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GamesRadar
GamesRadar
Technology
Jordan Gerblick

Star Wars Zero Company is more XCOM than RPG, as dev confirms there's no branching story or romances: "This is still a turn-based tactics game at its heart"

Key art for Star Wars Zero Company, cropped to focus in on a lasat character.

Star Wars Zero Company, the upcoming strategy game from a studio of former XCOM leads, has always been billed as exactly that: a turn-based tactics game livened up by the soap operatic flair of the Star Wars universe. Still, as with XCOM, there are bound to be various RPG elements specifically in its progression and class systems, but narratively, mostly everything's going to be on rails, studio Bit Reactor has confirmed.

As spotted by PC Gamer, the studio recently hosted a Discord Q&A and answered some key questions about Star Wars Zero Company, including whether there will be branching paths and romance options. No and no was the answer, more or less.

"There aren't any romance systems or branching paths," reads the studio's response. "While we are excited about pushing the genre forward with a more cinematic approach, this is still a turn-based tactics game at its heart where adept skill and strategy are needed to overcome tense combat challenges."

The developer did specify that there will be "story moments that can alter based on who you have in your squad, but the overall story is a linear one from beginning to end." And speaking of which, that ending "will be largely the same for everyone."

Again, this isn't a massive surprise given Bit Reactor's pedigree, and as a big XCOM fan I'm actually encouraged to hear the former devs are doubling down on what they do best. After all, RPG fans already have a feast on the horizon with the Knights of the Old Republic remake, although to be fair it's been a hot minute since we've seen or heard anything about that game.

Here are the best Star Wars games to play right now.

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