Star Wars Zero Company will tie squad bonds to mission decisions when it launches on PS5 on August 27. Bit Reactor’s turn-based tactics game puts Hawks in charge of a mercenary crew, but the campaign is about more than winning firefights. Choosing one mission over another moves the story forward, while missing recruits or losing teammates through the optional permadeath system can close off character-specific missions.
Set around 20 BBY, near the end of the Clone Wars, the story follows Hawks, a former Republic officer trying to free the Zero Company from debt owed to the Hutt family. A lucrative contract soon pulls the crew into a conflict involving the Infinite Coil, a deadly Separatist-aligned cult rumored to possess unnatural abilities. A PlayStation Blog hands-on report details how the campaign combines that mystery with squad management, investigation, and tactical combat.
The game’s official page also makes its setting clear: this is a Star Wars story built around a crew of outsiders rather than a standard Republic military unit. Bit Reactor developed the game in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games.
Hawks leads a mercenary crew through the Clone Wars
Star Wars Zero Company establishes its identity immediately through its sound and presentation. The score uses sweeping strings and booming horns, while the visuals give the Clone Wars a dusty space-western look. Character creation then lets players shape the crew in considerable detail, from facial features and body types to clothing, voice, and personality.
Personality choices such as rogue, mentor, or professional affect how characters speak. Players can also choose battlefield talents, combat specializations, and weapon classes. A sharpshooter can take a longarm blaster and use a fully accurate shot, while a pistol-focused operative can take a more direct approach. Other talents can draw enemy attacks or sabotage and detonate objects on the battlefield.
Droids add support to the squad
Astromechs can join the unit as support operatives. They are less versatile than humanoid teammates, but their ability to grant allies extra AP, or Action Points, can open up more actions during a turn. Their personalities are customizable too, so players can fill the Den with helpful beeps or a steady stream of attitude.
Combat rewards careful use of AP
Most missions unfold across destructible arenas where Hawks and the Operatives must complete an objective while surviving enemy forces. AP governs movement, attacks, and character-specific talents, which makes every turn a small puzzle. Players can set up overwatch to cover an area, use class abilities, or spend those points on a precise attack when an opening appears.
Objectives vary from rescuing an injured ally to destroying a target object. The changing goals give battles a different rhythm, especially when cover starts breaking apart and a safe position turns into a very temporary one.
The Den and Holotable shape the campaign
Between missions, the Den acts as the crew’s home base. Players can speak with Operatives, recruit new members, adjust appearances and load-outs, purchase weapon mods, and treat injured teammates. Upgrades can expand the Den and improve its utilities. Hawks can even play a few notes on the base’s guitar-like Marfaset.
The Holotable is where the next steps are chosen. Campaign missions, side quests, and character-specific assignments sit alongside non-combat Operations that can provide information or loot. Some decisions are binary, while others unfold through several choices. Those outcomes can also affect influence across the Galaxy Map, where gaining authority in certain regions unlocks rewards.
Because selecting a mission advances the story, the campaign does not allow players to handle every opportunity at once. Recruiting or speaking with certain characters can open their personal missions, while an operative lost in battle may take those missions with them.
Squad relationships can unlock new abilities
Dilemmas give Operatives a chance to argue for their preferred course of action, and Hawks’ decisions can change the bonds between them. Relationships grow when characters are paired for assists, complete missions together, or receive attention through character-driven quests.
Strong bonds provide Focus points that improve an Operative’s skills. Characters can also teach each other passive abilities and special tricks, giving those relationships a direct place in combat. The system adds a human layer to the tactical planning, especially when a pairing that works in battle also creates better conversations back at the Den.
Clone Wars lore fills out the mercenary story
The campaign includes familiar corners of the Star Wars universe without leaving Hawks and the Zero Company behind. Early missions feature the monocle-wearing Gorga the Hutt and references to the Black Sun Syndicate. Later chapters bring in major Clone Wars-era events and dangerous figures, with Jedi eventually joining the party.
Star Wars Zero Company launches on PS5 on August 27. Once you have had a chance to command Hawks and build your crew, tell us what you think in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Star Wars Zero Company
Developed by Bit Reactor
Command an elite squad through a gritty and authentic story in Star Wars Zero Company, a single-player turn-based tactics game.
- Genre Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Tactical
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Perspective Bird view / Isometric
- Modes Single player
- Release August 27, 2026
- Publisher Electronic Arts
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Age Rating
