“Star Wars Zero Company” Is Exactly the Game Fans of the Clone Wars Have Been Looking For

Ever since Star Wars introduced fans to the turbulent Clone Wars, they have been clamoring for more. Many have fallen in love with the battlefields, followed along with all the gripping stories, and spent fortunes collecting every unique ship and helmet that the era has delivered. While there has been no shortage of content set within that era, it feels like the modern video game landscape has mostly overlooked it. Or at least it had until Star Wars Zero Company.

Electronic Arts

Through the likes of Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Republic Commando, players have gotten to experience fighting through the Clone Wars. However, since 2017’s Battlefront 2, the games seem to have leaned away from the era in favor of the rise of the Empire. On top of that, players had not really experienced the Clone Wars from a strategical lens in seemingly forever. Luckily, Star Wars Zero Company has fixed that in glorious fashion.

Developed by Bit Reactor and published by Electronic Arts, the game puts you in control of the fully customizable leader of the titular Zero Company, Tesh Hawks. As Hawks, you must head out into the battlefield to make a name for yourself and beat back a mysterious foe that could turn the tide of the Clone Wars forever. And to do this, you must become a master of strategy.

The core gameplay loop of Zero Company is heavily reminiscent of the XCOM series, which really helps make this title stand out from Star Wars games that have come before. Through turn-based top-down gameplay, players control a squad of both custom and story-based mercenaries in frantic and challenging missions. Said missions occur across a variety of locales from the Star Wars universe, with some iconic characters even showing up throughout.

Electronic Arts

Anyone who has played a strategy game before will be familiar with this type of adventure. On their turn, the player can make a limited number of actions with their units. These include moving them, attacking, or using some of their special abilities. Each mission has a special objective to complete, and if the player does not plan their strategy well, then everything can quickly fall apart. Even if they are the best strategist around, things often never go as planned.

Outside of these missions, players spend their time managing their base of operations. There, they conduct research to give them more things to help them in their adventures, upgrade their gear, and launch a variety of investigations or tactical strikes to unlock even more things to play with. Additionally, this is their time to bond with their teammates and learn some exciting things about them in the process.

The base of operations features many elements that are reminiscent of a role-playing game, making this experience a nice blend of multiple genres. Battles test your might, and in between you can make decisions that may affect the relationship you have with your units. The better the bond, the stronger you are on the field of battle.

Electronic Arts

While it would be nice to delve into the story and talk about specific story beats further, Zero Company is best experienced without knowing what will happen. It is filled to the brim with great characters, surprising twists, and so much Star Wars goodness that no fan will want to miss out on it. It does truly deliver that Clone Wars tale that many have been craving, with some fun additions that they may not expect.

Overall, Star Wars Zero Company puts such a fantastic XCOM-like spin on the franchise that it’s surprising it took a studio this long to make it. There’s something for fans of the genre and fans of the franchise to love here, and hopefully, there are many more adventures like it in the future. Not only would it be great to see more Clone Wars strategy games, but you could take this formula to any era of Star Wars and deliver even more wonderful adventures.