STAR WARS Zero Company™ Review Summary

A fun XCOM-like Star Wars game with great atmosphere, but suffers from poor character creation, widespread performance issues, and no Russian language support.

Game is very fun: Players consistently describe the game as highly enjoyable and polished, with excellent gameplay from the start. Many call it phenomenal, brilliant, and exactly what it claims to be, indicating strong overall satisfaction.

Successful XCOM Star Wars hybrid: The game successfully merges XCOM-style tactical gameplay with the Star Wars universe, satisfying fans of both. Reviewers highlight that it feels like a true XCOM game set in Star Wars, fulfilling a long-standing desire.

Great Star Wars atmosphere: Reviewers love the immersive Star Wars feel, including sounds, style, and attention to detail. The setting effectively evokes the franchise's essence, enhancing the overall experience.

Strong character design: Characters are memorable and charismatic, with great voice acting adding to their appeal. The mix of interesting personalities and customization makes them stand out.

Beautiful graphics: Players mention the game looks great and is visually beautiful. The aesthetic quality enhances immersion and is frequently praised alongside gameplay.

Character creation is poor: Players consistently report that character creation features unattractive presets, limited hairstyles, and no gender choice. Many find the options repulsive and lacking in appealing faces, especially for male characters.

Performance issues widespread: The game suffers from poor optimization, with players experiencing low frame rates, stuttering, and frame pacing issues even on low settings and high-end hardware. FSR and frame generation are often required for acceptable performance.

Game underwhelming overall: Players find the game underwhelming and gameplay mediocre, failing to meet expectations set by the genre or trailers. This leads to disappointment and refund requests.

Lack of Russian language support: The game lacks official Russian language support, including subtitles, disappointing Russian-speaking players. This limits accessibility for a significant audience.

RNG leads to frustration: Poor RNG causes players to miss shots even with 90% or 100% hit chances, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences. This undermines trust in the game's combat mechanics.

XCOM-like turn-based tactics: The majority of feedback highlights that the game's core gameplay is turn-based tactical combat similar to XCOM, with hit chances and tactical depth. This is the most dominant theme across reviews.

Star Wars XCOM hybrid: Many players explicitly describe the game as a blend of XCOM mechanics with the Star Wars universe, appealing to fans of both franchises. This combination is seen as a key selling point.

Character creation system: There is notable praise for the character creation and customization options, allowing players to create custom clones and personalize their squad. This feature enhances player engagement.

Turn-based tactical combat: Players consistently mention that the game is turn-based with tactical combat and RPG elements, providing strategic depth. This is a core aspect that defines the gameplay experience.

More forgiving than XCOM: Some players compare the game's difficulty to XCOM, noting that it is more forgiving and introduces new mechanics. This suggests a more accessible experience for casual strategy fans.

Inconsistent performance across hardware: Performance varies wildly: some get stable 60+ FPS on medium settings, while others see low FPS at similar settings. This inconsistency suggests optimization is not uniform across different hardware configurations.

Frame pacing issues: Some players report poor frame pacing and stuttering, which can make the game feel less smooth even when FPS is acceptable.

Recommended for XCOM and Star Wars fans: Many reviews recommend the game specifically for fans of XCOM, Star Wars, or turn-based strategy games. Some also mention similar games like Marvel Midnight Suns and Mass Effect.

Performance issues prevalent: Several reviews highlight performance problems, including crashes and low FPS, and advise waiting for patches or upgrades. Some users refunded the game due to these issues.

Wait for discount or sale: A number of reviewers suggest waiting for a discount or sale before purchasing, with some mentioning specific price points like 50% off or $19.99. They believe the game is not worth full price in its current state.

Not recommended in current state: Some reviewers do not recommend the game until patches fix technical issues or improve performance. They advise against buying until these problems are resolved.

Community fair range: $9.99 - $24.99.

The game starts with a forced, restrictive tutorial plagued by crashes and poor performance, but becomes enjoyable after about an hour when the handholding ends and the story and combat hook players.

Reported time to anchor: 1h.

Friction: forced tutorial; crashes during tutorial; poor performance; handholding and limited gameplay; restrictive early game; scripted death in tutorial.

Unlock drivers: completing the tutorial; first hour of play; getting past the restrictive early game.

XCOM Veterans: Strategic, critical, expects customization and procedural content. Motivation: Deep tactical strategy comparable to XCOM. Stance: sale.

Star Wars Purists: Narrative-driven, focuses on story and atmosphere. Motivation: Star Wars immersion and narrative. Stance: buy.

Newcomer Strategy Enthusiasts: Curious, exploratory, forgiving of minor flaws. Motivation: Fun and accessibility in turn-based tactics. Stance: buy.

Across the six largest hardware cohorts, performance reports are highly varied, with roughly equal numbers of players reporting smooth gameplay and others encountering severe stuttering, low frame rates, and crashes. No hardware tier is uniformly positive or negative.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM / 16-31GB RAM: mixed. Performance is split; many users report smooth 60-100 fps gameplay while others complain of choppy frame rates and unstable performance.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: mixed. Reports range from 70-100 fps on medium-high settings to 20-45 fps with frequent drops, indicating inconsistent optimization.

Windows 16GB+ VRAM / 32GB+ RAM: mixed. Even high-end systems experience stuttering and low frame rates without upscaling, while some users report smooth performance.

Steam Deck: The game exhibits frequent crashes during shader compilation and poor performance on Steam Deck, with sub-30 FPS and excessive heating. While some SteamOS features work well, the overall experience is marred by instability and the need for Proton tweaks and an external launcher, making it largely broken on the platform.

Linux and Proton: The game runs well on Linux with minor Proton version adjustment needed for some users. Performance is reported as good by most, and Steam Deck features like cloud saves and suspend/resume work seamlessly. One user reported lags/glitches possibly Linux-related, but this does not represent a consensus.

XCOM comparisons dominate: Feedback largely compares the game to XCOM, with many noting similarities in tactical gameplay and some considering it a spiritual successor or closest thing to XCOM 3. Others see it as distinct enough to stand on its own.

Star Wars comparison common: The game is frequently described as XCOM set in the Star Wars universe, appealing to fans of both franchises. A few also compare it to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order regarding performance.

Technical issues at launch: Some reviews mention the game suffers from technical issues at launch and seems buggy, while one advises updating drivers for performance issues.

EA publisher concerns: Some reviews mention EA's reputation negatively, but also note that no EA launcher is required, which is seen as a positive.

Protagonist uses them pronouns: A review notes that the main character uses they/them pronouns, which may be a point of interest or contention.