What happens when you take the Star Wars universe, remove the Jedi from center stage, and combine it with the brutal tactical decision-making of games like XCOM?
You get Star Wars: Zero Company.
Launching on August 27, 2026, this turn-based tactical RPG takes players into the final days of the Clone Wars, putting them in command of a customizable squad of mercenaries, soldiers, aliens, and droids.
Developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, Zero Company is taking the franchise in a direction we've rarely seen before.
And there's one mechanic that makes every mission considerably more stressful:
Your squadmates can die permanently.
Here's everything you need to know about Star Wars: Zero Company.
🌌 The Setting: The Twilight of the Clone Wars
Zero Company takes place during the final years of the Clone Wars, but don't expect to spend the entire campaign following Jedi and famous Skywalker-era characters.
Instead, the game focuses on the galaxy's military fringes and criminal underworld.
Players take control of Hawks, a former Republic officer who becomes the leader of Zero Company a group of highly skilled mercenaries and outsiders brought together to investigate and confront a mysterious emerging threat.
Hawks is fully customizable, allowing players to determine their character's appearance, gender, and voice.
That makes the campaign feel less like watching another Star Wars story unfold and more like creating your own military story inside the galaxy far, far away.
🎯 Gameplay: XCOM Meets Star Wars
This is where Zero Company becomes particularly interesting.
Rather than traditional real-time lightsaber combat, the game is built around turn-based tactical encounters.
Every movement matters.
Every attack matters.
And because mistakes can have permanent consequences, charging blindly into a firefight isn't exactly the best strategy.
Turn-Based Combat
Battles are presented from a tactical, top-down perspective.
Players can position squad members around the battlefield, use cover, manage line of sight, coordinate attacks, and exploit enemy weaknesses.
The goal isn't simply to eliminate everything on screen.
It's to outthink your opponent.
☠️ Permadeath Changes Everything
One of the most interesting mechanics in Zero Company is the possibility of permanent death for squadmates.
Lose an important member of your team?
They don't necessarily come back in the next mission.
That means the relationships you build with your squad aren't purely cosmetic. Losing a character you've spent hours developing can completely change the way your campaign unfolds.
It also creates a very different kind of Star Wars experience.
There are no guaranteed heroes.
Anyone can become expendable.
🤖 Build Your Own Astromech
Droids aren't simply background characters in Zero Company.
Players can create and customize their own astromech droids, giving them specialized roles within the squad.
These mechanical companions can provide battlefield support, manipulate encounters, and deploy explosives to create tactical opportunities.
That opens up another layer of squad customization.
Want a team built around overwhelming firepower?
Or perhaps a squad that relies on mobility, support abilities, and battlefield control?
The choice is yours.
👥 Build Your Own Zero Company
The heart of the game is its squad.
Zero Company isn't made up of a single class of soldiers. Players recruit a diverse group of characters from across the galaxy, each bringing different abilities and combat specialties.
Your squad can include:
- Customized mercenaries
- Alien characters
- Military specialists
- Story-driven companions
- Custom-built astromech droids
This gives players plenty of freedom when deciding how their team approaches a mission.
And because squad members can potentially die permanently, the team you start with may not be the team you finish with.
🏙️ More Than Just Tactical Battles
Zero Company isn't entirely played from a tactical overhead perspective.
Between missions, players can explore various third-person hub environments.
These areas provide opportunities to interact with squadmates, discover additional Star Wars lore, and learn more about the people behind your team.
That combination gives the game two distinct identities:
Tactical battlefield → Personal squad adventure
One moment you're planning your next move.
The next, you're walking through a hub and learning why one of your squadmates joined Zero Company in the first place.
⚔️ A Different Kind of Star Wars Story
Perhaps the biggest selling point of Zero Company is what it chooses not to focus on.
There are no lightsaber duels dominating the gameplay.
No Jedi protagonist carrying the entire story.
Instead, players experience the Clone Wars through soldiers and mercenaries operating in a dangerous galaxy where survival often depends on preparation rather than supernatural abilities.
That gives Bit Reactor an opportunity to explore parts of the Star Wars universe that traditional action games rarely touch.
The galaxy feels bigger when the Jedi aren't always the center of it.
🎮 Platforms and Release Date
Electronic Arts is releasing Star Wars: Zero Company simultaneously across current-generation platforms.
The game launches on August 27, 2026, for:
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X|S
- PC
The simultaneous release means players across all three platforms can experience the campaign at launch.
🚀 Why Zero Company Is Worth Watching
There are plenty of Star Wars games.
But Zero Company is doing something surprisingly different.
It's taking one of the most recognizable fictional universes ever created and combining it with high-stakes tactical gameplay, squad management, RPG customization, and permanent consequences.
The result could be one of the most interesting strategy games in the franchise's history.
And if you enjoy games where one bad decision can haunt you for an entire campaign, this might be the Star Wars game you've been waiting for.
🎮 The Bottom Line
Star Wars: Zero Company isn't trying to be another Jedi power fantasy.
It's about commanding a squad and trying to keep them alive.
With turn-based combat, customizable characters, recruitable companions, custom astromechs, third-person exploration, and permadeath mechanics, Bit Reactor is taking the franchise somewhere genuinely different.
The real question isn't whether you'll win the battle.
It's who will still be standing when it's over.
Star Wars: Zero Company launches August 27, 2026.