Star Wars Zero Company released worldwide on August 27, launching simultaneously at 15:00 UTC across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with no early access window. The PC version has settled at a Metascore of 86, with 40 of 43 reviews landing positive, which multiple outlets have flagged as the highest Metacritic score any Star Wars game has posted in 22 years.
The game is developed by Bit Reactor, a studio founded by former Firaxis developers who worked on the XCOM series, in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment, and published by Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm Games. It sets a turn-based tactics game, structurally close to XCOM, during the Clone Wars.
What the game actually is
Zero Company follows Hawks, a customizable former Republic officer who leads an independent squad hired for covert operations rather than open warfare. The core roster includes Clone Trooper Trick, Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea Vokoss, Mandalorian warrior Cly Kullervo, and Umbaran sniper Luco Bronc, and the pitch throughout marketing has leaned on the XCOM comparison directly: squad-based tactical combat with permadeath stakes layered over a Star Wars setting that mostly skips the movie-era heroes in favor of a smaller, more specific unit.
Pre-order buyers received a Crystalline Astromech Cosmetic Pack, unlocking a cosmetic droid variant, but there was no staggered or early access release tier ahead of the August 27 date.
Where it lands against the franchise’s other recent games
Star Wars games have had a strong run over the past several years, and Zero Company’s 86 puts it ahead of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which sits at 85 on Metacritic. Critics reviewing Zero Company have specifically called out the writing and squad dynamics rather than just the tactics layer, with several describing the narrative as unusually strong for the genre.
Star Wars Zero Company brilliantly merges deep XCOM-style tactical strategy with a surprisingly rich, squad-driven narrative that stands among the franchise’s finest.
That combination, a mechanically faithful tactics game paired with writing strong enough to get singled out on its own, is not a given in the genre. XCOM-likes tend to live or die on encounter design and system depth, with story treated as connective tissue between missions. Reviewers pointing at the cast and dialogue as a standout feature suggests Bit Reactor spent real effort on the parts of the genre that usually get the least attention.
What happens next
A launch this strong changes the calculus for how EA and Lucasfilm treat the license going forward. Zero Company is a single-player, non-live-service game in a publishing environment where EA has leaned heavily on ongoing monetization for its biggest properties, and an 86 Metascore out of the gate is the kind of result that tends to get pointed at in earnings calls. Whether that translates into a sequel, DLC, or just a quieter vote of confidence in Bit Reactor for future Star Wars work is not yet public information, and nothing has been announced beyond the base game and its pre-order cosmetic pack.
