Rogue One has become one of the most beloved modern Star Wars movies, even spawning an arguably more popular TV series in Andor, which serves as a prequel to the 2016 film. Fans loved the fresh take on the classic franchise. It brings a new aesthetic to the Star Wars world and introduces an ensemble cast that fans immediately fell in love with. It’s a slice of Star Wars that seems like an excellent direction for the franchise to move toward, giving fans more stories that let non-Jedi shine, while providing a darker look at the Star Wars world. While a Rogue One-style game isn’t on the horizon, Star Wars: Zero Company might be the closest we’ll ever get to that vibe.
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Star Wars: Zero Company‘s Ragtag Group of Heroes
Zero Company was announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan. It’s an upcoming turn-based tactics game from Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment, and Lucasfilm Games. As we’ve seen in games like X-Com and Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, tactics games are practically built for stories surrounding an unlikely group of heroes.
We don’t know too much about Zero Company, but everything we’ve seen thus far points to that being exactly what we’re getting. Players will step into the shoes of Hawks, a disgraced Republic Officer who finds himself at the helm of Zero Company during the midst of the Clone Wars.
Joining his crew is an ensemble cast that spans the Star Wars saga. You’ll add everything from astromechs to Jedi to your squad, giving you plenty of options for team selection when you head into combat. Like X-Com, Zero Company supports permadeath at higher difficulties, which should only make the bonds forged between the crew even stronger.
So far, we know Zero Company will include a Clone Trooper named Trick, a Jedi Padawan named Tel-Rea Vokoss, the Mandalorian warrior Cly Kullervo, Luco Bronc, who formerly served in the Umbaran military, and an unnamed astromech droid. You’ll be able to customize the characters, and you can even create your own squad members. That latter option could become important in permadeath mode if you make too many wrong choices.
That huge cast of characters will go a long way to nailing the Rogue One vibe. The team still needs to deliver a solid story to keep players interested, but if you love an ensemble cast in Star Wars media, Zero Company should be right up your alley.
Zero Company‘s Secret War
The similarities between Zero Company and Rogue One don’t end with the large cast of characters. Again, details about Zero Company are still relatively light, but everything Respawn and Bit Reactor are saying points to a secret war. Specifically, the early press release calls it “a war you don’t see, the one fought in the shadows. The war beneath the war.”
That should sound similar to you if you’ve seen Rogue One. It’s not going to be a carbon copy, but it’s clear the developers used it as heavy inspiration for Zero Company. What’s strange is that the Clone Wars might be the most explored era of Star Wars at this point, thanks to Dave Filoni’s animated shows. Threading that needle to give players something compelling that doesn’t seem shoehorned in will be a tough task.
Thankfully, Respawn has done well with the Star Wars Jedi series. We know less about Bit Reactor’s narrative chops since this is the team’s first game together, but having Respawn in their corner should be a huge boon.
The initial press release also promises that we can see how our choices impact the galaxy on the in-game map. Again, this could go the wrong way considering the setting, but it might be a fun way to see how your successes and failures shape the universe.
This is some slight spoilers for Rogue One, but those characters didn’t get to see the impact of their mission. The ending isn’t as impactful without that narrative choice, so it’s intriguing to see the developers highlighting this aspect of Zero Company. Will it make the story less impactful, or does the restraints of the Star Wars universe mean Bit Reactor and Respawn won’t be able to take meaningful narrative risks?
Either way, Zero Company seems like a promising direction for Star Wars. Fans have been treated to a few great real-time strategy games in the past, but Zero Company‘s turn-based gameplay could be a breath of fresh air. If you’re a fan of Rogue One or X-Com, it’s definitely worth keeping your eye on Zero Company as we near its 2026 release window.
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