Here’s something I bet nobody expected to liven up strategy gaming: an all-new Star Wars tactical adventure, and it promises to push all the right buttons — especially if you dig clone troopers, outnumbered odds, and high-stakes gambits. So let me walk you through everything we know so far about Star Wars: Zero Company, the strategy game everybody’s chattering about on Steam and across the galaxy. This is the Clone Wars, but not as you knew it on Saturday morning.
The Big Reveal That Made the Holonet Explode
The bomb dropped at Star Wars Celebration Japan back in April 2025. There, EA, Lucasfilm Games, Bit Reactor, and Respawn announced Zero Company as a turn-based, single-player tactics game set deep in the Clone Wars. Seriously, it’s not just another shooter with clone helmets and pew-pew. We’re talking tactical, squad-based action where every move looks like a chess match against droids, the criminal underworld, and, if rumors are true, even some unexpected foes. Check the official press release if you haven’t already — fans immediately dubbed it “Star Wars XCOM” and honestly, the devs aren’t shying away from that comparison at all.
A New Era for Clone Troopers
Instead of the standard ‘hero’s journey’ or lightsaber-swinging mayhem, you step into the armored boots of Hawks. He’s a former Republic officer with more emotional baggage than a Jedi after Order 66. Hawks leads a ragtag band of operatives on dangerous missions that fly mostly under the Republic’s radar — and potentially brush right up against the next dark chapter in Star Wars history. We’re diving into the period just before and after Umbara, careening right up to Order 66 — peak drama and lore for clone aficionados.
This squad of misfits isn’t just window dressing, either. You get to recruit, gear up, and customize your entire team. Your squad could include eager rookie clones, slicer droids, a gruff Mandalorian, or even a saber-swinging Jedi, depending on how you build it. Custom outfits? Oh yes. Stims, grenades, and blasters? Absolutely. The game leans into the ensemble feel of a desperate, outmatched unit holding the line, which — let’s be honest — is classic Star Wars.
Turn-Based, In-Your-Face Tactics
Let’s talk gameplay, because that’s where things get spicy. Zero Company takes strong cues from strategy staples like XCOM: Enemy Unknown. You command your squad with turn-based orders — flanking, taking cover, hurling thermal detonators, and calling in airstrikes if you’re lucky. But it’s not just about blasting everything in sight. Players must plan ahead, because droids and criminals will tear your clones apart if you waltz in blindly.
But here’s the kicker — permadeath is on the table. Seriously. If your medic clone goes down and you’ve got permadeath enabled, that’s it. No bacta tank miracles. The story just gets a little more tragic, bonds break, and the campaign shifts because of it. That bit alone has the Steam tactics crowd foaming at the mouth. Nothing cranks up the tension like knowing one misstep means losing your ace sniper…for good.
Home Base on the Edge: The Den
When you’re not elbows-deep in blaster fire, you’ll retreat to The Den. It’s your mobile operations hub, which the devs have set on the Ring of Kafrene (that gritty, split-down-the-middle asteroid port from Rogue One). Here, you heal wounds, swap gear, forge weapons, and generally stew over who you wish you hadn’t left behind on the last mission. You can chat up your squad, uncover backstories, and — if the leaks are true — maybe even uncover some light side/dark side shenanigans in the ranks.
Between missions, you map out your campaign using a holomap that’s crammed with new side-ops and main plot beats. This foundation-building loop feels deeper than we’ve seen in any past Star Wars strategy outing, and it absolutely scratches that “just one more tactical fix” itch.
Key Den activities may include:
- Reassigning squad roles based on mission intel
- Building (and customizing) new weapons and gadgets
- Recruiting rare specialists as the war grinds on
- Unlocking special team-up attacks for squads that have fought side-by-side
- Making choices (some moral, some practical) that ripple into later story events
Relationship Goals: Not Just Pew Pew
This isn’t a clone-factory simulator. Zero Company brings in squad bonds and rivalries in a big way. If you keep two particular clones fighting side by side, for example, they’ll unlock cooperative moves — think coordinated blaster barrages or synchronized grenade tosses that clear a room even quicker. If you ignore squad chemistry, though, tensions spike, and teammates may get reckless or refuse orders — meaning your tactical mistakes can get a lot more complicated fast.
The devs revealed that these relationships aren’t just cosmetic, either. Lose a bonded trooper, and your whole team will feel the loss, sometimes shifting dialogue or unlocking side quests to honor the fallen. More depth, more replay value.
Leaked Gameplay Tidbits and Community Hype
So what are the fans saying? Reddit is absolutely buzzing. Whole threads have erupted about “permabond” mechanics and how much the art style leans into darkly-lit, gritty Clone Wars storytelling without losing the glint of hope that makes Star Wars fun to begin with.
Early leaked gameplay GIFs — always taken with a grain of galactic salt — show door-breach animations, clones diving under generator fire, and some sort of boss fight with a Hutt enforcer wielding a flamethrower. (No comment yet but the gifs look sharp.) People especially love that not everything is about Jedi superpowers. In Zero Company, a droid’s hacking skills can be just as vital as anyone’s combat prowess, and the chat-inside squad reflects that. You actually care if your astromech gets fried.
On Steam, the strategy thread regulars are already comparing Zero Company to XCOM’s best missions and Band of Brothers with buckets of blue paint. They’re swapping theories about advanced tactics, like using jet trooper verticality or stacking suppression fire in narrow corridors. And yes, the phrase “Order 66 fallout” gets tossed into wishlists for campaign DLC.
Plot Teasers and Galactic Intrigue
Besides dumping us into the worn-out boots of everyday clones rather than force-wielding legends, Zero Company promises to tell a story about the cost of war. Hawks’ squad will grapple with Republic politics, shifting loyalties, and choices that matter. Every mission launched from the Den appears to feed into a larger campaign — one where your wins, losses, and who you trust could ripple right into the closing days of the Clone Wars.
Expect cameos and deep-cuts. The developers (with experience from Civilization and Firaxis’s XCOM) teased connections to known events, but with enough brand-new characters and battles to keep lorehounds guessing. Can your squad survive Order 66? Will you risk everything for a Jedi ally…or follow new leads into the shadowy world of bounty hunters and spice smugglers? The structure sounds built for replay.
Why Now? Why Are the Pros So Pumped?
Fans of gaming’s big brain crowd know strategy titles have come roaring back post-pandemic, but Star Wars has never really scratched that itch at this scale. Past attempts always leaned more toward space fleets or Force users. Zero Company plants its flag in the mud — boots-on-the-ground tactical, set against the very best dark chapters of the Clone Wars. Add in the RPG storytelling, true difficulty spikes, permadeath tension, and customizable squads, and you suddenly have something the Steam community’s been demanding for ages.
Having Bit Reactor (whose staff worked on both XCOM and Civilization) lead this charge means expectations are sky-high for polish and depth. That “just one more turn” feeling? Count on it. The accessibility promises to rope in casuals, but from everything revealed, this isn’t watered down. The devs are aiming at the hardcore crowd who long for squad wipes and narrow escapes, with Star Wars flavor punched up to hyperspace.
What the Future Might Hold (Grab Your Bucket and Strap In!)
2026 suddenly feels very far, far away. But Star Wars: Zero Company stirs up a kind of anticipation we haven’t felt since the Clone Wars thundered on TV. If you love tactical heartbreak, grand story arcs, and seeing familiar armor in unfamiliar scenarios, start clearing your Steam wishlist now. With cinematic ambition, squad chemistry, XCOM-veteran brains at the wheel, and enough lore to drown a sarlacc, this one’s got the goods to hook strategy fans and make new ones out of every casual Star Wars slicker.
You can almost hear the planning music already. Will your squad emerge as legends, or ghosts in the archives? Dust off that helmet, commander. The next great Star Wars adventure is tactical, and nobody’s clone is expendable.
