Star Wars Zero Company Is a Stellar Evolution of the XCOM Formula

There are few combinations that sound as immediately natural as Star Wars and XCOM. The franchise already revolves around small groups of specialists infiltrating enemy facilities, sabotaging impossible weapons, and surviving against overwhelming odds. All it really needed was a studio capable of translating that fantasy into a full tactical campaign, and Star Wars Zero Company does exactly that.

Developed by Bit Reactor, a studio founded by veterans of Firaxis and the modern XCOM games, it follows Hawks, a customizable former Republic officer leading an unconventional mercenary squad during the final stages of the Clone Wars.

Reviews have been remarkably positive so far. At the time of writing, Zero Company holds an 85 average on Metacritic, making it one of the highest-rated Star Wars games in decades. It's also ranked within the 98th percentile on OpenCritic with a top critic average of 88. Plus, its early Steam reception from users is “Mostly Positive” so far.

After spending a few hours with Star Wars Zero Company myself, those reactions make sense. The XCOM comparison is unavoidable, but dismissing this as a licensed reskin undersells what Bit Reactor has accomplished. It preserves the foundations that made those games compelling while reconsidering how their combat, campaign structure, and squad management can support a more authored, character-driven adventure. You can even freely walk around and explore environments between combat encounters here, which demonstrates fantastic attention to detail.

The basic tactical language should be immediately familiar, though. Operators move between cover using action points, establish overlapping fields of fire, exploit positioning advantages, and combine specialized abilities to defeat numerically superior forces. Poor decisions can leave a valuable character exposed, while an apparently simple objective can rapidly deteriorate once reinforcements arrive or the battlefield changes.

Zero Company is easy to understand without becoming mechanically shallow. Movement ranges, cover, targeting information, environmental hazards, and enemy intentions are clearly communicated, leaving the tension in the decision itself rather than the interface.

The game also makes several smart adjustments to familiar systems. Overwatch can be manually directed into a selected cone rather than automatically covering every possible angle. This gives players more control but requires them to anticipate exactly where an enemy is likely to move.

Advantage Points provide another tactical resource, earned through exploration and effective play before being spent on powerful abilities. Different Operators can exploit these points in different ways, encouraging players to build combinations rather than treating each unit as an isolated collection of attacks.

That emphasis on cooperation extends to the Bonds system. Characters who regularly deploy together learn to work as a team, unlocking support abilities and combat synergies. The mechanic connects narrative relationships to tactical performance without turning the game into a full social simulation.

Zero Company’s customizable recruits complement a central cast of authored characters, allowing the campaign to balance personal storytelling with the attachment that naturally develops toward player-created soldiers. Hawks can also be customized through appearance, species, specialization, equipment, and abilities.

There are certainly some Mass Effect undertones here with the great characters that make up the squad, but direct comparisons are a little unfounded. Star Wars Zero Company does not seem to feature romances at all, nor does it include any dramatically branching storylines. Generally, the campaign remains structured around the core turn-based tactical missions.

The Den serves as the headquarters between deployments. Players can speak with Operators, purchase equipment, upgrade facilities, customize loadouts, develop characters, and select new Operations or Tactical Missions from the holotable.

For me, the most successful part of Zero Company is how naturally Star Wars fits this structure. A Jedi, clone trooper, Mandalorian, scoundrel, astromech, and customized mercenary can occupy genuinely different battlefield roles without feeling arbitrarily forced into conventional RPG classes.

Lightsabers, blasters, droids, jetpacks, Force abilities, grenades, and automated defenses all fit nicely into the tactical vocabulary. More importantly, their differences affect how players approach positioning, movement, cover, and enemy control.

The Clone Wars setting also gives Bit Reactor room to tell an original story without abandoning the wider conflict. Zero Company operates within its shadows, investigating the Separatist-aligned Infinite Coil and its leader, Kundri Fathom. It's really nice to play a Star Wars game that isn't focused almost entirely one some new mysterious Sith leader.

At the end of the day, what separates Zero Company the most from its contemporaries is the amount of personality surrounding all of your decisions both in and out of combat. Its characters are more than disposable soldiers, its headquarters feels like an inhabited place, and its presentation turns small tactical victories into scenes worthy of Star Wars.

Star Wars Zero Company is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Disclaimer: The publisher provided us with a PS5 key in exchange for honest coverage.