The Force isn’t the only thing that needs balance in Star Wars Zero Company, that much is fair. But the idea that Tel-Rea Vokoss, a Jedi Padawan, might break the game? That’s overthinking it. This isn’t Jedi: Survivor. This isn’t about power fantasy. It’s a tactics game. The Jedi aren’t gods here. They never were.
Bit Reactor knows what it’s doing.
The Jedi Weren’t Built to Win
The Jedi might be iconic, but the Clone Wars showed just how human they really were. Arrogant. Isolated. Blind to what was coming. Tel-Rea’s brief character profile mentions she’s seeking to honour her fallen master. That’s not the kind of Jedi who’s meant to carry a whole mission. That’s a survivor. That’s someone carrying weight. She’s young, still learning, probably fractured. The Force is with her, sure, but not always in the way people assume.
And in turn-based strategy, even the Force needs rules.
The idea that Tel-Rea is “too strong” to balance is built on a misunderstanding. Jedi aren’t invincible. Especially not Padawans. Especially not in a world where the Republic is collapsing and the Jedi Order is falling apart. You don’t need to nerf her. You just need to understand what she is and what she isn’t.
Balance Isn’t About Power, It’s About Role
It’s tempting to compare Zero Company to games like Midnight Suns or XCOM. But in those games, heroes are designed around exaggerated archetypes. Hulk smashes, Deadpool quips, and so on. Even then, they all get scaled to fit the grid. That’s just tactics design. Zero Company will likely follow suit.
If Tel-Rea does end up stronger in combat than, say, Luco Bronc the Umbaran sharpshooter, that’s fine provided the rest of the squad brings something else to the table. A Jedi might leap into a cluster of droids and carve them up. But a clone trooper like Trick might hack a terminal mid-fight or rig a detonation to shift the odds. Luco might pick targets off before Tel-Rea even gets close. Cly Kullervo of Clan Verminoth might have her own brutal tricks to play.
Jedi don’t need to be balanced by making them weak. They’re balanced by building a game around trade-offs: cooldowns, positioning, timing, vulnerability. Use Tel-Rea wrong and she’ll fall. Use her right and she’ll shine, but so should everyone else.
There Are No “Main Characters” in Zero Company
This isn’t the Cal Kestis show. No chosen ones. Zero Company is a tactics game about a squad. You’re not following a single Jedi’s journey, you’re running a unit with its own story, and you shape what that looks like.
According to reports from the Celebration panel, you can create an entirely custom squad. Don’t want a Jedi at all? Fine. Build your squad of clones, rogues, Mandalorians, whoever you like. Want five Jedi in the team? Also fine, but that shifts how you play. A squad full of Force users might lack tech skills, firepower, or stealth. Those weaknesses limit your tactical options.
What matters more than balance is synergy. That’s what tactical combat lives on. A Jedi who’s amazing in isolation but bad at combo’ing with the team? That’s self-balancing design.
Jedi Can Be Powerful and Still Die
The Jedi were lights in the dark, but they didn’t win. They didn’t stop Order 66. They didn’t outsmart Sidious. They got caught up in a war they didn’t understand. So when you put a Padawan like Tel-Rea in a battlefield full of customisable heroes, you don’t have to sand down her strengths. You just have to place her in the story with the same vulnerability that defined the Jedi’s fall.
Even in gameplay, the idea that a Jedi might “clear a whole map” is only scary if the maps themselves are poorly designed. But Bit Reactor isn’t new to this. Their leads come from XCOM and Midnight Suns. They know how to balance challenge across different character archetypes. They know how to make you think before every move even if you’re wielding a lightsabre.
Let the Player Decide What Balance Looks Like
What Zero Company seems to be doing well so far is letting players define their squad’s identity. That’s what makes the balancing act work. You’re not told you have to take the Jedi. You’re have options. If Tel-Rea ends up overpowered, people will take her every time. If she’s too weak, no one will bother. That’s where tuning comes in. But tuning isn’t the same as dumbing down. The trick is to make every option fun. Not equal, but worth using.
And if we’re being honest, there’s something very Star Wars about having flawed heroes. Tel-Rea might be disciplined and determined, but she’s still a Padawan. Her power doesn’t make her the solution to every fight. That’s good design. That’s good storytelling.
In the end, Tel-Rea doesn’t need to be balanced down. She needs to be written and designed with the same care the rest of the squad gets. Let her be strong. Let her have moments. But make her fallible. Make her need the team.
That’s balance. That’s Zero Company. And it’s very Star Wars.