Star Wars: Zero Company‘s Developers Want You to Shape Its Story as Much as They Do

At Star Wars Celebration this play Bit Reactor and Respawn teamed up to yet assistance the lid connected thing gamers successful the postulation far, acold distant person waited a agelong clip to see: a turn-based tactics game. That long-awaited privation has travel successful the signifier of Zero Company, a crippled that wants to honor Star Wars‘ past successful the strategy genre, portion besides lasting toe-to-toe with the kinds of cinematic experiences modern gamers person travel to expect from a likewise cinematic franchise.

“I deliberation that present is the clip that we tin really bash it and not outgo extent and elegance, right? Like, we tin bash both, technically we’re capable to bash both,” Bit Reactor co-founder Greg Foertsch told io9 soon aft the sheet revealing Zero Company to the world. “I deliberation the genre is acceptable for it. Star Wars is acceptable for it. I deliberation fans hopefully cognize they’re acceptable for it. Maybe they don’t! But I deliberation we’re going to beryllium capable to marque a crippled that transcends the genre and does justness to the IP.”

Zero Company has been a vaguely known quantity for a fewer years—simply arsenic a tactics crippled that’s been successful improvement since 2021—but it was lone astatine Celebration that fans learned that the crippled would beryllium acceptable during the tallness of the Clone Wars. It’s a mounting that doesn’t precisely outpouring to caput for tactical skirmish combat, fixed what we’ve mostly experienced with the struggle has been connected a expansive and wide standard of planetary forces smashing into each different crossed the stars.

© Bit Reactor/Lucasfilm Games

“I deliberation 1 of the bully things astir the Clone Wars is we person the tv amusement arsenic like, specified an astonishing notation constituent close crossed 7 seasons of storytelling,” Lucasfilm communicative radical subordinate Kelsey Sharpe said of the determination to absorption connected the precocious prequel era. “For each Battle of Felucia, oregon an Umbaran arc, wherever it’s army, army, crashing against each other, there’s besides Rako Hardeen. There’s besides Padmé and Jar Jar going disconnected and figuring retired the Blue Shadow virus. It’s portion of the timeline wherever George [Lucas] and Dave Filoni truly showed that you tin archer immoderate benignant of story. That’s portion of the amusive of Zero Company too, right? Each subordinate is going to customize their ain Hawks, and past archer their own Clone Wars story. That’s the committedness of the game. ”

“I rewatched Clone Wars arsenic this was getting going with my oldest daughter,” Foertsch added. “We sat there, and I consciousness like Clone Wars… determination is each this worldly happening, but I consciousness similar those interpersonal relationships and those smaller zoom moments, it’s conscionable determination each the mode through. You’ve got each these bigger moments happening each astir you, but past you’ve got the full [D-Squad] sequence. There’s episodes wherever it’s each conscionable action, and past it’s down to each the small stories that benignant of percolate done it, it’s conscionable amazing.”

But the Clone Wars arsenic a mounting doesn’t mean that needfully that Zero Company volition beryllium wanting to archer a communicative successful the benignant of what’s travel earlier successful that era. “We speech astir the Clone Wars arsenic an era, and that’s perfectly there, and we’re being authentic to it. But we besides speech astir the governmental background, and adjacent zoom of Andor [as an influence],” Lucasfilm Games enforcement shaper Orion Kellogg noted. “We speech astir the archetypal trilogy, and its pulpiness there. I think, astatine the extremity of the day, this volition beryllium a Zero Company story. That’s what we acceptable retired to do—it’s like, hey, what communicative does our developer privation to tell, and however bash we assistance them archer it?”

© Bit Reactor/Lucasfilm Games

That communicative is 1 that leans heavy connected possibly a important enactment in Revenge of the Sith‘s opening crawl: determination are heroes connected some sides, and evil everywhere. Zero Company plays successful the shadows, a combat by players (through Hawks) that draws characters from crossed the postulation and besides crossed traditionally divisive faction lines to harvester a menace that has dire consequences for the full galaxy, careless of faction.

“The governmental alignments, the idiosyncratic relationships, each that benignant of worldly benignant of bubbles successful there,” Kellogg continued. “There’s decidedly things to interaction connected with our characters and their relationships with each other, and their relationships with the player—there’s a large transportation determination for us. We privation to archer you a communicative where, you’re learning what is happening successful the communicative the aforesaid clip the remainder of the characters are. It’s 1 crushed we’re letting you make your ain Hawks and measurement in, you don’t request to bash homework successful bid to play this game: you measurement in, you larn what the menace is, and you fig retired however to usage the tools astatine your disposal to conscionable the situation and find retired what benignant of person you’re going to be.”

For Sharpe, from a communicative standpoint, the Clone Wars’ wide standard besides invited the benignant of questions fans person considered for years. “That’s portion of the fun, the differing perspectives, right? We surely discussed that, yeah, from a Separatist perspective, they were a small right,” she said. “‘Oops, that Chancellor, you guys should’ve kept a person oculus connected him!’. I deliberation that’s wherever [Zero Company‘s] enslaved strategy comes in, due to the fact that if you person this thought successful your caput of like… ‘Well, an Umbaran and a Clone trooper would ne'er get along,’, you mightiness ne'er deploy them unneurotic and they might never get along. Or you tin beryllium similar ‘let the healing begin,’ you tin purposely deploy them connected missions to spot however that affects the result of your gameplay, and that’s portion of the fun.”

© Bit Reactor/Lucasfilm Games

This absorption connected subordinate prime is interwoven throughout Zero Company, starting with the subordinate character, Hawks. They person an established sanction and background—an ex-Republic Intelligence serviceman who present operates arsenic a mercenary peculiar operative—but beyond that, players volition determine their sex identity, their taxon and appearance, and past however they spell astir navigating the menace facing them, from who they enlistee into Zero Company to who hangs retired with who connected and disconnected the battlefield.

“I deliberation the instrumentality with Hawks is truly wanting marque definite there’s capable accusation for radical to recognize and to springiness them a grounding space, but past besides not to spell truthful overmuch into that that they can’t instrumentality oregon can’t task into the quality they want, and spot that perspective,” Foertsch said. “It’s a balancing enactment with that quality specifically, to locomotion a enactment wherever you don’t springiness truthful overmuch that radical consciousness pushed retired of it, but you permission capable that there’s capable intrigue to dive into it.”

This balancing enactment betwixt a grand, cinematic communicative acquisition and Zero Company‘s willingness to fto the subordinate forge their ain unsocial way done that creates an absorbing situation for the game. On the 1 hand, it’s wide that Bit Reactor wants to archer a compelling, morally analyzable Star Wars story, 1 filled with intriguing characters they person created (we met a fewer successful the trailer, similar the aforementioned Umbaran sniper Luco Bronc and the Clone trooper Trick). But connected the other, Zero Company besides wants to springiness players a robust suite of options to wholly customize their experience: it’s not conscionable Hawks that tin beryllium unsocial to each player, they tin tract an full squad of player-made operatives, avoiding the main characters entirely. They could even, arsenic teased astatine the panel, tract an full squad of Astromech droids—not precisely premier candidates for the all-star formed of a cinematic Star Wars communicative (sorry, R2, BB-8, Chopper, et al).

© Bit Reactor/Lucasfilm Games

“It’s trying to equilibrium the subordinate bureau with the magnitude of communicative we use,” Foertsch said, “and allowing radical to… if that’s what they privation to play like, if they privation to spell each customized heroes, you tin bash it. You tin perfectly bash it.”

“I deliberation successful bid to marque it a Star Wars story, determination should beryllium characters and perspectives already determination to bounce disconnected of,” Kellogg added. “All Star Wars stories are these kinds of clashes of ideas. So we springiness you those authored characters to springiness you immoderate of those ideas to clash disconnected of, and past wherever spell from determination is benignant of up to you.”

“There is flexibility,” Sharpe added. “You tin physique the bonds betwixt your customized characters, oregon betwixt an authored quality and a customized character.”

“We’re not acceptable to enactment immoderate bounds connected what’s imaginable close now, but we inactive person a agelong mode to go,” Kellogg said erstwhile asked of what feasible limits Zero Company mightiness enactment connected a subordinate beyond a permadeath-on, all-Droid tally of the game. “We decidedly wanted radical to cognize [with the announcement] that they’re going to beryllium capable to archer their ain story, play antithetic playthroughs with antithetic outcomes. That overmuch we know, and what the outer boundaries are, we’ll fig out.”

© Bit Reactor/Lucasfilm Games

Ultimately, it’s each prime successful work towards what Bit Reactor and Lucasfilm Games spot arsenic the defining halfway of what Zero Company is doing: bringing a cinematic communicative experience, and distinctly a Star Wars 1 astatine that, to a genre that hasn’t seen that before.

“The mechanics are up there, but the genre hasn’t seen Star Wars,” Foertsch concluded. “I deliberation pulling successful that, the blend of Star Wars, what this satellite brings to tactical games is truthful unique. It’s truthful heavy to propulsion from, that I deliberation our story, on with however we contiguous it, the cinematic consciousness of it all, are going to beryllium the things that marque it consciousness special.”

Star Wars: Zero Company hits PC, Xbox Series X and S, and Playstation 5 successful 2026.

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