There is no shortage of Star Wars. If anything, the franchise has spent much of the last decade battling a growing sense of creative fatigue. Disney+ has delivered mixed results, the films remain divisive, and even the games have struggled for consistency.
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There have certainly been successes. The Star Wars Jedi series proved there are still fantastic stories to tell in this universe, but elsewhere the franchise has bounced between controversy, missed opportunities and games that simply never lived up to their potential.
Star Wars Zero Company feels different.
Developed by Bit Reactor, Zero Company takes the franchise somewhere surprisingly fresh: a tactical RPG set during the twilight of the Clone Wars, following former Republic officer Hawks and a ragtag mercenary outfit operating from the shadows.
Zero Company becomes entangled in an investigation involving the Infinite Coil, a dangerous organisation led by Kundri Fathom and connected to a plague capable of spreading across the galaxy. Rather than placing another Jedi at the centre of the universe, the story explores the Clone Wars from beneath the conflict, where Republic loyalists, Separatists, mercenaries and people with their own agendas are forced to work together.
And it works largely because of the characters.
Characters Make the Story
A tactical RPG lives or dies by whether you actually care about the people you’re ordering into battle. Thankfully, Zero Company has one of the strongest casts I’ve seen from Star Wars in some time.
I particularly fell in love with Runa Blask and her constant banter. The former Separatist handles operations and finance from the Den, which unfortunately means she can’t accompany you into combat.
Although, considering what happened later in my campaign, perhaps keeping Runa behind a desk is for the best.
The dialogue is consistently sharp, and more importantly, it sounds natural. Characters interrupt each other, disagree, joke and develop relationships that make Zero Company feel like an actual crew rather than a collection of quest dispensers.
At its best, the writing here beats most of Disney’s recent Star Wars television output and even some of the newer films. Strong writing also gives the voice cast something worthwhile to work with, and performances rarely feel like actors simply reading lines from a script.
XCOM Meets Fire Emblem
The gameplay is just as impressive.
The obvious comparison is XCOM. Combat is turn-based and built around positioning, cover, abilities and carefully deciding how to spend your actions. Operators have three Action Points, while particularly powerful abilities can consume a shared Advantage resource generated through successful attacks.
But Zero Company doesn’t simply reskin XCOM with Stormtroopers.
There is also a strong Fire Emblem influence running underneath everything. Taking characters into battle together develops their Bonds, unlocking conversations, combat synergies and permanent Cross Training bonuses. Those relationships can even influence how characters respond to events and, potentially, their ultimate fate.
That makes squad selection about more than bringing whoever has the biggest gun.
You start thinking about personalities, relationships and which characters you want developing together. Operators can be levelled through Focus Trees, their abilities and passive skills upgraded, while both authored characters and recruits can be specialised to suit different tactical roles.
Between missions, you return to the Den to speak with your crew, recruit new Operators, buy equipment and upgrade the facilities supporting your growing company.
Then there is the galaxy map.
Missions operate around Cycles, meaning opportunities don’t remain available forever. Tactical missions advance time, while Operations allow you to spend Intel on smaller assignments that can provide Credits, equipment, Influence and other rewards. Some involve decisions that affect relationships or even how the enemy develops.
It’s a constant little gamble.
Do you chase money because Zero Company desperately needs better equipment? Build Influence in a particular region for its rewards? Strengthen relationships? Or pursue something important before the opportunity disappears?
That strategic layer makes the periods between battles almost as addictive as the battles themselves.
Then Jae Died
I initially assumed permanent death would only apply to the randomly generated Operators I hired.
I was wrong.
Story characters can die too. During one mission, I lost Jae Mordant. And I hated it. For a moment, I seriously considered committing one of gaming’s cardinal sins: save scumming. But I didn’t.
Jae’s death changed the tone of my campaign. Conversations felt different. Her absence mattered. The story continued without conveniently resurrecting her because she happened to have dialogue later.
That was the moment I realised how clever Zero Company actually is.
Permadeath isn’t simply there to make combat harder. It makes your version of the story personal. Characters you become attached to are genuinely at risk, meaning the decisions you make during combat suddenly carry emotional consequences.
When a game makes you seriously consider reloading because you’ve become attached to a fictional squadmate, its systems are doing something right.
A Few Rough Edges
Zero Company isn’t flawless.
Visually, the game can look beautiful in 4K HDR, but I encountered noticeable stuttering and several strange pauses during combat.
Occasionally the game would simply hang after performing an action, particularly when using Rally. On one occasion I waited long enough that I genuinely thought the game had soft-locked before it suddenly continued.
These are frustrating problems, but they’re also problems that can be patched.
My larger criticism is with a handful of writing moments that feel completely different from everything around them. There are occasional lines that come across less like natural character dialogue and more like something inserted to make the player reflect on their own identity or perspective — seemingly directed particularly towards a male player.
Whether those moments came from external consultancy or simply internal editorial decisions isn’t something I can determine from playing the game. What I can say is that they’re noticeable precisely because the rest of Zero Company’s writing is so good.
When characters have spoken naturally for hours, a line that suddenly feels manufactured pulls you straight out of the galaxy.
Thankfully, those moments are the exception rather than the rule.
Verdict
The greatest compliment I can give Star Wars Zero Company is that it doesn’t need Star Wars to be a great game.
Remove the lightsabers, Clone Wars and familiar planets and there is still an excellent tactical RPG underneath it: addictive combat, meaningful squad building, surprisingly deep campaign management and a cast of characters worth caring about.
But it is a Star Wars game.
And for fans, that makes what Bit Reactor has achieved even more impressive.
After years of franchise fatigue and wildly inconsistent storytelling, Zero Company reminded me why this universe can still be so compelling when talented developers are allowed to explore it from a different perspective.
It’s one of the best Star Wars games in years. More importantly, it might be the best Star Wars story we’ve had in years.
