Star Wars: Zero Company is Bit Reactor's debut tactics game, built on mechanics similar to XCOM and published by EA. According to IGN, the project was originally pitched as a game set in the Titanfall universe before it became a Star Wars title.
Set during the Clone Wars era, the game follows a mercenary squad led by a sarcastic, hardnosed leader named Hawks, who is hired to stop a Separatist cult spreading a mysterious illness known as the Shadow Plague. Polygon notes that while this main plot isn't especially groundbreaking, the more compelling story is about the mercenary crew itself, which is deep in debt and forced to take jobs for the Hutts to survive. Polygon compares this grounded, economically-driven storytelling to Andor's political focus and to Cowboy Bebop's depiction of a crew struggling to keep their operation afloat.
A key system in Zero Company is permadeath, which GamesRadar+ illustrates through the character Aurelio, a Rodian teammate introduced in the first mission who is killed by a Coil Brute during the tutorial. According to GamesRadar+, there is no way to prevent Aurelio's death — the game won't progress until the player makes the choice that leads to it — and this scripted loss is used to introduce the broader permadeath mechanic. Aside from protagonist Hawks, other characters and operators can be permanently killed during the campaign, and players can track fallen squad members, including named characters, Jedi, and droids, in a Memorial area located in the game's hub zone, the Den.
Kotaku's coverage focuses on the game's alien designs, particularly the Ovissian species, which the outlet says are unusually prominent throughout Zero Company, including as an option for the player's main character. Ovissians first appeared on-screen in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, with the character Boolio — voiced by Mark Hamill — as the first example. Kotaku's writer says the species' large mouths and multiple face horns make them look out of place, even while noting appreciation for other Disney-era alien designs like the Tognath and Abednedo.
Polygon also mentions Star Wars Galactic Racer, a racing roguelike set to release the following month, as another upcoming title focused on smaller-scale Star Wars stories rather than large-scale conflicts between Jedi and villains.