Along with focusing on a grounded story with Star Wars Zero Company, developer Bit Reactor also wants to introduce friction between the various characters in its cast. In an interview with PCGamer, narrative director Aaron Contreras has revealed details about how RPGs with ensemble casts typically handle character interactions, and what sets Star Wars Zero Company apart.
He noted that the story won’t have a “chosen one”-styled narrative. Rather, it will focus on the team of operators that serve as its protagonists. Because of this, Star Wars Zero Company is “not a personal fantasy game.”
“This is a game about a team, a team of operators who come from all over, and it’s not a personal fantasy game,” Contreras said. “Hawks isn’t the lone chosen one who’s going to step out and do all the things with the swing of their mighty, mighty saber or whatnot. Hawks is a leader, negotiator, has to be cunning, strategic.”
”It’s a tactical strategy fantasy. So it had to be about how you manage and lead this team, and how you deal with these different personalities and their strengths and weaknesses.”
There is also going to be plenty of moral ambiguity in Star Wars Zero Company, despite the setting as a whole leaning quite hard on the polar opposite philosophies presented by the Light and Dark sides of the Force. Its setting—the Clone Wars era—has also played a key role in this, since war often tends to blur the lines between what could be considered good or evil.
”We know the way that these ideologies will shake out,” he said. “The dust will settle into an era of Rebels and Empire, of very light and dark, good and evil. But things aren’t so clear during the Clone Wars era, and that makes for a really interesting opportunity.”
Players will have to truly step into the shoes of the leader, especially when it’s time to deal with interpersonal conflicts between team members, thanks to conflicting worldviews. It’s “part of the fantasy of being a leader,” said Contreras, who noted that the bond system also plays a role in this.
“You’re gonna have people with really strong opinions about some questions, and you can’t make everybody happy. So finding that as a feature was really key for us as a way to force setbacks in otherwise-upward movement in the bond system.”
Earlier this week, studio founder Greg Foertsch spoke about thanking Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm for “taking a chance” on the studio and its project. While he acknowledged that the two companies could have stuck with a “safe” and iterative game, they instead gave Bit Reactor a shot, despite tactics games being relatively niche in the grand scheme of things.
“Looking at some of the things going on in the industry, it’s very derivative. Art is always that way. Games are no different. But I think, looking at the boldness with which both Respawn and Lucasfilm looked at us,” said Foertsch.
You’ve got these two giants taking a chance on someone like us, having the vision and the courage and the conviction to risk that on a brand-new studio.”
“The faith in us to do something new, to do something outside of their norms. For both places, turn-based tactics isn’t something that they’ve done.”
Star Wars Zero Company is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S later this year.