Star Wars Zero Company achieves a deeper sense of player agency and consequence than many traditional role-playing games, despite its roots in the tactics genre. Associate Editor Ted Litchfield suggests that the game's embrace of permadeath for its main characters, a feature reminiscent of Baldur's Gate 3 in its narrative impact, allows for a more personal and reactive experience. "Taking on the apparently herculean task of making even story-centric characters permanently killable has resulted in a game that feels more profoundly reactive and personal than most RPGs I've ever played," Litchfield writes.
Within Zero Company, if an operator falls in combat three times without a medbay visit, they are permanently lost unless the player opts to alter the game's difficulty settings. This mechanic, while having an opt-out, provides a stark contrast to the more forgiving approaches found in many RPGs. Litchfield notes that while Zero Company may not feature the extensive branching dialogue trees of titles like those from Owlcat or Obsidian, the potential to permanently lose a companion and their associated subplots due to a single combat mistake carries more weight than many authored choices in other games.
The game's companion questlines are highlighted as particularly strong, with clone trooper Trick's story being singled out for its impact. The necessity of keeping Trick alive to see his narrative arc unfold makes the player's experience feel more personal, even if another player encounters the same events. This synthesis of systemic gameplay and authored narrative is described as a novel and rare achievement, drawing parallels to the Fire Emblem series but at a higher production value with a more integrated cast.
Litchfield expresses a desire for developer Bit Reactor to further integrate the threat of permanent loss into the core plot in future projects. Currently, players cannot alienate squadmates to the point of departure through the game's Bond system, a feature he would like to see incorporated. While Zero Company does present story moments that can imperil or drive away companions, Litchfield believes there is room for expansion in this area. He observes that the game's non-combat operations and exploration gameplay currently have a limited effect on the story and tactical elements, primarily influencing resource availability or mission access.
Despite these observations, Litchfield praises Zero Company as a phenomenal first outing, anticipating further evolution from Bit Reactor. He envisions a future project that delves even deeper into RPG mechanics, embracing consequence and reactivity more profoundly, building on the foundation laid by this Star Wars title.