Star Wars Zero Company Review: Clone Wars Tactics With a Spine

I walked into this one with my arms folded. Star Wars Zero Company, out since 27 August 2026 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, is made by Bit Reactor together with Respawn and published by EA, and on paper it is the most predictable pitch of the year: XCOM in a Jedi cloak, built by people who used to build XCOM. Creative director Greg Foertsch was art director on the modern XCOM games. You can see the shape of it before you install it.

About twenty hours in, I stopped folding my arms.

What it actually is

Turn-based squad tactics set in 20 BBY, the last year of the Clone Wars. You play Hawks, a customisable ex-Republic officer running an off-the-books outfit called Zero Company - a clone trooper designated CT-3301 "Trick", a Tognath Padawan named Tel-Rea, a few opportunists like Jae Mordant, plus whatever mercenaries you build from scratch. Between missions you run the Den: research, gear, personnel, upgrades. It is a familiar loop, but it is laid out cleanly and it never wastes your clicks.

How it plays

The combat is where the game earns the licence instead of hiding behind it. Eight specialisations - Assault, Gunslinger, Heavy, Medic, Scoundrel, Scout, Sharpshooter, Soldier - and none of them is dead weight. The moment it clicks is when dual-classing opens up and a soldier can carry a scout's kit, or your medic quietly becomes the most dangerous unit on the map.

Better still, specific pairs unlock synergies that are tied to how well those two characters know each other. Have a Scoundrel tag a target with Identify Weakness and your Sharpshooter cashes it in as a guaranteed critical. Because bonds between squadmates are a real mechanical system and not just flavour text, deciding who to deploy together becomes a build decision, not a mood. That is a genuinely smart idea, and I have not seen a tactics game land it this well.

Injuries stick. People die. The story keeps moving anyway, which I appreciate - losing Trick hurts without softlocking the campaign into a reload loop. And the writing is good. Not "good for a licensed game" - actually good, with a Clone Wars framing that treats the war as a grinding, morally filthy job rather than a toy commercial.

Where it stumbles

The third-person exploration segments between fights are the weakest thing here. They look expensive - Unreal Engine 5 is doing real work - but they are pretty corridors with almost nothing to do in them, and they kill the pacing every single time. Mission variety also thins out badly in the final third; I fought the same "hold the position" scenario more times than I care to count. And percentage-based hit chance is still percentage-based hit chance, so bring your own patience.

Who it is for

Anyone who loved XCOM 2 and wants a campaign with better characters. Star Wars fans who prefer the trenches to the lightsabers. Not a great fit if you bounce off turn-based combat or want Jedi power fantasy - the Force is present, not central.

Standard edition runs $49.99 on PC and $59.99 on consoles, with a Deluxe tier above that. At the PC price this is an easy recommendation; on console it needs a sale to feel generous.

The best Star Wars strategy game in a very long time, dragged down by filler it did not need.

Score: 8/10

Image: MediaGamut / CC BY 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McQuarrie_Concept_Darth_Vader_%26_Stormtrooper_Cosplay_at_Star_Wars_Celebration_2017.jpg