Star Wars Zero Company is shaping up to be more than just “XCOM with lightsabers.” The tactical RPG blends turn-based cover combat with authored story companions and a permadeath system that actually lets your squad continue without fallen teammates. Aaron Contreras, who led narrative on both Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor, is heading up the story.
You play as Hawks, the only character guaranteed to survive. Everyone else can die permanently, but not instantly. The game uses an injury system where squad members take persistent damage between missions. You can pay for treatment or risk deploying them again with stacking injuries. Push your luck too far and they’re gone for good. The story adapts and continues without them.
Zero Company offers eight standard classes: Assault, Heavy, Sharpshooter, Scoundrel, Soldier, Gunslinger, Scout, and Medic. Four additional exotic classes exist with tighter restrictions. Characters can respec between standard classes, giving you flexibility when someone gets killed and you need to fill that role.
Beyond your core story squadmates, you can recruit and customize mercenaries. This dual approach lets the game serve both narrative-focused players and those who want full XCOM-style emergent storytelling with disposable soldiers.
The coverage confirms a third-person exploration mode where you control Hawks outside tactical missions. Think Mass Effect‘s Normandy or Midnight Suns‘ Abbey, but for walking around Star Wars locations between fights.
Contreras cited Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars as inspiration, filtered through the grittier lens of Rogue One and recent Star Wars streaming shows. PC Gamer describes moment-to-moment combat as familiar territory for XCOM veterans, calling it like “slipping on a favorite pair of jeans.”
