Is Star Wars Zero Company as hard as XCOM?

The game offers four difficulty levels (Story, Normal, Hard, Expert), which can be changed between missions. Permadeath is on by default and is set when a campaign starts: an operator dies at three injuries, but Hawks cannot be killed by injuries.

Is Zero Company available on console?

Yes, Star Wars Zero Company launched on August 27, 2026 simultaneously on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Star Wars Zero Company Metacritic 84: What Critics Really Say Two Months On

At launch, Star Wars Zero Company carried a Metacritic score of 86 from 41 reviews, a figure repeated everywhere as a record for the franchise. Two months later, the Metacritic page shows 84 from about 70 reviews, and OpenCritic has slipped from 88 to 85 across 125 reviews. The game, released on August 27, 2026 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, is still very well rated. But the detail of the reviews tells a more nuanced story than the launch score did.

This analysis rereads the reception from published reviews, aggregators and player feedback. After Strategy has not played the game, so no gameplay verdict is offered here, only what critics and numbers establish.

A score that moved: 86, then 84

The figure of 86 dates from the first reviews, published before release. According to VGC, it put the game behind only four Star Wars titles: Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight, Rogue Leader and Jedi Knight 2. TheGamer ranks it among the ten best-rated games in the franchise, above both Jedi games. PCGames.de went further, calling it the best score since Knights of the Old Republic II in 2004, while noting it was unclear whether the game would hold that position.

It has not held it entirely. At 84 on Metacritic the gap is thin, but the “best Star Wars game in 22 years” headline no longer checks out so simply. Players score the game 7.9 out of 10 on Metacritic and 83% positive on Steam across more than 18,000 reviews. Those are solid numbers, one notch below the press’s initial enthusiasm.

Scores barely differ between platforms: 84 on PC, 83 on PS5 and 85 on Xbox Series X on the Metacritic page. The idea of a clearly weaker console version does not hold.

Why 86 became 84

An aggregate score moves when the number of reviews changes. Between the 41 launch reviews and the roughly 70 now counted, the Metacritic page shows 97% positive reviews, 3% mixed and none negative. The game has not been rejected. The average drifted because later reviews, often written after longer play or on other platforms, were slightly less enthusiastic. That is a reasonable reading of the numbers, not a fact the critics themselves have stated.

The same effect applies to OpenCritic, which averages 85 across 125 reviews, with 91% of critics recommending the game. A player reading “84” or “85” should see a very good game with identifiable reservations, not a consensus masterpiece. The practical consequence is simple: trust the score as a signal of quality, then read two or three detailed reviews to find out which of the recurring reservations (story, technology, variety) matters most to you.

The game in brief

The Steam page presents a single-player, turn-based tactics game set late in the Clone Wars. The player leads Hawks, a former Republic officer, at the head of Zero Company against an emerging threat. The squad mixes varied archetypes, including scoundrels, astromech droids and a Jedi, with selectable tactical abilities and synergies that unlock as missions pass. EA cites a galaxy map of more than 150 planets.

What critics praise

The praise starts with the combat. PC Gamer scored it 90/100, calling it a new all-timer for the franchise and a stunning debut for Bit Reactor. Way Too Many Games gives 9 out of 10 and credits combat that builds on XCOM with Advantage Points, character abilities and squad synergy. VGC (4 out of 5) describes an exceptional strategic adventure worthy of the XCOM lineage, with companions you come to care about.

Several reviewers also note the choice not to center the story on Force users, which IGN applauds. DualShockers likens the tone to Andor and Rogue One, with high-risk covert missions. PCGames.de also highlights permadeath, which keeps tension high across the whole squad.

The same review adds that the downed-operator system is forgiving, since characters recover unless they go down three times in one mission, that campaign-map decisions come with timers, and that Coil Crisis missions force trade-offs. It also praises the sound design and voice acting. That consensus on the tactics explains the score’s strength. A player who likes the genre finds a readable system, difficulty options and ideas of its own, such as the shared Advantage resource.

What critics criticize

The complaints cluster around three points. The first is the story. Shacknews (7 out of 10) finds the writing flat, the Infinite Coil antagonists generic and their leader Fathom without charisma, and feels the plot quickly falls back on safe patterns. VGC finds the main story familiar, Hawks underdeveloped and the choices unable to change the narrative in a meaningful way. Game Informer calls the story competent but unremarkable.

The second point is the technology. PCGames.de calls technical trouble the most frequent complaint: frame rate drops, screen tearing, animation bugs, camera problems and crashes. One Metacritic-syndicated review reports an enemy-turn bug that can freeze opponents for up to five minutes, sometimes forcing a mission restart. PlayStation Store reviews add shots missing at a stated 100% chance and a camera that loses track during enemy turns. On PC, Shacknews regrets the need for upscaling and frame generation tools, and finds four-person squads a little small for the game’s style.

The third point is variety. Optional missions often repeat the same tasks according to VGC, and Way Too Many Games regrets limited objective variety and a campaign that could have been longer. IGN notes the game lacks the replayability of XCOM 2, even though the campaign justifies several playthroughs.

Did the patches fix the flaws?

Two updates have shipped. Patch 1.1 on September 9 fixed, among other things, the bug that made 100% shots miss, save corruption and a crash in Beskar mode. Patch 1.2 on October 15 added campaign modifiers and rebalanced a few abilities, as the article on the million copies and patch 1.2 details.

Nothing proves that every reported flaw is gone, however. The official lists do not explicitly mention the enemy-turn freeze. Players are more forgiving than the press on this point: over the last 30 days, Steam shows 83% positive, the same as the all-time figure.

Which player is it for?

The game suits a tactics fan who wants a finite campaign of 30 to 40 hours with no New Game Plus at launch, according to PC Gamer and TechRadar. Permadeath is on by default and is set when a campaign starts: an operator dies at three injuries, while Hawks cannot be killed by injuries. A newcomer can therefore turn permadeath off, as long as that is decided up front.

For an XCOM fan expecting strategic depth comparable to XCOM 2, caution is in order: IGN points to more limited replayability. If you want above all a mature, daring story, opinions split: some praise the tone, others find the narrative too safe. The real issue is not the score but the balance between those expectations.

The future remains an open question. Bit Reactor’s founder told VGC that the studio would like to keep working on Star Wars, with the caveat “potentially”. No expansion and no New Game Plus is announced today. The buying analysis on price, editions and patches completes this reading.