Star Wars Zero Company Review

In the realm of tactical games, few titles garner as much respect and acclaim as Firaxis Games’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2. Now, a number of former Firaxis staff went off on their own, forming the studio Bit Reactor, and then asking the question, “What if XCOM, but Star Wars?” and Star Wars Zero Company was born. A question that frankly should have been asked a long time ago because it's such a perfect pairing. And despite some issues, this tactical adventure set in a galaxy a long time ago is probably my favorite Star Wars game in a long time.

Set during the years near the end of the Clone Wars, in Zero Company you play as Hawks, a former Republic soldier who now runs a mercenary outfit of ragtag misfits of the same name. This unlikely group of heroes gets pulled into a shady conflict with the equally shady and dangerous group known as the Coil. Run by a mysterious woman who goes by the name of Fathom, the Coil employs a strange bug that inflicts what is known as the Shadow Plague on those bitten by them, where the results are that you either die or are granted weird force-like powers. And yes, midi-chlorians are mentioned, so be warned.

The whole thing felt a bit cookie-cutter throughout, where I got bad guy exposition, a mysterious group wanting to take out the Republic, followed by more bad guy speeches. There were some interesting twists here and there, but I just never found myself getting all that intrigued by Fathom, her tattooed crazy droid Typhoon, or her evil bugs. It wasn’t bad; I just wouldn’t call it compelling, either. Considering the premise that was teased was that this was a shadow war that was playing out in the background during the Clone Wars, I was in hoping-and-expecting mode. And considering the appearance of Anakin Skywalker and some of the stunts that get pulled throughout, it’s hard to imagine just how “secret” this shadow war really would have been. But hey, the mission where you get Anakin on your team was really, really cool, though.

I look at Zero Company’s story much in the same way I do about pizza crust. It serves as the vessel that delivers what I really want and enjoy. In pizza’s case, that's melty cheese and toppings, and for Zero Company, that’s the gameplay and its characters. The story never quite sank its lightsabers into me, and while I never found the story of Hawk and Fathom’s conflict to be offensive, I also never really found myself all that invested. The cast of characters that I fought alongside, though, I fell in love with.

From the direct and mysterious Mandalorian, Cly, to the card-playing clone trooper, Trick, the personalities that compose Hawks' outfit are the real special sauce of the game. I loved listening in as the cast would speak with one another, such as when Trick spoke to the Jedi Padawan Tel Rae about whether Jedi can read the minds of people they play cards with, or when learning about the big and lovable blue Kabb and his adoration for space opera. Hearing the group comment and hype each other up on the battlefield after assisting one another or making a good shot really adds to that sense of camaraderie and that this outfit is more than just a team; by the end, it's basically a family. They remind me of my crew on the Normandy from Mass Effect in the best way.

But I also appreciate that Bit Reactor makes you sort of work for that connection too, as there are some big conflicting beliefs and personalities on the team. I recall one of the early confrontations between Trick and the Umbaran sniper, Luco, where they nearly came to blows right there in the Den, the home base of Zero Company. After that, I made it a point to make the two of them best friends, so I paired them up on missions and sent them off together, growing their bond. It was a lot of work, but they eventually began to tolerate one another. Success. And those connections you build between the team are more than just getting them to smile at one another in the break room; they extend into combat.

As much as I love their personalities and stories, the best bits can be found on the battlefield, where the XCOM DNA really shows itself. Adopting a similar grid-based combat to the beloved Firaxis game, battles take place on multi-tiered stages packed full of objects and walls to hide behind and hazards to use to your advantage. During your turn, each character in your squad of typically four characters that you bring with you on the mission is given three action points to spend. Moving someone can take anywhere from a single point to all of them, depending on how far you move them, with attacks and their various skills requiring points as well.

Each character has a unique talent that they can use, such as Tel Rae’s force abilities including the signature Push and Pull, but the classes - which there are eight of, with you eventually getting the ability to multi-class - also have their own special attacks too. Many of these use points gained from landing shots on enemies. My personal favorites would have to be either the soldier’s rocket launcher or Kabb’s uppercut. Sending enemies hurtling off the edge of a map with a good ol’ uppercut never got old. 

To the game’s credit, it gives you a lot of flexibility and room to play around and test things out. Besides being able to quickly and easily swap weapons and gear like grenades around, even changing the outfits of Zero Company, you can also change their various character’s classes, getting back all the points you invested in the class to try something else. This doesn’t extend to the unique classes like Padawan or Mandalorian, however. The one downside to this, and something I desperately hope they add in a patch down the road, is a way to save your various characters' specialization loadouts to really help with letting you quickly swap playstyles in and out as needed. 

If you prefer to simply run a squad of your friends, you can do that too, thanks to a rather solid create-a-character toolset. You have 11 different races to pick from, including Roadian (Han shot first), Twi’leks, humans, and even a clone trooper, letting you name them, design their look, and even choose their special talent. Or if you prefer, you can even make your own Astromech droid to take into battle, complete with a custom paint job that you pick out. 

On the subject of difficulty, for veterans of XCOM and other tactical games, I’d suggest you start things off on hard mode to really get your thrills. Normal, which is where I spent my time, provided some good tension, and there were levels, one in particular that saw my team racing to get across a bridge as a ship bombed everything behind us, that made me sweat a bit, but by and large, I was never really scared I was going to lose anyone. I’m not a master at these sorts of games either, and it’s been a long time since I have seriously played a similar game, so I was out of practice. For folks who just want the story and to get to know the team members, there is a Story mode option you can select, which will be great for folks who are coming to Zero Company for the Star Wars aspect instead. 

Neat as all that is, I do wish that you could build out some of the more unique types of characters, like your own Mandalorian, padawan, or even better, your own battle droid. I would be happy for these only to become available after beating the story the first time, but alas, at least currently, it isn’t meant to be. Maybe in a DLC sometime down the road.

On the topic of post-game content, Zero Company is sorely lacking in this regard. As someone who is very “take it or leave it” with the story, the fact that there isn’t a New Game + option, or any real gameplay incentive outside of trying out new party combinations or trying my skills at greater difficulties to go back through, I don’t see myself revisiting this much, at least until new content is released for it. This apprehension, though, isn’t just on the story’s fault; fault also lies in the fact that for as much as I enjoy playing it, Zero Company has some serious jank and performance issues it needs to work out.

Playing on PC, I experienced many instances of my game simply freezing up, with allies and enemies alike standing in place while the game thought about what to do next after giving orders. This could last upwards of 20 seconds before things simply continued as normal. The camera would also frequently pan in strange ways, landing behind pieces of terrain or becoming pitch-black all of a sudden, with only the various icons present on screen. There were rare occasions when the game would freeze, requiring me to reopen it and losing me progress. Lesser and more harmless issues like character models freaking out or the occasional character sliding around while in T-Pose also occurred. More annoying than game-breaking, thankfully, but this still definitely needs a bit of TLC to get everything resolved soon.

Even with those performance issues, Star Wars Zero Company’s superb tactical gameplay and endearing cast of misfits is my favorite Star Wars game I’ve played in quite some time. The story of Hawks and his crew is a great reminder that this universe is far more than just lightsabers and the Force. It’s the personalities, the histories, and the connections that give this franchise its endearing legacy. Zero Company proves this, and I think whether you’re a fan of Star Wars or are a die-hard XCOM fan, there is something for you here, and I can’t wait to see what Bit Reactor brings us next from the galaxy far, far away.