Star Wars Zero Company is getting all the XCOM comparisons and deservedly so. Both are sci-fi, turn-based tactics games where decisions have rippling effects and continually squeeze players, aspects that are undoubtedly because of the shared talent behind them. But Zero Company is also somewhat similar to Marvelโs Midnight Suns, Firaxis Gamesโ underappreciated tactical game that undershot its publishers expectations. While there are a few contributing factors, the license didnโt seem to overwrite how niche strategy games could be. Zero Company runs that same risk of not meeting the reception its quality begs for, as, like Midnight Suns, it seems to be an incredibly well-made and thoughtful strategy game.
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Developer Bit Reactor is bolstering Zero Companyโs appeal to make sure itโs not just attractive to those who love going on Ironman runs in XCOM: Enemy Unknown and taking 15 minutes per turn to make the most optimal decision. According to game director Greg Foertsch, presentation is a huge part of this game. In his view, tactical games shouldnโt have to choose between gameplay and a more cinematic presentation.ย
โUntil now, we just scratched the surface,” said Foertsch. “Turn-based tactics games should have better visuals and, of course, deep gameplay loops. The depth of the game should not cost you elegance. Depth and immersion are not mutually exclusive. In Zero Company, players can and should expect both. They can have high production values, deep gameplay, and immersive stories. All of these things, when working together, should enhance the experience for players.”
Star Wars Zero Company Has Surprisingly Well-Choreographed Cutscenes
The proof is rather clear right off the bat. Zero Company looks incredible, and thatโs not just when the camera is zoomed out. Each character โ from the aliens to the clone troopers โ is beautifully detailed and, more importantly, animates with a level of fluidity more comparable to the average AAA action game. Everyone moves with the type of nuance not typically seen in the tactical genre where cutscenes are often an afterthought. The heavily customizable main character Hawks, for example, will fidget with gadgets or subtly dart their eyes at others, all while moving the scene forward or slyly making a silly quip. Its mechanical and fleshy beings donโt just stand there as the camera cuts back and forth between faces.
This kind of cinematic presentation is quite alluring and has the potential to keep Zero Company appealing throughout its, according to the team, beefy 30-hour campaign. The scenes in the early part of the game have a great energy to them because the tech is able to better let the performances shine more clearly. Cutscenes just donโt look as though they were tacked on.
Some of this quality is derived from the tension that bears out in the introduction when it becomes obvious players arenโt being guided to the credits on rails. Hawks and their squad of skilled operatives are always coming up against various pressures the player has to deal with. Operations have players gathering intel and making decisions โ which will affect the story or missions down the line โ and these options vary from playthrough to playthrough. And when permadeath is turned on (which Foertsch said he recommends), any character can die. There are certain exceptions, but any non-Hawks character, from the randomized grunts to the more authored and named characters, can be killed and the story continues on.
Zero Company Is Designed to Make Players Commit
The scope of these decisions is hard to discern during a demo since not every seed that was planted was given time to bloom, but this variability is extremely attractive and isn’t just exclusive to the story. Classes and loadouts can already be highly customized so players can intimately craft how each soldier plays, so itโs fitting Bit Reactor translated this liberating approach to the narrative. It opens the door for replayability and gives players authorship over their own playthrough and like they arenโt playing something specifically designed by the developer. Executive producer Orion Kellogg said this approach goes one step further because this commitment to consequences is what makes Star Wars so compelling as a whole and a great fit for video game medium.
โWe have all sorts of mediums we can tell Star Wars stories in, and to tell a story in gaming, itโs something you want to feel,โ said Kellogg. โYou want to feel reactions to the choices you’ve made. When you get towards the end of the Zero Company campaign, youโll be surrounded by your choices, and youโll be living with those. So itโs not just dialogue and cinematics. Itโs so much more than that. Itโs so much more holistic.โ
This holistic approach obviously includes the moment-to-moment gameplay, and Zero Companyโs introductory hours hit many of the necessary genre targets. Every squad member has a set amount of points to spend per turn, and itโs all about thinking two steps ahead and moving with intent. Manipulating enemies, finding the best cover to hide behind, knowing how to best use stronger abilities, and choosing when to go into overwatch are all relatively standard features Zero Company pulls off rather competently.
Being so early on meant these tools were all relatively rudimentary, which works for the tutorializing nature of a first act. The true test will come later when players are given more complicated scenarios to overcome and a wider toolbox to play with. Keeping pressure on players so they are right on the edge of failure is where the genre often thrives (the game will have multiple difficulties, too), so it remains to be seen how it is balanced to always yield the stress inherent to the best tactical titles. The lengthy skill trees and ability to mix and match talents, specializations, secondary specializations, and weapons to make truly unique operators are promising factors and help illustrate the depth that likely lies in Zero Companyโs later hours.
Zero Company Is Star Wars Through and Through
All of these operators pull from Star Warsโ history and demonstrate how well the franchise fits this genre. Players can load up a squad of unique astromech droids, double down on clone troopers, or create a gallery of alien races, at least one of which Bit Reactor has added to Star Wars mythos. The Den, the base the squad returns to after each tactical mission, is located on the Ring of Kafrene, which some might recognize from Rogue One, and itโs not the only known celestial body plucked from other Star Wars media.
All of the extra terrestrials, planets, and other accoutrements are important to making Zero Company feel authentic, but, according to Foertsch, it goes deeper than that. He noted how Star Wars was an โamazingly deep franchiseโ that had โat least one design answer for every challengeโ the team faced. Itโs how the Clone Wars era was picked, which Kellogg called a โreally dramatic canvas.โ Narrative director Aaron Contreras dug deeper into this by talking about the polarization within the galaxy and the โpowder keg environmentโ that naturally allows for engaging dramatic moments, all of which culminate in a “fundamentally Clone Wars story.โ The tone of the era matched with the tone the team wanted to evoke during its gameplay and was central to Star Wars, something Foertsch summed up nicely.
โStar Wars shines with groups of people thrust into uncommon situations to overcome insurmountable obstacles,โ said Foertsch. โHonestly, we couldnโt believe [a tactical game] hadnโt been done [in the Star Wars universe] before.โ
A lot of the magic in turn-based tactical games comes in when their many systems interact with each other and create various player-driven stories that didnโt come directly from the pen of a writer. The pressure that comes with needing to make the right decisions and having to live with the results are elements that seem to be running all throughout Zero Company both on and off the battlefield. Itโs impossible to judge how well all of it will be balanced, but the pieces are undoubtedly there and interesting even in their primordial states.
However, Zero Company‘s tactical nature might limit its reach. And thatโs a true shame, given how well it is shaping up. But the cinematic presentation is uncharacteristically impressive and will ideally get more players to tune in and overcome their biases, a luxury Midnight Suns did not seem to get with its admittedly crude visuals. Foertsch said he hopes this will get Star Wars players who didnโt know Zero Company was the game they have wanted all along.
โI think the genre [takes it as] a badge of honor [by saying] it doesnโt need good graphics or a good story and itโs all about the gameplay,โ said Foertsch. โIt is all about the gameplay, 100%. But that doesnโt mean you get to compromise on the other stuff. You can and should have all that stuff. For us, we are trying to reach more people and show more people what is so special about this genre. And it might be the game people didnโt realize that they wanted.โ
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