Tactical — After Strategy

Star Wars Zero Company: Clone Wars XCOM-Style Tactics Game Arrives August 27, 2026

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Star Wars Tactics Game Fans Have Been Waiting For

The Clone Wars finally has its XCOM. Revealed at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025 and shown in full gameplay at Summer Game Fest on June 5, 2026, Star Wars Zero Company is shaping up to be one of the most exciting strategy releases of the year — a turn-based squad tactics game set in one of Star Wars’ most politically complex eras.

Developed by Bit Reactor (a studio founded by Firaxis veterans behind the XCOM series) alongside Respawn Entertainment, and published by EA and Lucasfilm Games, the game launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars
Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization
The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters
Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans
What to Expect on August 27

Zero Company: An Unconventional Squad in the Clone Wars

You play as Hawks, a former Republic officer tasked with assembling an irregular squad of hired professionals to carry out operations that neither the Republic nor the Separatists can officially acknowledge. Zero Company works in the grey zones of the Clone Wars — missions where conventional heroism doesn’t apply.

Your core squad is diverse and compelling from the start: Trick, a disillusioned clone trooper voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (the voice behind every clone in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series), Cly Kullervo, a Mandalorian of the ancient Clan Verminoth, Tognath Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea Vokoss, and Umbaran soldier Luco Bronc. Each character brings unique abilities and a personal narrative arc to the campaign.

Beyond the authored cast, you build and customize your own Operators — mercenaries recruited across the galaxy — choosing from eight iconic Star Wars species: Devaronian, Human, Neimoidian, Ovissian, Togruta, Twi’lek, Weequay, and Zabrak. Appearance, specializations, and talent trees are fully customizable.

Turn-Based Tactics: Positioning, Bonds, and Customization

Combat in Zero Company is turn-based and played from a top-down perspective, with a strong focus on squad positioning and ability chains. Every mission demands careful planning: cover management, action sequencing, and the synergy between your characters. If you’ve played XCOM 2, the foundation will feel familiar — but the Star Wars setting and new systems add distinct depth.

The standout mechanic is the bond system. As your characters fight side by side, they develop relationships — trust, rivalry, or camaraderie — that unlock unique support abilities. The cross-training system also improves Operator stats and skills based on who they fight alongside, making your squad’s history feel meaningful.

The gameplay trailer at Summer Game Fest teased an appearance by Anakin Skywalker, suggesting Zero Company will intersect with key Clone Wars characters while keeping its original protagonists front and center.

For a sense of the tactical depth the genre can reach, our XCOM 2 complete strategy guide covers the mechanics that Bit Reactor is building on and reinventing for a galaxy far, far away.

The Den: Your Galactic Headquarters

Between missions, you manage The Den, your mobile base of operations. A dynamic galaxy map displays available contracts and objectives, and from the Den you recruit new Operators, upgrade facilities, and acquire equipment.

This familiar loop — field mission then base management — echoes the best elements of XCOM’s Avenger, but in a setting where your squad’s constant movement feels narratively justified. The galaxy map and mission variety suggest strong replayability, with squad composition varying dramatically across campaigns.

Bit Reactor and Respawn: A Dream Pairing for Tactics Fans

Bit Reactor was founded in 2021 by former Firaxis developers — the team behind XCOM and Civilization. Their turn-based pedigree is immediately evident in Zero Company’s design. Paired with Respawn Entertainment, known for the narrative level design of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the collaboration promises a game that is both tactically deep and narratively compelling.

EA and Lucasfilm Games officially announced the project on June 3, 2026, with the gameplay trailer broadcast live at Summer Game Fest two days later to millions of viewers worldwide.

What to Expect on August 27

With a confirmed release date and public gameplay footage, Star Wars Zero Company has moved well beyond concept. The bond system, Operator customization, and Clone Wars setting give it a distinct identity — not just another licensed XCOM clone, but a tactics game that uses the Star Wars universe to add genuine emotional weight to squad relationships.

Open questions remain: campaign length, difficulty scaling, and whether a New Game+ or skirmish mode will be available. Expect more details in the months ahead as the August 27 launch approaches.

If you’re a fan of tactical games with strong narrative hooks, this is one to add to your wishlist now.

Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27, 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Developed by Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment, published by EA and Lucasfilm Games.

Xenonauts 2 review: is the 1.0 release the true heir to classic X-COM?

Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On April 2, 2026, after nearly three years of Early Access, Goldhawk Interactive finally shipped Xenonauts 2 in version 1.0 on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. The small British studio’s goal: deliver the most faithful spiritual successor to 1994’s X-COM, set in the late Cold War. After a month of play and 50+ hours of campaign, here’s our full verdict.

TL;DR:

The most punishing tactical game in its category — not an accessible XCOM-like, a true X-COM in the 1994 tradition
180+ battle maps and real depth in global management (bases, R&D, funding)
Pragmatic art direction rather than spectacular — visual charm isn’t the strong suit
$39.99 — a fair price for a deep strategy game of this scope
Verdict: 8/10 for X-COM old-school fans, 6/10 for those seeking cinematic XCOM

Three years in Early Access: what changed?
Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding
Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared
The Cleaners: the new narrative faction
Weaknesses: art direction and repetition
Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Three years in Early Access: what changed?

Launched July 2023, Xenonauts 2 spent 34 months in Early Access. Over that period, Goldhawk listened to the community — often brutally honest — and reworked several core mechanics:

Less tedious early game: the opening missions, long criticized as too repetitive, now offer real enemy-type and terrain variety
Rewritten air combat: the interception system was simplistic in beta, it’s now a full tactical mini-game
Richer late game: new UFO types, complex alien threats, endgame that no longer runs out of steam
Redesigned UI and UX with several iterative passes

The 1.0 result is clean and playable — which wasn’t a given.

Tactical core: punishing combat, solid pathfinding

At Xenonauts 2’s heart is turn-based combat on 2-to-3-level maps. Goldhawk made the opposite choice from Firaxis: no hidden percentages, no heroic cinematics, no manufactured chance. If your soldier misses an 80% shot, it’s because ballistics decided — and you’ll have to live with it.

This approach has two consequences:

Maximum satisfaction when plans work — you genuinely won, not carried by scripting
Brutal punishment when things fail — a single positioning mistake can cost three veteran soldiers

The action preview system (clearly inspired by XCOM 2, improved here) helps anticipate consequences. Combined with highly precise pathfinding — you can finally climb stairs without falling into the ambush you’d already spotted — combat becomes pure pleasure for hard-tactics fans.

Global management: what XCOM 2 never dared

Where Xenonauts 2 crushes the competition is the global strategic layer:

Multiple bases to manage simultaneously (unlike XCOM 2 centralizing everything on the Avenger)
Multi-nation funding with distinct reputations — losing Japan’s trust doesn’t affect your US rating
Parallel R&D — 3 to 5 science projects simultaneously, each with tech prerequisites
Interception patrols to coordinate globally, strategic choice on fighter positioning

It’s complex, sometimes bewildering, but it rewards anticipation. You recover the 1994 X-COM feel that no game since really captured — except maybe the old UFO: Aftermath series of the 2000s.

The Cleaners: the new narrative faction

Xenonauts 2 introduces a secret human faction — The Cleaners — that operates alongside the alien invasion. They’re sleeper agents sabotaging Xenonauts efforts from within: government infiltration, disinformation, black ops.

Narratively, this is denser than Xenonauts 1. The 1.0 version significantly enriched this storyline with:

New dedicated mission types (Cleaners base raids, extractions)
Scripted events that progressively reveal their motives
A final choice that affects the campaign ending

It stays less memorable than XCOM 2’s Avatar storyline cinematically, but smarter in its writing. No caricature villain speeches, just a slow buildup of paranoia.

Weaknesses: art direction and repetition

Two real critiques to address:

Pragmatic art direction: the graphics are functional, clean, readable — but charmless. Maps look similar despite the count (180+), aliens have generic designs, UI is efficient but lacks personality. After 30 hours, you miss XCOM 2’s Gothic overture style.

Limited mission variety: despite the effort, the campaign eventually goes in circles. UFO recovery → terror mission → enemy base raid → repeat. The first 50 hours are excellent, the next 20 less so.

High failure penalty: losing a mission can trigger catastrophic domino effects. Some Iron Man players abandoned their campaign after a single failure. The game owns this choice — it’s authentic X-COM — but it can drive new players away.

Verdict: who it’s for, who it isn’t

Buy Xenonauts 2 if:

You loved original 1994 X-COM or the 2000s UFO: Aftermath series
You want a real tactical challenge without narrative crutches
You enjoy global strategic management (multi-base, parallel R&D)
The $39.99 price doesn’t put you off for 80+ hours of gameplay

Skip it if:

You want an accessible cinematic XCOM (grab XCOM 2 + Chimera Squad instead)
Art direction matters to you
You hate losing 5 hours of progress to a single bad mission

To compare Xenonauts 2 with the other major 2026 tacticals, see our tactical strategy guide 2026. To expand the genre, our 4X space comparison covers the other angles.

Final score: 8/10 for hard-tactics fans, 6/10 for general audiences.