor is a newer studio, but plenty of its team previously worked on titles like XCOM, XCOM 2, Civilization, and Marvel's Midnight Suns.

That kind of background gives you real confidence that the tactical side of things is in capable hands.

Now, you might assume this is simply "Star Wars XCOM," and while the combat foundation is clearly familiar, that's only one piece of what Bit Reactor is building. One of the more interesting choices is how the story gets presented.

Before combat kicks off, you'll actually explore sections of each level using a third-person, more grounded camera. Once a fight starts, the view pulls back into the tactical, bird's-eye perspective you'd expect from this genre.

As mentioned by its creators, this kind of exploration serves as a means for players to take their time and get immersed in the world they are in before diving into any battles. It is a clever idea because the tactical camera alone usually takes away the immersion aspect of the game.

That same emphasis on storytelling carries over to how you interact with your squad. Between missions, you'll get downtime to talk with companions, make decisions, and build what the game refers to as bonds with them. If you've played CRPGs before, this system will feel somewhat familiar.

This particular era of Star Wars works really well for a game like this.

It opens the door to recruiting characters from wildly different backgrounds and motivations, whether that's bounty hunters, Mandalorians, or former enemies now fighting together. Naturally, that setup creates room for tension within your squad depending on how you choose to play things.

One of the bigger surprises is just how much control you have over building your team. You can pick from fully written, preset characters, or go the custom route and design your own mercenaries from scratch, choosing their class, weapons, gear, and even droids.

Whether you want a squad made entirely of Stormtroopers or one made up entirely of droids, the game is built to support that kind of freedom. Even Hawks himself, who is the main protagonist, could be customized into various species and appearances.

In addition to Hawks, other companions will be recruited from various corners of the galaxy and include a clone soldier, a sniper Umbaran, a Mandalorian, a Jedi Padawan, and many others. In fact, most of these characters hail from totally different backgrounds, and some were even fighting against each other in the Clone Wars.

As you bring these companions along on missions, your bond with them grows, unlocking new combat synergies along the way.

One of the standout features is cross-training, which lets you learn abilities directly from your companions as those relationships deepen. That said, the developers have confirmed relationships can also break down depending on your choices.

You'll need to think ahead if you want to build the ideal team for cross-training the abilities you actually want. If you're someone who wants to lean into the story and its cast, you can absolutely build your squad around those characters. But if your instinct is to build something like an all-clone squad instead, that option is fully supported, too.

The same flexibility extends to droids, since you can recruit and fully customize your own units, adjusting their appearance, species, equipment, and specialization from the ground up. Essentially, you get a mix of handcrafted, developer-made companions alongside ones you build yourself entirely.

This brings to mind the balance Baldur's Gate strikes between its Origin characters and custom party members. None of this matters much if the actual gameplay isn't fun, and thankfully, this looks like the area you have the least reason to worry about. If you've spent time with XCOM, the fundamentals here will feel instantly familiar.

Combat is turn-based, positioning matters, cover plays a major role, and your squad composition will heavily influence how missions play out.

You should also expect to miss a couple of 90 percent hit chances back-to-back, because that's just part of the experience. The freshness of the game can be attributed to the vast selection of class types available to choose from, with a total of 12 class types.

It includes typical front-line infantry, such as heavy weapons specialists and sharpshooters, medics, and even some more exotic ones, like the Jedi Padawan and Mandalorians, as well as astromech droids. Since combat is centered around smaller, tighter skirmishes, a lot of the gameplay revolves around flanking enemies.

As well as breaking down their cover, chaining together squad abilities, and making smart use of the environment around you. There are real consequences tied to how you approach these fights, too. Depending on the difficulty setting you choose, your squad members can end up with lasting injuries or die permanently.

Hawks appear to be the one exception. Because he seems to have some level of plot protection, but everyone else in your squad looks fully at risk. So it's probably worth thinking twice before pushing a favorite companion too hard during a tough mission.

Outside of missions, you'll manage your squad and gear from a central hub known as the Den.

This acts as Zero Company's headquarters between assignments. It includes a black market, along with the space where you manage relationships with your companions and plan out your next move. There's also a galaxy map system, letting you choose which investigations to follow and where to gather intel to unlock new opportunities.

According to the developers, no two playthroughs will look the same, since there simply isn't enough time in a single run to complete everything available, which means you'll constantly be weighing which missions matter most to you. Taken together, Star Wars Zero Company has quickly become one of the most anticipated releases coming up.

For fans who love both XCOM-style tactics and the Star Wars universe, this feels like a natural fit. If Bit Reactor manages to blend that tactical gameplay with memorable companions and a strong story, Star Wars Zero Company has a real shot at becoming one of the standout releases of the year.