Star Wars Zero Company preview – Tactical action in a galaxy far, far away
Being a franchise that’s now nearly 50 years old, there have been many, many Star Wars games over the years. They’ve included space shooters, racing games and action adventures, but the upcoming Star Wars Zero Company by Bit Reactor ventures into new territory. Putting you in control of Hawks, the leader of a group of mercenaries, this is a single-player game driven by turn based tactics.
Set towards the end of the Clone Wars era, Star Wars Zero Company finds Hawks, known for their efficiency at getting things done, being hired to deal with an emerging threat to the galaxy. And so, in control of the titular Zero Company, you’ll need to assemble and manage an expert team in order to complete any missions sent your way.
Despite Star Wars Zero Company being a story-driven turn-based adventure, you’re free to create your very own Hawks, with you able to select one of six races, which include Human, Devoranian and Twi’lek, before further defining their appearance. You can select their specialisation, too, choosing from the likes of Gunslinger, Medic, Assault and Sharpshooter to suit your preferred style. And then to finish things off, you select your preferred weapon class.
Getting into the actual gameplay, anyone that has played a turn-based tactics game will be familiar with what’s on offer. With the battlefield turned into a grid, you move each member of your team and perform a limited number of actions. When you’re done, you end your turn and let the CPU move its units, hoping that it doesn’t do too much damage before you’re back in control again. To achieve victory, you typically need to either wipe out the enemy team or complete a specific objective.
Effective placement of your units is very important here; fail to make use of cover and they’ll be cut down rather quickly. You also need to weigh up the AP you have and how is best to use them. For example, is it worth moving a unit a little further at the cost of performing an additional attack, or is it better to hold back and put them in Overwatch, allowing them to take shots at enemies that move into their range when your turn is over?
Add in a range of special abilities that can have quite an impact on the outcome of the battle if they’re used effectively, such as commanding a team member to assist in your attack or making use of grenades, as well as opportunities in the environment to take advantage of, and you have enough options available to you in Star Wars Zero Company to make its gameplay enjoyably deep and engaging.
What will likely come as a relief to some is that you don’t need to be turn-based tactics game connoisseur to enjoy Star Wars Zero Company. A range of difficulty settings means it’s accessible to all players regardless of whether they’re familiar with the genre or not. What’s more, those who do like a challenge are especially catered for, with a Permadeath mode that ups the tension as you engage in battle, and a Beskar mode which disables the manual save option, forcing you to live with your choices.
What’s particularly surprised me about Star Wars Zero Company is the fact that you explore locations from a behind-the-shoulder viewpoint when not in battle, very much giving the game an action-adventure vibe. You’ll be in direct control of Hawks between missions, too, exploring what’s called The Den in order to talk to your team members and manage their loadouts before heading out into action again.
All in all, my limited time with Star Wars Zero Company so far has left me eager to play more. I’m keen to follow Hawks’ story to its conclusion, taking part in many tense turn-based battles along the way. There’s not much in terms of innovation here, but it doesn’t really matter; with its team having worked on titles such as XCOM and Gears of War Tactics, this is Bit Reactor leaning on its strengths, delivering what is set to be yet another fantastic game in the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars Zero Company launches 27th August on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
