At Star Wars Celebration 2025, Bit Reactor and Respawn finally confirmed what had been quietly brewing since 2021: Zero Company is a turn-based tactical Star Wars game set during the Clone Wars. This isn’t only a tactics game. The story shifts depending on how you play.
“We can do both,” said Bit Reactor’s Greg Foertsch in an interview with io9. “Technically, we’re able to make something cinematic without sacrificing depth or elegance. Star Wars is ready for it. The genre is ready for it.”
The Clone Wars, Revisited
Unlike the grand battles the Clone Wars are known for, Zero Company zooms in. Think less ‘army vs army,’ more character-driven missions with layered choices. As Lucasfilm’s Kelsey Sharpe put it, the Clone Wars era “lets you tell any kind of story.” That flexibility is key to how Zero Company is designed.
Sharpe pointed to the range of stories in The Clone Wars series, from huge conflicts like Felucia to small-scale episodes about viruses and espionage. This narrative freedom forms the foundation of the game.
You’ll command a customisable protagonist – Hawks, a former Republic Intelligence officer turned mercenary. You choose their identity, their crew, and how they tackle missions. Your squad is shaped by more than battlefield roles – relationships, politics, and past choices all influence how it plays out.
Choices That Matter
Lucasfilm Games executive producer Orion Kellogg said the team was inspired not just by Clone Wars but also by Andor and the Original Trilogy: “At the end of the day, this is a Zero Company story. What does the developer want to say, and how do we help them say it?”
That story includes shifting alliances and moral ambiguity. “There are heroes on both sides,” Kellogg reminded io9, referencing Revenge of the Sith. You’ll build bonds between characters across faction lines or not. That’s your call.
“If you think an Umbaran and a Clone wouldn’t get along, you might avoid pairing them,” Sharpe explained. “But what if you did? What if you pushed them together? What if it changed the outcome?”
Custom Stories in a Cinematic Frame
You can ignore the main cast and field a squad of entirely custom operatives, including a team of Astromechs if you want. Or mix them in with authored characters like Luco Bronc, the Umbaran sniper, or Trick, a clone trooper with a past. The game supports it all.
“The idea is to let people play the way they want,” said Foertsch. “All custom heroes? Go for it. Want a narrative with pre-written arcs to bounce off? That’s there too.”
Sharpe added: “You can build relationships between your own characters or between a custom and a scripted one. We’re not locking that down.”
Still in Development
The team is still shaping what’s possible. Kellogg hinted that we haven’t seen the limits yet: “Different playthroughs. Different outcomes. The edges of that – permadeath, all-droid squads – we’re still figuring it out.”
What’s clear is that Zero Company is trying something new for Star Wars and for tactics games. As Foertsch put it: “The mechanics are there. But the genre hasn’t had Star Wars. Not like this.”