Electronic Arts’ “Star Wars Zero Company” will be the latest in a long, long line of video games set in Lucasfilm’s galaxy far, far away. But this upcoming single-player turn-based tactics title developed by Bit Reactor aims to be different from all the Star Wars games that have come before — and not just because it’s the franchise’s first turn-based tactics game.
“It would be very easy for us to want to come at Orion [Kellogg, Lucasfilm Games executive producer] and say, ‘Orion, I want to make a game with Yoda and Anakin and whatever,’ right? But people can’t attach to those characters because they already have an opinion of those characters,” Greg Foertsch, head of “Star Wars Zero Company” developer Bit Reactor, tells Variety. “From the very onset of this and looking at some other things that I’ve done, I wanted to make this where you had characters that you could latch onto that you could imprint on, and that you could feel connected to.”
Set to launch Aug. 27 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, “Star Wars Zero Company” puts players into the role of former Galactic Republic officer Hawks, who they’re able to fully customize (including their choice of a masculine or feminine voice, performed by Jonathan Freeman and Erica Luttrell, respectively). Hawks leads Zero Company, an unconventional outfit of professionals for hire from across the galaxy, which includes a Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian, a Jedi Padawan and more. Throughout the game, players must hunt down and stop Kundri Fathom (Rekha Sharma), the ruthless leader of the Separatist-aligned cult known as the Infinite Coil.
