Across the decades, Star Wars’ secret sauce has always been a feeling – an intoxicating mixture of whimsy and adventure that’s nearly impossible to replicate. That’s especially true with the original film trilogy and the prequel film trilogy, even if the two have distinctly different flavors.
The series forays into video games have seen a lot of success, but Zero Company does something I’ve never seen a Star Wars game do before: it seamlessly combines the two different eras of the original and prequel film trilogies into something that not only recaptures the magic of those stories, but entirely stands on its own.
By taking the strategic XCOM formula and splicing it together with the whimsy of Star Wars, Zero Company becomes one of the best adventures you can find in a galaxy far, far away.
Zero Company takes place in the midst of the Clone Wars of the prequel trilogy, following an ex-Republic officer named Hawks who left their military post after losing an entire unit. The game picks up long after this event, with Hawks now running the titular “Zero Company,” a mercenary group that takes on odd — and often off-the-books — jobs across the war-torn galaxy. But on an ordinary mission, Hawks discovers a bizarre magic plague, a secret plan hatched by the Separatist army, and a contract with Republic intelligence to take on jobs the army can’t do.
The story of Zero Company is firmly set within the Clone Wars, and along with that comes the era’s distinctive visual style and aesthetic. Fascinatingly, though, this narrative feels remarkably like a Rebel one, more in line with the original trilogy.
Zero Company’s secretive missions are a perfect vessel to explore the fringes of Galactic Society, the underworld, and the harsh reality common people face in a Republic dangerously veering toward authoritarianism. Zero Company meaningfully explores these themes, using a ragtag band of outcasts as a filter to view them. For all intents and purposes, this story could slot into the original trilogy just as easily, making it a fascinating mish-mash that Star Wars has seldom seen before.
And that all starts with Hawks themselves, a wonderfully charismatic hero who’s nearly impossible to dislike. I played the game as the male Hawks, but you can choose a female Hawks as well. The best way I can think to describe Hawks is as if Han Solo was played by Mathew McConaughey; a hero with a biting sense of humor punctuated by a thick Southern drawl, backed up by some genuinely hilarious writing.
Hawks is the grounding force of Zero Company, the down-to-Earth scoundrel that keeps everyone humble. It’s a common trope in Star Wars, but it works well here because Hawks has some real weirdos to bounce off of, including a clone named Trick who has nightmares of losing his helmet before battle, an alien named Kabb who’s obsessed with opera and had a Yoda-like stilt to his speech, and a lost Jedi Padawan, who’s not quite sure how to be a Jedi.
Zero Company relishes the quiet moments where your characters get to bond, translating those bonds directly into gameplay enhancements and skills in battle. Again, this inevitably ends up giving the game more of a Rebellion-era feel, as each of your operatives holds some kind of dark secret or goal that has led them to Zero Company.
There’s a selection of defined characters to build your squad out with, on top of the ability to recruit generic operatives. And you’re going to need the numbers because in Zero Company, literally anyone can die.
This is an XCOM-style game through and through, meaning complex turn-based combat where each and every one of your characters can fall in battle. But it’s not instant death, luckily, as every character can take two injuries (downs), and the third one means permanent death.
It provides some flexibility to the game’s combat, also tying into the heavy focus on teamwork and operating the squad as a whole. You can take up to four characters into each battle, though you are occasionally joined by some kind of guest character or have to rescue a hostage, thus gaining another character midway through battle.
Zero Company is, essentially, split into three parts: The hideout, Operations, and Tactical Missions. In the hideout, you can talk to characters, conduct research to improve weapons or facilities, and then prepare for missions. On the mission board, you can use intel (gained from Tactical Missions) to conduct quick little text-based expeditions called Operations that grant various rewards, boost your influence in that specific zone, and unlock new Tactical Missions. These add some flavour without actually engaging you in combat. For that, you’ll want the Tactical Missions.
There’s a ton of variability in how you build your forces; alongside the class system, which decides a character’s skills, each can equip one of four weapons, along with utility items like medpacks or grenades.
Classes and skills lean into different styles of play; Astromech droids are entirely support-focused, generating AP (action points) and buffing the party, while the Assault is focused on heavy damage and drawing aggro. Zero Company smartly leans into the Star Wars universe, making classes and characters feel like distinct pieces of said universe. Tel-Rea, the Jedi character, is almost entirely melee-focused, but comes with her own entirely distinct skills and combat abilities, essentially requiring you to build your party around her.
But by far the most interesting element of building your squad is the relationship system. As characters battle alongside each other, their relationship levels will rise, and each level lets you pick a perk that applies to both operators. You might be able to permanently increase ranged damage, or critical chance, or the range of movement on first turn. This provides a ton of flexibility for progression, and feels extremely rewarding for painting units together – and directly ties into that narrative sense of camaraderie that builds as well.
Zero Company has a lot of different systems and stats to keep track of, and it can be overwhelming at first, but eventually everything clicks together in a superbly satisfying way, like finding that section of a puzzle that just effortlessly comes together.
I’m not hesitant to say that outside of XCOM itself, this is one of the best squad-based strategy games I’ve ever played. And that’s largely because of how well the game leans into the uniqueness of the Star Wars universe, using its source material in nearly every narrative beat and gameplay mechanic.
But the beating heart at the center of everything is the convincing way the game builds your tight-knit squad, the little family that quickly starts to develop. It’s in the little moments in your base, where your janitor says he’s gonna find that space mouse…. and eat it, much to the chagrin of Hawks. It’s in those little moments in battle, where a skill you’ve invested in lets your party member execute a follow-up attack at the perfect time, taking out a Sniper Droid that might have dropped your own squadmate next turn.
And I think the initial smaller scope of Zero Company’s narrative really helps nail that Star Wars feel. There are bigger stakes that eventually develop, but for the first half of the game you’re simply living out life as a band of mercenaries, getting to know your squaddies, and trying to juggle the various systems and injuries your crew gets.
Zero Company uses the epic backdrop of the prequels and the Clone Wars to tell an original trilogy-style story about a band of heroes that simply come together in the right place at the right time. Star Wars is no stranger to good video games, and Zero Company quite handily blasts its way into the conversation as one of the best.