New to Star Wars Zero Company? Sort These Before the Clone Wars Chew Through Your Squad

Star Wars Zero Company is out on 27 August, and the reviews are in agreement on two points: it's a genuinely good turn-based tactics game, and it will absolutely take one of your soldiers away forever if you get sloppy. It's built on the XCOM template, so if you've played Enemy Unknown or its sequel you already know the shape of it. If you haven't, here's what actually matters before you drop in.

Treat permadeath as a real threat, not a setting

Reviewers keep landing on the same thing: this is Mass Effect-flavoured tactics with permadeath, and losing a specced-up squadmate hurts because you've built a relationship with them. Save often, think before you end a turn, and never move your last unit somewhere you can't see what's around the corner. A wasted turn is annoying. A dead Medic three missions deep is a reload.

Cover is the whole game

Same rule as every game in this lineage: full cover over half cover, and never end a turn in the open because you were one tile short. If you have to cross open ground, do it at the start of a turn when you still have actions banked to reach safety, not at the end when you're stranded.

Build a squad that covers its gaps

You make your own characters and pick an archetype: Sniper for range, Scoundrel for playing the angles, Assault as your all-rounder, with specialisations like Medic, Heavy and Scout on top. The trap is stacking damage and skipping the support roles. A Medic keeps a downed favourite in the fight; a Scout stops you walking blind into an ambush. Bring a balanced four, not four glass cannons.

Scout before you commit

The Star Wars setting means more enemy types and gadgets than the usual tactics game, which cuts both ways. Pop your head around a corner with one unit before you send the whole squad in, and keep an overwatch shot or two in reserve for whatever wanders into view. Getting greedy on the approach is how good runs end.

None of this is exotic if you've played the genre. If you haven't, lead with patience over aggression and you'll be fine. The game rewards the careful player and quietly punishes the one who charges.