Star Wars Zero Company is a project I've had my eye on for quite some time. A game like XCOM set in the Star Wars universe with a focus on characters rather than the typical soldiers of previous games? It ticks all the right boxes for me.
Game developer Bit Reactor is comprised of Firaxis veterans, so this isn't new territory for them. Development began in 2022, and according to the always-reliable leaker, the studio's efforts will soon peak.
Zero'ing In On Zero Company
According to Dealabs' Billbil-kun, Star Wars Zero Company is scheduled to release on August 27th, just before September. This will be one of the busiest launch periods in gaming history, with publishers scrambling to avoid clashes with Grand Theft Auto 6.
The release date will be officially revealed tomorrow during the Summer Game Fest stream. Star Wars Zero Company is available for $49.99 (standard) or $59.99 (digital deluxe).
Zero Company was developed in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment. Studio founder Vince Zampella, now deceased, invited XCOM art director Greg Foertsch to create a Star Wars tactical game under Electronic Arts.
A big internal debate regarding Zero Company was whether or not to include the Permadeath, a mainstay of the XCOM series. In XCOM, characters are created by the player, so losing a character is an emotional blow to the player, but a character's death does not necessarily mean missing out on any content.
The first trailer for Zero Company, a turn-based Star Wars game from Respawn and Bit Reactor, was released during Star Wars Celebration.
Respawn's next Star Wars game is set for release next year, and we've just gotten a brief first look at it.
However, in Zero Company, the character is perfectly realized through full voice acting and writing. A character's death can deprive players of future content and make some of the narrative design tricky to navigate. This is because the plot requires characters who can't die or failsafes that add development time.
Ultimately, Bit Reactor felt that the additional stakes and emotional depth that permadeath provides to the game was worth the effort of writing about characters who may or may not be alive.
As for me, I wholeheartedly agree with that. I love RPGs where aspects of the game can change dramatically depending on the player's actions, and if Bit Reactor can pull this off, I can already feel how replayable Zero Company will be.
