Star Wars Zero Company understands that Star Wars games should feel less like the movies and more like the toys
Star Wars Zero Company is praised in this early impression for combining XCOM-style tactical combat with a more imaginative understanding of the Star Wars setting. The writer argues that it succeeds because it feels less like a direct attempt to recreate the films and more like playing with Star Wars action figures, encouraging players to invent stories, relationships and outcomes for their squad.
The game changes XCOM’s familiar formula with three action points per turn, directed Overwatch cones and Advantage Points, alongside a base-building hub and missions that can permanently lose favoured characters. Although the writer considers themselves only a lapsed Star Wars fan, they find the game compelling because its world-building and tactical systems evoke the open-ended creativity of 1980s Star Wars toys.
- Zero Company blends XCOM tactics with imaginative Star Wars play.
- Its systems encourage player-created stories and squad attachments.
- New tactical mechanics distinguish it from standard XCOM.
New here? Start with this
Star Wars is a long-running science-fiction series set in a galaxy of rival governments, rebel groups, space travel and unusual powers known as the Force. Its best-known stories follow characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Princess Leia, but the setting also contains many soldiers, criminals, alien species and worlds beyond the films’ main cast.
Star Wars games have taken many forms, from action adventures that closely follow film characters to strategy games that let players command larger forces. XCOM is a separate series of turn-based strategy games in which players manage a team of soldiers, make careful moves during missions and face the possibility that characters can be permanently killed.
Zero Company uses that squad-based approach in the Star Wars setting. The appeal of this kind of game can come from players making their own decisions about a group of characters, rather than simply replaying a familiar film story.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A Star Wars game can be strongest when it treats the setting as a playground rather than a museum piece. Tactical systems, custom squads and permanent consequences let players create personal stories in the universe, capturing the imaginative freedom many associated with playing with the toys rather than merely replaying familiar film scenes. This approach can also make the licence welcoming to people who are less invested in canon.
The case against
Many players reasonably want Star Wars games to foreground the films’ distinctive characters, drama and cinematic spectacle. A strong connection to established stories and visual language can provide emotional clarity and authenticity that an open-ended tactical sandbox may not, especially for fans seeking to inhabit recognisable moments from the saga. Departing too far from that may risk making the Star Wars identity feel secondary to the underlying strategy game.
Business Celebrity Companies Entertainment Film Offbeat Weird & Viral