Republic Commando remains the standard for Clone Wars squad gameplay two decades after release. Zero Company arrives in 2026 as a turn-based tactical strategy game set in the same war, different year, fundamentally different approach. Both games focus on small-unit combat during the Clone Wars, but they diverge sharply in how they execute that premise and what they ask from players.
Genre Shift Changes Everything
Republic Commando was a first-person shooter built around real-time squad commands. You controlled RC-1138 “Boss” directly while issuing orders to three squad mates through context-sensitive prompts and formation commands. The one-button command system let you breach doors, set up sniper positions, or hack terminals without breaking combat flow. Squad AI handled moment-to-moment decisions while you maintained direct control over Boss’s movement, aiming, and weapon fire.
Zero Company operates on turn-based tactical grids. You position characters, select abilities from a six-option wheel (four basic, two special), and execute actions before enemy turns. This removes the twitch-reflex requirements of FPS gameplay and replaces them with planning, positioning, and resource management across multiple turns. Combat becomes about predicting enemy movement patterns, managing ability cooldowns, and coordinating attacks between squad members rather than maintaining sight lines and managing ammunition in real time.
The genre difference affects how players interact with squad composition. Republic Commando’s Delta Squad functioned as specialized tools you deployed through simple commands. Sev handled sniper positions, Scorch took demolitions, Fixer managed technical tasks. Zero Company requires direct control over each character’s individual turns, meaning you engage with their distinct abilities more actively.
Squad Composition Reflects Different Wars
Delta Squad consisted of four clone commandos trained together on Kamino, deployed together from Geonosis forward. They shared military doctrine, equipment standards, and command structure. Individual personalities emerged through dialogue and banter, but mechanically they operated as specialized extensions of the same military unit. The homogeneity served Republic Commando’s narrative purpose: exploring the clone experience from inside the ranks.
Zero Company assembles a mercenary unit from incompatible backgrounds. Hawks commands a clone trooper who left or was separated from Republic service, a Jedi Padawan operating outside Temple authority, a Mandalorian gunslinger during her people’s official neutrality, and an Umbaran sniper who fought against the Republic during their homeworld’s invasion. The R-series astromech and M-3VO the pilot droid round out a squad with no shared loyalty except the contract.
This composition creates internal friction that Delta Squad never had to address. Luco Bronc hasn’t forgiven the Republic for Umbara. Trick left the GAR for unstated reasons. Cly Kullervo joined purely for revenge against an unspecified target. Tel-Rea needs to complete her fallen master’s mission. These competing motivations mean Zero Company operates without the unified purpose that defined Delta Squad’s missions. The game’s character bond system translates this tension into mechanical benefits. Working through conflicts and building relationships unlocks combat synergies between specific characters.
Timeline Placement Sets Tone
Republic Commando spanned early-to-mid Clone Wars, opening with the Battle of Geonosis and concluding on Kashyyyk during the events leading into Revenge of the Sith. Players experienced the war during its expansion phase, when Republic victory still seemed achievable and the command structure remained intact. The cliffhanger ending left Sev behind during the Kashyyyk withdrawal, but the game itself operated within the Republic’s functional military framework.
Zero Company takes place after the Umbara campaign, roughly twelve months before Order 66. This positions the game during the war’s final deterioration, when Republic strategy has fractured, Separatist advances continue despite three years of grinding conflict, and Palpatine’s consolidation of power accelerates toward the Empire. Order 66 likely falls within the game’s narrative scope, putting both Trick and Tel-Rea in immediate danger from their own supposed allies.
The late-war setting also explains why mercenary work becomes viable. By the war’s final year, both Republic and Separatist forces increasingly relied on irregular units, criminal partnerships, and off-books operations that official military structures couldn’t or wouldn’t authorize. Zero Company operates from The Den on the Ring of Kafrene, an industrial mining station that later appears in Rogue One as a haven for deserters, spies, and black market activity. The location choice signals that Zero Company exists in the war’s moral gray zones.
Consequences and Player Control
Republic Commando used checkpoint-based saves. Squad casualties during combat required immediate revival or mission failure, but death never carried forward between missions. Sev, Fixer, and Scorch always returned for the next campaign regardless of how many times they went down during the previous one. The linear story meant player choices affected tactics but not outcomes. You always completed the same objectives following the same narrative path toward the predetermined Kashyyyk ending.
Zero Company implements permadeath. Characters who die in combat stay dead, forcing roster changes and eliminating developed squad members permanently. This raises the stakes for every tactical decision and makes mistakes costly in ways Republic Commando never approached. The bond system compounds these stakes. Losing a character means losing their abilities and the synergies they’ve unlocked with surviving squad members.
The choice-driven narrative means player decisions shape outcomes beyond tactical success or failure. Republic Commando told Delta Squad’s story. Zero Company lets players determine Hawks’ story through mission choices, character recruitment, and how they handle the competing agendas within the squad. Multiple endings suggest the game tracks major decisions across the campaign.
Command Structure and Authority
Delta Squad followed Republic orders throughout their campaign. Boss received objectives from clone advisors and executed them regardless of personal opinion or moral complexity. The Kashyyyk withdrawal demonstrated this most clearly. When ordered to abandon Sev despite his active distress call, Delta Squad had no choice but to comply. The game showed the clone experience from within a rigid military hierarchy where questioning orders was impossible.
Zero Company operates as contractors answerable only to themselves. Hawks commands because the squad accepts that command. The mercenary structure means Zero Company chooses which contracts to take, how to approach objectives, and when to prioritize individual agendas over mission parameters. This independence becomes significant during the Clone Wars’ final year, when official Republic operations increasingly served Palpatine’s consolidation.
The difference extends to how each game handles moral ambiguity. Republic Commando rarely questioned Republic objectives. You executed orders because that was the job. Zero Company’s mercenary status and diverse squad composition suggests the game will force players to navigate competing interests and questionable contracts without the moral clarity of following legitimate military orders.
What Actually Changed
Twenty years separated these games’ development, but the fundamental shift centers on philosophical approach. Republic Commando showed the Clone Wars through dedicated soldiers executing orders in a functional military structure. Zero Company explores the same war through mercenaries operating outside that structure during its collapse. One game examined military brotherhood within a rigid hierarchy. The other examines pragmatic cooperation between individuals with incompatible goals.
The genre change from FPS to turn-based strategy serves these different focuses. Real-time combat suited Republic Commando’s emphasis on execution and immediate tactical decisions. Turn-based strategy gives Zero Company space to explore character dynamics, long-term consequences, and strategic planning across campaigns. Both approaches serve their respective games’ goals effectively.
Republic Commando’s enduring popularity stems from how well it executed its specific vision of Clone Wars combat. Zero Company offers an alternative that trades immediate action and linear storytelling for strategic depth and branching narratives set during a darker, more desperate phase of the same conflict.