Star Wars heads back to the Clone Wars with Star Wars Zero Company, a new tactics game that lives up to its “Star Wars meets XCOM” moniker. It’s full of new faces, like your customizable player character Hawks, and familiar ones, like Captain Rex. One returning character is none other than Anakin Skywalker, who headlined one of Zero Company’s trailers.
I had assumed Anakin would just make a brief cameo in the game, long enough to earn his spot in that trailer to help sell the game. After about 15 hours with Zero Company, I’m delighted to discover I’m wrong. While Anakin doesn’t have an outsized presence in Star Wars Zero Company, he represents the classic Jedi power fantasy while also showing why one of your companions can’t live up to that fantasy.
[Ed note: This piece contains light spoilers about a mid-game required mission in Star Wars Zero Company.]
In Star Wars Zero Company, you lead a group of misfits investigating a weird cult on behalf of the Republic. Your companions include the Clone Trooper Trick, the Mandalorian Cly Kullervo, and the baroness Jae Mordant. Also along for the ride is Jedi Padawan Tel-Rea.
Before getting my hands on the game, I wondered how having a Jedi on the squad would impact the balance of Star Wars Zero Company’s battles. Jedi are some of the galaxy’s most formidable warriors (when they’re not getting shot in the back, that is). Surely, having a Jedi in the fray would trivialize Zero Company’s combat encounters?
Not so. Tel-Rea is really no stronger than any other operator. Sure, her lightsaber attack might cleave off half an enemy’s health bar, but she can only use it once per turn. As each operator only gets three Action Points (AP) per turn to divy up between movement and their abilities, Tel-Rea might have to use up all her AP to even get within range of smacking someone with her saber. That would then leave her defenseless too, as she needs AP to deflect enemy blaster fire once her turn ends.
Still, Tel-Rea is one of my go-to operators. (I mean, having a Jedi on the team is just plain cool, right?) Having her on a mission adds variety when everyone else uses blasters, and she doesn’t break the game like I had feared prerelease. However, we soon learn just how far Tel-Rea has to go in mastering her abilities. For a single mission (from what I’ve played so far), Anakin Skywalker joins the team.
Hawks goes undercover to keep watch on prisoner transfer between the Republic and the Separatists, and Anakin represents the Republic here. Shit hits the fan, everyone gets ambushed, people die, and Hawks, Anakin, and a third unlikely ally have to fight their way out.
Up to this point, the game had existed in the Goldilocks zone of challenge. During some scrapes, I felt like my team had bitten off more than they could chew, and a few even took injuries in battle. (Star Wars Zero Company features permadeath on its default settings, so those injuries are no joke.) With Anakin joining the fray, it felt like Zero Company switched over to easy mode for an hour.
As a much more experienced Jedi Knight (but not Master!), Anakin can trivialize fights. His lightsaber attack can basically one-shot anyone, and his deflection ability is all but guaranteed to send enemy fire back. He’s also not limited by distance, because his lightsaber throw attack is basically the best ranged weapon in the game. Your enemies are side-by-side? Kill two goons with one stone. (Tel-Rea also gets a lightsaber throw attack, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as Anakin’s and can’t be used as often.) During this stretch, I mostly have Hawks and our third operator hang back to let Anakin do most of the work.
Using Anakin in one mission and going back to Tel-Rea in the next really hammers home how much more she has to learn. It’s a reminder that she’s just a young Padawan learner, and one who hasn’t been actually trained by a more experienced Jedi in quite some time. While she can still hold own alongside her fellow operators, she has a long way to go toward being on Anakin’s, or any Jedi Knight’s, level.
Making Tel-Rea a Padawan and not leaning fully into a Jedi power fantasy for the full game was a great decision on Bit Reactor’s part. If the whole of Star Wars Zero Company was like that jaunt with Anakin, you’d never have to worry about losing your operators, and the permadeath mechanic is part of what makes the game so appealing. Well, I can say that now because I haven’t lost anyone yet. Check back in if Cly Kullervo ends up biting the dust. She’s just too cool to lose.