In this article, we will be taking a look at one of the most anticipated games for a lot of people, Star Wars: Zero Company.
The game was first announced back in 2025and did not get a lot of information afterwards, but information about hands-on experience has come out.
We will be taking a look to learn more about the game and discern what we can expect from Zero Company when it releases sometime late in 2026.
What is Zero Company?
So, what exactly is Zero Company? Star Wars: Zero Company is an upcoming turn-based tactical strategy game in the vein of X-COM.
With the veterans of the genre behind the development, it is shaping up to be a promising game.
The game is being developed by a new studio, Bit Reactor, with genre veterans including XCOM art director Greg Foertsch in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment.
Story and Settings
In the vast lore of the Star Wars universe, there are a lot of potential settings and stories to explore across the various eras.
Zero Company will be taking place during the Clone Wars era where the Separatists and the Republic were at war.
Players will take command of the eponymous Zero Company, fighting on an unseen battlefront and affecting the war from the shadows.
What’s interesting about the game is that instead of a nameless commander, players will assume the role of Hawks, a former Republic officer leading an unconventional outfit of mercenaries, misfits, and professionals for hire.
The squad is recruited for a highly dangerous operation to defeat an emerging, shadowy threat called The Infinite Coil that could consume the galaxy if left unchecked.
Gameplay Impressions
In terms of gameplay, Zero Company will have turn-based tactical combat where players and the computer will take turns to complete objectives.
With veterans from Firaxis behind the development, we can expect similar deep tactical gameplay promising endless hours of content.
While we haven’t got a deep-dive into specific mechanics yet, we can expect features similar to previous games such as X-COM 2, with tense and challenging tactical encounters.
This includes the infamous 95% chance to hit shots failing to hit their mark.
The dev team at Bit Reactor has confirmed that these combat skirmishes will be on a scale of 4 to 6 man missions, as they intend to focus more on small theaters of war and low intensity conflicts instead of full-scale massive battlefields.
Apart from the tactical combat, players can expect to manage their base of operations which will be called “The Den”.
This is the place where improvements to the Zero Company will take place through research, upgrades, and hiring new recruits.
Similar to XCOM, the days (known as Cycles) will progress and there will be time-sensitive missions players will need to tackle.
Players will need to make some hard decisions whether to try and take every mission on or let some go in the spirit of preserving squad members.
Players will also be able to customize their units, such as different paintjobs for astromechs and other character appearances like clothes and gear.
“The Den” is also the place where players will get the chance to get to know the operatives more as Hawks forms relationships with the various squad members through various dialogue choices.
Authored Heroes and Exploration
The most surprising new information about the game is that there will be special “Authored Heroes” joining the Zero Company, each with their own unique backstory and storylines.
Players will have to make tough choices that not all of these characters will agree on, and as a result, some might even end up leaving altogether.We know that there will be a colorful cast of characters such as a Jedi Padawan, a Mandalorian, a hitman from the criminal underworld, and a Clone Trooper.
These characters sound like they will be similar to companions in RPG games, where they have their own agenda and reasons for joining up.
It looks like the developers are taking inspiration from Midnight Suns by allowing players to directly interact with squad members and form bonds.
Another interesting approach is that the maps and “The Den” will be explorable in a third-person view.
In an interview, the developers pointed out that they are taking full advantage of the fact that this is a story-driven single-player experience.
This means that when you load into a mission, instead of going straight into combat, players will be able to explore the map and learn the lay of the land, adding a layer of covert operations and spy elements to the story.
Visual Direction
At this point in time, it can be a little tricky to accurately assess the visuals of Zero Company as we have only seen cinematic trailers and still images.
Saying that, the art direction gives us reason to believe Zero Company will take a more gritty and grounded approach to the Star Wars universe.
While there are still hints of art design from X-COM 2, it has a distinct enough visual style that fits right in with the Star Wars universe without feeling like an animated series such as the Clone Wars.
While we do not have all the information about the characters, the options we have seen inspire confidence. In addition to the expected Clone Troopers and Mandalorians, we also get to see various alien races such as the Twi’lek or an Umbaran.
It is great to see that players will have the ability to form a squad consisting of different races or even a squad full of astromechs, which is great for visual variety.
In terms of enemies, Hawks and the Zero Company will be going up against not only the Droids of the Separatist army but also criminal gangs and a new faction unique to the game, a cult called The Infinite Coil.
Overall Impressions
A turn-based tactical strategy X-COM game set in the Star Wars universe just makes sense.
While the game is being published by EA, the development is being handled by Bit Reactor with Greg Foertsch as CEO and Creative Director.
Based simply on his previous works like XCOM and Midnight Suns, he is bringing new life to high-production turn-based strategy games.
With Zero Company, Bit Reactor is looking to deliver a strategy game that does not make sacrifices in graphics and presentation.
As Greg put it in an interview, “Depth doesn’t cost you elegance.” Being a single-player turn-based game, there are fewer latency issues, and the team aims to tell an engaging cinematic story.
Being huge RPG fans, a strong narrative goes a long way to elevate the experience. The promise of having meaningful choices and forming bonds or drifting apart sounds amazing.
With custom character creation and the promise of using a team consisting only of astromechs, there are a lot of possibilities for unique squad combinations.
It was a worrying sign that we hadn’t been getting a lot of information since its initial reveal, but what we have now has reignited our excitement for Star Wars: Zero Company.
It sounds like the devs are taking the lessons they have learned from X-COM and Midnight Suns to create a new experience for the genre.
This wraps up my preview for Star Wars: Zero Company, and it is expected to launch late 2026. Are you keeping an eye out on the game? Let us know in the comments below.