Star Wars Zero Company Review: What Four Hours Reveal About Its Clone Wars Tactics
The Clone Wars is one of the best settings for a turn-based tactics game. Add the developers behind XCOM, then mix in the squad drama of Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Star Wars Zero Company sounds like a perfect fit. After roughly four hours with the game, though, the early picture is mixed.
Zero Company appears to be good. Its battles are clear, its squad has strong story potential, and its Clone Wars setting gives every mission extra weight. The problem is that the preview did not reveal a defining idea that separates it from other XCOM-style games. It currently feels close to a familiar formula, with the Star Wars setting doing much of the heavy lifting.
That could change later. The preview remained heavy on tutorials, new mechanics, and character recruitment. For now, the key question is whether Zero Company becomes its own Star Wars tactics game or stays a safe version of XCOM.
Star Wars Zero Company Review: Familiar Combat, Unclear Identity
Three action points make every turn about positioning
Zero Company uses a turn-based battle system built around three action points for each operator. Players guide Hawks and several squadmates through firefights, choosing when to move, attack, or find a better position.
The system will feel familiar to anyone who has played XCOM. Every action matters, especially when a character needs to cross open ground, take cover, and still have enough points left to fire. That simple structure makes battles easy to understand, but it also gives Zero Company little room to surprise experienced tactics players.
Specialized operators support classic squad roles
Each squadmate has unique abilities and a combat specialty. These powers encourage players to build teams with different strengths instead of relying on the same group for every mission.
The squad also shares a pool of points that can trigger powerful attacks at any time. A rocket launcher, for example, can clear a dangerous position or turn a difficult fight around. Hawks leads the team and acts as the player’s main character, while the other operators bring their own skills and personalities into battle.
The foundation works. That is also the main concern. Bit Reactor was founded and staffed by developers with XCOM experience, so the resemblance makes sense. Still, a polished version of a known formula can feel less exciting than a tactics game with a fresh combat hook.
Midnight Suns Shows How Zero Company Could Stand Apart
Deck building gave Midnight Suns a distinct combat system
Marvel's Midnight Suns offers a useful comparison. Instead of relying on traditional percentage-based hit chances, it uses deck building to decide which abilities become available during a fight.
Random card draws still create uncertainty, but they change the choices players make. You might have the perfect attack in your deck, yet need to wait for it to appear. That system keeps the tension found in XCOM while giving Midnight Suns a clear identity of its own.
Zero Company does not need to copy that approach. It does need a central mechanic that makes its battles feel tied to Star Wars rather than standard squad tactics.
Knockbacks make positioning more active
Midnight Suns also lets players knock enemies into allies and environmental hazards. Those interactions turn positioning into more than a way to reach cover or gain a better shot.
The previewed Zero Company battles focused on movement, shooting, operator abilities, and special attacks. Those tools can create smart decisions, but they do not yet show a signature feature. A stronger connection to Star Wars weapons, vehicles, Force powers, or battlefield chaos could give the combat a more memorable edge, though none of those systems were confirmed in the preview.
Later systems may change the current impression
Four hours was enough to reveal the basic combat loop, but it was not enough to see the full campaign. Tutorials were still appearing, new features were still unlocking, and more recruits were joining the squad.
That leaves room for a late introduction that changes how missions work. The early game may be holding back its best tactical ideas. Until those systems appear, the safest reading is that Zero Company has a solid base without a clear mechanical identity.
Character Relationships Could Become Zero Company’s Strongest Feature
The hub gives the squad room to breathe
Between missions, Hawks returns to the team’s hub. Players can walk around, speak with squadmates, and overhear conversations between other characters.
The structure recalls the monastery in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the abbey in Midnight Suns. These downtime areas can make a team feel like a group of people instead of a set of combat units. Zero Company puts more focus on story and character interaction than the early combat reveals.
Not every character stood out during the preview, but a few squadmates had enough personality to make repeated visits worthwhile. That is a promising start for the campaign.
Choices can shape relationships across the squad
Squadmates have feelings toward Hawks that can improve through character-focused missions. Dialogue choices also matter, especially when Hawks agrees or disagrees with a character’s moral position.
Relationships can develop between squadmates, too. Their bonds may change based on how often they fight together or how often one operator helps another during battle. The preview did not show enough of this system to judge its full effect, but it could give each campaign a personal shape.
A mixed crew fits the Clone Wars
The squad includes former Republic soldiers, ex-Separatist loyalists, criminals, bounty hunters, and people who care little about either side. One noble woman joins because she wants to reclaim control of a planet once owned by her family.
Those motives create room for conflict beyond a simple Republic-versus-Separatist story. Profit, survival, family history, and old loyalties can all pull the team in different directions. The Clone Wars has often supported this kind of political tension in Star Wars books and television, and Zero Company could bring more of that feeling to a game.
The writing will decide whether this promise pays off. Conversations and changing relationships need to affect the campaign, not exist as separate scenes between missions.
Permadeath Could Strengthen or Damage the Story
Losing operators raises the cost of every mission
Every character except Hawks can die if permadeath is enabled. Players can turn the system off, but keeping the squad alive from the opening mission to the finale could create a strong long-term challenge.
A lost operator can hurt more when that character has appeared in conversations, completed personal missions, and built bonds with other squadmates. Their death becomes more than a lost combat role. It becomes a change to the group.
Authored characters may leave narrative gaps
The main concern is how the story handles early deaths. A character-driven campaign can struggle when a major squadmate disappears before their story is complete.
Randomly generated recruits may replace a fallen operator in battle, but they may not replace that character’s personality or place in the narrative. Zero Company will need flexible writing if it wants both authored relationships and unpredictable deaths to work together.
The strongest version of the game would make survival and loss matter in different ways. Branching dialogue, changing roles, or adaptive conversations could help, but the preview did not confirm how the finished game handles these outcomes.
The Clone Wars Setting Gives Hawks and His Squad Room to Grow
Hawks connects the squad’s competing views
Hawks is a former military officer who now leads Zero Company. As the player character and the only protected member of the team, Hawks links the squad’s many backgrounds and beliefs.
Hawks’ decisions could shape how the group works together. A commander who must balance former enemies, criminals, and political allies has more to manage than battlefield movement. The character needs meaningful dialogue and choices to feel like more than a mission selector.
Release day will answer the biggest questions
Star Wars Zero Company was scheduled to launch on August 27 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The full release should show whether later missions introduce a major tactical system and whether the bond mechanics have lasting effects.
It should also reveal whether permadeath supports the story or creates gaps when authored characters fall. Most of all, the campaign needs memorable relationships and political tension to match its Clone Wars setting. Those elements may matter more than any single combat feature.
Conclusion
Star Wars Zero Company currently looks competent and promising, but the preview does not yet show a game with a bold tactical identity. Its three-action-point combat, specialized operators, and shared pool of powerful attacks feel close to established XCOM conventions.
The story may be where Zero Company finds its voice. A mixed squad of Republic soldiers, former Separatists, bounty hunters, criminals, and political outsiders gives the campaign plenty to work with. The hub, moral choices, and squad bonds could turn familiar battles into a more personal experience.
Fans of XCOM-style gameplay and the Clone Wars have good reasons to keep watching. The final test is simple: whether the full campaign adds enough character, consequence, and Star Wars flavor to become more than XCOM with a new coat of paint.
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