Star Wars: Zero Company

Star Wars: Zero Company is arguably one of the most intriguing games on the 2026 calendar: a turn-based tactical RPG set in the ever-popular Star Wars universe, developed by Bit Reactor in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, as announced in early 2022.

The game was first unveiled at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025 and has since steadily built anticipation among both Star Wars fans and fans of tactical strategy games. Bit Reactor's pedigree matters here, too: the studio was founded by former Firaxis veterans who helped shape the XCOM series, and that influence is obvious in everything shown so far, although the game is way more than a clone, according to its creators.

• Release Date, Platforms, Pricing
• Genre and Setting
• Gameplay Features and Mechanics
• Tech and Specs

Release Date, Platforms, Pricing

Star Wars: Zero Company has recently set an August 27, 2026, launch date for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, with no information about a potential Nintendo Switch 2 version. That means the game is narrowly preceding most of the September onslaught, though it still launches on the same day as Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy.

Pricing is set at $49.99 for the Standard Edition on PC and $59.99 on consoles, while the Deluxe Edition costs $59.99 on PC and $69.99 on consoles. Pre-orders are already open, and anyone who pre-purchases the game receives the Crystalline Astromech Pack as a bonus, which includes the R3 droid, translucent “crystalline” astromech heads for the R4 and R5 variants, and the exclusive BR-1 droid.

The Deluxe Edition is focused on cosmetics and includes a substantial Clone Wars–themed bundle. It contains the Grand Army of the Republic Cosmetic Pack, the Shadow Collective Cosmetic Pack, and five weapon set themes tied to factions and characters from across the galactic conflict.

The Grand Army of the Republic Cosmetic Pack includes the Republic Officer Uniform, the 100th Clone Company Armor Set, and the ARC Trooper Armor Set. The Shadow Collective Cosmetic Pack includes the Pyke Helmet Cosmetic and five cosmetic tattoos themed around the Pyke Syndicate, Hutt Cartel, Death Watch, Black Sun Syndicate, and Crimson Dawn. The bundle also adds five weapon set themes: 100th Clone Company, Kafrene Informant, Black Sun Syndicate Enforcer, Bespin Security, and Separatist Warrior.

In short, the Deluxe Edition does not affect the gameplay in any way, but it does give fans a deeper visual connection to the Clone Wars era and its many underworld factions.

Genre and Setting

Star Wars: Zero Company is a single-player turn-based tactics game set during the twilight of the Clone Wars era, the final and most volatile phase of the Republic before the rise of the Empire. Lucasfilm has confirmed the project is fully canon within the Star Wars timeline.

Players control Hawks, a former Republic officer (customizable in gender and race/species) who assembles the titular mercenary squad known as Zero Company to operate in the shadows of the Clone Wars. The campaign spans worlds such as Geonosis, Felucia, and Umbara, and the tone is intentionally gritty and grounded rather than heroic and polished. The developers have cited BioWare's Mass Effect as a story inspiration, while the tactical structure is firmly rooted in the XCOM style that Bit Reactor helped define.

Gameplay Features and Mechanics

Combat is fully turn-based, with the player's squad acting first and the enemy following after. Each Operator gets three Action Points per turn, which can be spent on movement, attacks, abilities, utility items, or Overwatch, and actions can be taken in any order. Here's a major change from XCOM: Overwatch works only in an adjustable cone and can interrupt enemy movement if it triggers while targets are advancing. The number of enemies an Operator can fire at depends on how much AP was invested, and hit chance changes based on the size of the cone, making it a more flexible system than a simple reaction shot, but also less overpowered. Additionally, there is no Fog of War in Star Wars Zero Company, so you won't have to worry about enemies appearing seemingly from nowhere.

Movement cost scales with distance, attack cost depends on the weapon used, and chance to hit is influenced by factors such as range and cover. The game also provides a Shot Breakdown panel so players can see exactly why a shot is likely or unlikely to land. Utilities include items such as Medkits and Concussion Grenades, while abilities range from stat buffs and enemy exposure to melee attacks that physically send enemies flying. One example the developers gave is combining Tel-Rea’s Force Push or Kabb's Uppercut with another squadmate’s Overwatch to knock enemies out of cover and into a prepared kill zone.

Advantage, Cover, and Permadeath/Injuries

As the squad lands hits, it builds a resource called Advantage, which can be spent on powerful abilities without costing AP. Examples include granting an ally an extra Action Point, calling in a rocket strike, boosting the whole squad’s chance to hit, or taunting nearby enemies into focusing on one Operator.

Cover is central to survival. Partial cover reduces enemy accuracy; full cover reduces it further; flanking improves shot quality; and higher ground can improve hit chance as well. Some cover is destructible, so static play is risky if enemies can blast away your protection.

Operators who lose all health are Downed and take an Injury. A downed unit cannot act until an ally Rallies them, and injuries apply stat penalties that persist until treated; on standard difficulty, an Operator who suffers three injuries dies permanently. That includes the bespoke Operators, whose potential deaths trigger story consequences that ripple forward. Bit Reactor noted that Star Wars itself is ultimately about loss and how to deal with it.

Specializations and Squadbuilding

The roster is split between Authored Operators and Custom Operators. Authored characters join as the story unfolds, while custom recruits can be fully edited in appearance, clothing, voice, and name, and further adjusted after recruitment. There are six bespoke story characters (clone veteran Trick, Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea Vokoss, Mandalorian survivor Cly Kullervo, Umbaran sniper Luco Bronc, Ore-Baroness Jae Mordant, and the cybernetically enhanced bruiser Kabb Uppercut), but players can create as many custom units as they want and rotate them into the squad, giving the campaign a mix of authored storytelling and player-defined composition.

Most Operators use one of eight standard Specializations: Assault, Gunslinger, Heavy, Medic, Scoundrel, Scout, Sharpshooter, and Soldier. Each specialization includes three defining abilities — an Ultimate, a Standard, and a Passive — and each role has a clear tactical identity, from frontline pressure to reconnaissance, healing, or precision sniping.

Bonds, Focus, and Dilemmas

The bond system is one of the game's core progression layers. Characters improve their relationships with each other through combat actions, operations, missions, and especially Calling for Backup, a zero-AP command that lets one Operator nominate a teammate to assist on the next attack.

As bonds rise, Operators earn Focus Points, which are spent in the Focus Tree to improve talents, abilities, and passives. When pairs increase their bond level, they can Cross Train for permanent stat bonuses, and max-level bonds unlock special cross-training passives with stronger effects. Even Romance options can reportedly develop between characters, though it is unclear whether they're available to the player character or only to NPCs.

The system also has a narrative side. Hawks will periodically face Dilemmas, where the squad offers opinions on what to do; the player's decision can strengthen or weaken bonds with specific Operators.

The Den and the Strategic Layer

Between combat missions, players return to The Den, a base of operations on the Ring of Kafrene, viewed from a third-person perspective rather than the isometric combat camera. This is where players talk to squad members, address personal concerns, rework loadouts, buy items from the Black Market, heal injuries, recruit new Operators, and upgrade the base itself.

The campaign progresses in cycles. During each cycle, players use the Holotable to review Tactical Missions and Operations available for that phase. Tactical Missions are the main combat encounters and advance the campaign or reward resources, while Operations are non-combat assignments that cost Intel and can gather loot, contacts, credits, or information.

These activities are time-sensitive: some missions and operations expire forever if ignored for too long. Completing them also builds Zone Influence in planetary regions, which unlocks rewards such as upgrades, utilities, and contacts.

Recruitment, Armory, Upgrades, and Medbay

The Recruitment facility lets players hire new custom Operators each cycle using Credits. Recruits come with their own name, talent, specialization, weapon type, and backstory, but many of those details can be adjusted afterward, and players can refresh the candidate pool if they do not like what is available.

The Armory handles weapons, mods, and utilities. Weapon modifications alter stats and effects; weapons fall into four categories (Longarm, Repeater, Rifle, and Pistol), and utilities such as grenades can be equipped depending on specialization. Operators’ weapons can also be cosmetically customized with different blaster models and colors.

The Upgrade facility improves the Den over time, including infrastructure additions such as a Droid Bay that unlocks astromech custom recruits, as well as roster-wide weapon upgrades that strengthen the entire squad. Construction takes at least one cycle and uses build slots, with more slots unlocked over time.

Finally, the Medbay heals injuries, either over a full cycle in standard beds or instantly via the Bacta Tank. The facility even includes a Memorial that records permanently lost Operators and their accomplishments.

Tech and Specs

Star Wars: Zero Company is being built with Epic's Unreal Engine 5. EA and Steam have already published the PC requirements, which are unusually high for a tactics game, especially on the recommended side.

Specs	Minimum	Recommended
OS	64-bit Windows 10/11, Windows 11 recommended	64-bit Windows 10/11, Windows 11 recommended
Processor	Intel Core i5-8400 or Ryzen 5 2600X	Intel Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory	16 GB RAM	32 GB RAM
Graphics	GeForce GTX 1080, Radeon RX 5600 XT, or Intel Arc B580	GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 7800 XT
Storage	50 GB available space	50 GB available space
Target	1920x1080, 30 FPS, Low preset	2560x1440, 60 FPS, High preset

The Steam page also confirms support for Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, HDR, and Family Sharing. No info is currently available regarding spec targets for the console versions.