Filling the void left by a beloved franchise is a curious task. It’s monumental, absurd, downright exhausting, and the best you can hope for at the end of the day is that someone says your game reminds them of the good times. Money is nice and all; passion and inspiration more so, but why would any developer, triple A or indie, give up any chance at inner peace, make their mind a sunless space, and wake up every day to an equation from years ago that only has one conclusion? Why try to create a turn-based tactical strategy title in the wake of XCOM 2?
I say this because the team behind the 2016 title at Firaxis is pretty much disbanded after the failures of Chimera Squad and Midnight Suns. Granted, this was more of the original creators not being given a chance to further build on it – which is a story for another time – but despite its many issues at launch and the months it took to fix, XCOM 2 remains a benchmark for the genre in tactical strategy greatness. And because of a devoted fan base and modding community, it’s remained relevant for as long as whether you’re adding new customization options and mission types or completely overhauling the game with The Long War.
Then there’s the whole rigmarole around making a new Star Wars title. But since Zero Company was originally pitched as a Titanfall game – which must have set off some alarm at Electronic Arts to prevent that from happening – it shifted to a galaxy far, far away, during a period that still feels timeless: The Clone Wars.
Still, it feels like a game that shouldn’t exist under the publisher in its current form. EA isn’t exactly rushing to deliver quality narrative-focused single-player titles. Add to that the fact that Star Wars as a whole is very cold right now – even after the amazing success of Andor and shows like The Ninth Jedi – and the fact that Zero Company has found any audience at all is incredible.
In fact, it’s done even better than that, at least on Steam, peaking at nearly 78,000 concurrent players shortly after launch. That makes it the franchise’s second-biggest launch on the platform, just behind LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. It’s not only proven more popular than both Star Wars Jedi titles but also Star Wars Battlefront 2, which had multiplayer. And keep in mind that this is despite numerous performance issues, crashes, and GPU temperatures that can carry you through the Winter.
Obviously, sales have yet to be announced, but Zero Company has landed much better than anyone expected, even without considering the critical reception or the sheer amount of competition. What keeps players coming back? How did Bit Reactor, which is comprised of former Firaxis employees and directed by Greg Foertsch, who served as art director on XCOM, pull it off? As it turns out, the team did this by actually not trying to make a game that’s explicitly like XCOM 2?
Which is funny because for all intents and purposes, Zero Company – to borrow that cliché yet again – scratches the same itch. But those who dive deeper will find it’s surprisingly lacking in some ways compared to its inspiration. Remember the extensive base-building? How you had to plan when constructing different facilities, ensuring there were enough resources, much less that it was ready when needed the most? How about research, where prioritizing different upgrades and weapons was a careful balancing act of resources and time?
Neither of those features is really present. Oh, you can upgrade the Den in different ways, and unlock access to facilities like the Black Market, but it’s nowhere near as strenuous or stressful. The same goes for the weapon variety, which is surprisingly limited and relies entirely on mods to spice things up.
Not that any of these factors are necessarily shortcomings, mind you, but it’s so antithetical to most other tactical turn-based games, much less XCOM, as to feel downright baffling. But spend enough time with Zero Company, and it becomes abundantly clear that it’s a Star Wars game above all else.
Instead of the universe, lore, and setting serving as wrappers to present an XCOM clone, it’s the other way around. Zero Company harnesses everything that makes XCOM so good – and so delightfully frustrating, like shot percentages – to tell its story of Hawks and his mercenary outfit, struggling to make ends meet before ending up embroiled in something that’s way beyond their pay grade. It does what so few Star Wars properties have over the years: Make you care about these characters, to the point that you actually want to seek them out after missions and have a quick chat.
Sure, there’s the Bond System, which provides random buffs depending on how well two squadmates work together (which the Call Backup option leans into). But I actually cared for Trick and wanted to know more about his backstory as a Clone Trooper. Beyond her prowess as a Padawan, Tel-Rea exudes charm and determination, effectively going off the Jedi grid to honor her late master’s wishes. Then there’s Cly, a Mandalorian whose introduction to the team is as awesome as it is arrogant (and lo and behold, she’s absolutely busted in combat). Even Hawks has some great lines, telling Tel-Rea that he’s “a disgrace, not a rat” after she’s concerned that he’ll report her to the Jedi.
Beyond the story and characters, however, it’s incredible how Bit Reactor captured the vibe of Star Wars within this gameplay format. It makes sense in all the right ways, even though it’s a far more aggressive and forward-thinking gameplay loop that reveals many of its cards in the first several hours. An elite unit like XCOM being careful, at least early on, makes sense, especially given the circumstances surrounding its battles against Advent in the sequel. Zero Company is a complementary inverse. It’s because the outfit consists of mercenaries, cast-offs, and those who prefer to keep a low profile that they have nothing to lose and hence throw caution to the wind when necessary.
The gameplay responds in kind by offering a venerable power fantasy of tactical options. Calling for backup and guaranteeing the follow-up hits? Firing multiple times per turn with the Blaster Pistol, which can become a menace once upgraded and optimized? Advantage that unlocks some devious abilities that can take out multiple enemies in one fell swoop? Those are a few examples, and that’s before you begin improving each character. After all, you’re playing a Jedi, a Mandalorian, a Clone Trooper, an Umbaran Sniper and none other than Kabb Uppercut. It makes sense that they should feel strong, without completely breaking any sense of challenge for the first several hours.
Of course, by not following the power curve of XCOM 2 and leaning more into a traditional single-player narrative, even with its side missions and Operations to gather resources, Zero Company isn’t approaching the same level of replayability. And at this point, it’s hard to predict whether it could receive the same groundswell of modding support to help it endure for years beyond. But when it comes to the look and feel of Firaxis’s titles, intermixed with the narrative and writing that make for such a compelling Star Wars tale, I’m still surprised that it came out so well.
It may take some time to properly draw you in, but once its hooks are in, Zero Company proves extremely addictive throughout its 35 to 40 hours of runtime. Maybe the positive reception will push Bit Reactor to add on to it – heck, maybe this will convince EA to see some kind of franchise potential. Either way, it’s one of the few tactical turn-based titles that doesn’t try to simply copy XCOM 2 in terms of gameplay feel and flow – and is all the better for it.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
