I have never properly played a turn-based tactics game. XCOM passed me by, and every time I have looked at one since, the grid and the percentages put me off before I started.
Five hours into Star Wars Zero Company, that has changed. I like it a lot, and I would tell anyone curious about the genre to start here. This is a first impressions piece rather than a verdict, because five hours is a fifth of the campaign, but this is the game that got me into tactics games. It is interesting, it is set in a corner of Star Wars I want to spend time in, and it taught me as I went. Two things are already annoying me and I will come to both.
Zero Company works as a way into turn-based tactics
Here is the shape of it. You play Hawks, a former Republic officer who assembles a team of operatives for hire during the Clone Wars, chasing a Separatist-aligned cult called the Infinite Coil and its leader Kundri Fathom. You take four of them into each mission.
Every character gets three action points a turn, split between moving and doing. Successful actions feed a shared Advantage pool that pays for the bigger abilities. Squadmates in good positions take support shots for each other, and operators who fight together build bonds that unlock more of that.
I picked all of it up as I played. By the third mission I was thinking two turns ahead. What put me off this genre was how these games usually introduce themselves, and this one does it well.
Metacritic has it at 85 from 45 reviews, and the point that comes up again and again is that it is a good entry point for people new to the genre. That is the part I can speak to, having played none of these games before this week.
The Star Wars of it helps. A Mandalorian with a jetpack is an easy way to learn about height advantage, and the Clone Wars has enough going on in it to carry thirty hours.
The camera locks at the wrong moment
My first complaint is the camera. When you activate a move and pick a new piece of cover, the view locks to whatever angle you were holding when you confirmed, and you are stuck with it. Often you end up looking at the cover itself. Position is everything in this game and the camera is how you read it, so this matters.
I want a free roam option, something that lets you pull back and watch a move play out from a wide angle. I am five hours in and still learning the systems, so it may already be there and I have not found it.
GamingOnLinux put it well: “Zero Company also shares some of the same problems XCOM has with dodgy camera angles during action, like firing behind certain cover – you don’t really get to see anything apart from a wall or box at times which is really annoying.” That is it exactly. You line up a good shot and then watch a crate.
Launch night cost me the tutorial twice
My second complaint is one I hope is already fixed. I played on release day, got through the tutorial, and the game did not record it, so I sat through the whole thing again. Several character customisation options would not work either. Both have worked fine since, which I assume means a patch went out.
Other people had a rough first night too. TechTimes rounded up reviewers hitting mid-battle failures that wiped progress. In a game with permadeath, that means losing characters to a bug. EA had a day-one patch ready, but reviewers were working without it.
It has run cleanly on a launch PS5 since
Past that first night it has been solid. I am playing on an original launch PS5, not a Pro or a later revision. No crashes, no stutter I have noticed. Five hours of one person’s experience is not a benchmark, so take it for what it is.
PC looks different. PC Gamer hit two hard crashes and graphical glitches during the review period, RPGFan reported slowdown and freezing that added dozens of minutes to a playthrough, and wccftech had textures failing to load in cinematics. Steam’s user rating has been sitting at Mostly Positive, and Gamemeca put that down to optimisation, with players reporting frame drops on hardware that should handle it.
If you are choosing a platform this weekend, that gap is worth knowing about.
Should you buy it?
Anyone curious about tactics games should start here. That is the strongest thing I can say five hours in, and I mean it as a real recommendation.
If what you want is Star Wars at pace, this is not it. I prefer Jedi: Fallen Order and Battlefront, and I still do. They are quicker, they are more immediate, and I go back to them in a way I am not sure I will with this. Zero Company asks you to sit and think. The campaign runs 30 to 40 hours with no New Game Plus, so it is one long run you sit down for.
It launched on 27 August on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. I paid £59.99 for the deluxe edition on PS5.
I will write a full scored review once I have finished the campaign, which on a game this length will take me a couple of weeks.
Frequently asked questions
Is Star Wars Zero Company like XCOM?
Close enough that every reviewer reaches for the comparison. The core is the same: turn-based squad combat on a grid, cover, line of sight, permadeath. Bit Reactor adds the Advantage pool, which rewards you for chaining successful actions, and a support system where well-placed squadmates fire on each other’s behalf. It also has a proper story with characters who talk to each other, so it is worth a look even if you bounced off XCOM.
How long is Star Wars Zero Company?
Around 30 to 40 hours for the campaign, depending on how much you take on outside the main path. Press Start Australia clocked 30 hours, PC Gamer put it at the higher end. There is no New Game Plus, so it is built as one run. Permadeath means a bad mission can change the shape of your squad for the rest of the campaign, which adds time if you reload.
Does Star Wars Zero Company run well on PS5?
On an original launch PS5 it has run cleanly for me, past a rough opening night where the tutorial did not save and some customisation options would not work. No crashes or noticeable stutter since. The console version has drawn far fewer complaints than the PC one, where players have reported frame drops on hardware that should handle it. If you have a choice of platform, console currently looks like the safer buy.
Does Star Wars Zero Company work on Steam Deck?
Not well. PC Gamer described it as a 15 to 20 frames per second mess on Deck, which is unplayable for a game where you are reading a grid. GamingOnLinux got better results on a Steam Machine, 35 to 55 frames per second at 1080p on medium with FSR set to Quality, and noted it runs out of the box on SteamOS under Proton 11 despite being marked Unsupported. Treat handheld as a maybe later.
Do you need to know Star Wars to enjoy it?
No. It sits during the Clone Wars, so knowing the era adds texture, but the game introduces its own cast and its own villain. Knowing what a Mandalorian or a Jedi Padawan can do gives you a head start on reading the squad.
