Although they no longer have an exclusive hold on the IP, EA Games continues to fund and publish new projects set in the galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Zero Company is a whole different beast from the likes of the Battlefront and Jedi games, however. Developed by new studio Bit Reactor, Star Wars Zero Company is a turn-based tactics game, a genre Star Wars has never truly dabbled with up to this point.

Built by a studio comprised of former XCOM developers, Star Wars Zero Company aims to bring the cinematic and storytelling depth of Star Wars to a genre not well known for its storytelling. We got a chance to go hands-on with the first act of the game to see if Star Wars Zero Company meets Bit Reactor's ambitions. After spending several hours with the game, the Force might be strong with Zero Company.

Star Wars Zero Company takes place during the twilight years of the Clone Wars. You play as Hawks, a fully customizable former Republic officer and leader of Zero Company who is recruited for an operation that pits them against an emerging threat, the Coil. With the fate of the galaxy at stake, Hawks and his team must band together and put down Kundri Fathom's cult before it can tip the balance of the war in the Separatist's favor.

According to Bit Reactor, Zero Company was built upon four core pillars; staying true to Star Wars, creating meaningful choices, delivering a cinematic experience, and executing strategy and combat simultaneously. As a Star Wars experience, the slice we got to play certainly felt authentic to the lore and Clone Wars era. The introduction of the Coil and their mysterious Shadow Plague is intriguing, even though it can't affect the timeline much. The Clones Wars is a well-explored era, and though the Coil's threat felt intimidating, it never could escape the back of the mind that this story's stakes can't truly alter any main events.

Despite this, the cinematic pillar is quite top tier. Strong character writing, voice performances, and classic Star Wars cinematography all blend together to make the conflict between Zero Company and the Coil highly entertaining. Even though era constraints prevent this story from affecting the outcome of the Clone Wars, the drama and how it unfolds makes for an intriguing narrative.

Sandwiched between the story and gameplay lies meaningful choices, which begin the moment you start a game. As a fully customizable character, players can choose Hawk's species, gender, weapon, and class. You can be a female Neimoidian healer with a Repeater, or a male Zabrak gunslinger with a Longarm Blaster.

Beyond Hawks, playable characters are split into two camps; story and hirable. Story characters are recruited as you progress the campaign and include a Baroness capable of finishing near-death enemies, a Jedi fully capable of harnessing the Force, and a Mandalorian that can zoom around the map with her jetpack. Hirable characters are randomized with different classes, weapons, and abilities. What does carry across all characters is the Bond system. The more each character interacts on the battlefield and between battles in the Den, the greater their bond grows and the more cross-training stats they accumulate.

The final place choices extend to is at the Holotable where you'll engage in Operations to learn more about the Coil, launch missions, acquire weapon upgrades and credits, spread your influence, and progress the story. Unfortunately, you can't do everything. Operations and missions are only available for so much time, and you'll often have to make tough decisions about where you spend your Intel. This is especially important as specific missions could see the Coil gain additional advantages. Overall, choices do matter in Star Wars Zero Company, and how the system plays out throughout a complete playthrough.

As a turn-based tactics game built by alumni of the XCOM franchise, Star Wars Zero Company unsurprisingly plays a lot like them. For each mission, players assemble a squad of four characters, are dropped onto an isometric map, and then spend Action Points (AP) per character to perform actions. Mission types include sabotage (planting explosives), rescuing hostages, eliminating all enemies, and more.

Between missions, you'll be able to upgrade characters, assign utilities (equippable items like grenades), and customize weapons. You may also have to assign injured characters to the Medbay after they've been downed in battle. Much like other Tactics style games, every character can die, including story-based characters. Keeping them alive during missions, and properly healed at Medbays, is essential if you don't want to see your in-memoriam wall get clustered with fallen allies. Alternatively, you can turn off permadeath if you are worried about losing your allies.

In combat, Star Wars Zero Company plays familiarly to other tactics titles. Each character gets three AP per turn that can be spent on movement, attacking, using utilities, and setting up Overwatch, a reaction zone that counters any enemy movement within the cone. Zero Company doesn't do anything particularly new with its mechanics, but they're executed well. Setting up strategy, executing flawlessly, or finding an excellent workaround after a botched setup made Zero Company a thrilling adventure throughout our time with the game.

The only disappointing part of combat we found was with melee characters, including Jedi ally Tel-Rea. While these units can move much farther and faster than any ranged character, they also come off the most susceptible to dying. With only 3 AP points, more often than not, these characters are left out in the open and exposed to enemy fire. Glass cannons are incapable of hit-and-run tactics. Because of this limit, melee characters need a serious buff before launch.

Star Wars Zero Company also needs some optimization ahead of launch. Our play session featured numerous glitches, like the camera getting stuck out-of-bounds, turn switchers lasting more than a minute, and animations bugging out. As funny as it was seeing B-1 droids slide across the battlefield, it was hard to ignore the others. Bit Reactor said they are aware of issues, but with launch so close, it's difficult not to be a bit worried about the technical state of the game.

Our play session came to an end with an epic mission on Bespin where the legendary Anakin Skywalker joined the squad as a guest character. Star Wars Zero Company, in that time, proved how well Star Wars and tactics mesh. Combat may not be groundbreaking, but it's got depth, strategic bones, and execution to make for a fun experience. The story is interesting, even though its impact is clouded by an era we already know the outcome of. Some technical work needs to be done to smooth out the experience, something Bit Reactor can hopefully get done ahead of launch. Star Wars Zero Company left us wanting more, and thankfully we won't have to wait that much longer.

Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Star Wars Zero Company

Released August 27, 2026

Developer(s) Bit Reactor

Publisher(s) EA

Franchise Star Wars

PC Release Date August 27, 2026

Xbox Series X|S Release Date August 27, 2026

PS5 Release Date August 27, 2026