Star Wars Zero Company Becomes the Highest-Rated Star Wars Game in 22 Years
Bit Reactor’s turn-based tactics debut has stormed out of the gate. Star Wars Zero Company, developed in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games, launched on August 27, 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S โ and critics can’t stop praising it. With an average Metacritic score of 86, it’s officially the highest-rated major Star Wars game in 22 years.
Key art for Star Wars Zero Company, showing Hawks and the Zero Company squad.
A New Era for Star Wars Tactics
Star Wars Zero Company is a single-player, turn-based tactics game set in the twilight of the Clone Wars. Players take on the role of Hawks, a former Galactic Republic officer who ends up leading Zero Company, an unconventional outfit of mercenaries and specialists recruited to stop the Separatist-aligned Infinite Coil and its leader, Kundri Fathom, from unleashing a deadly plague across the galaxy.
The game comes from Bit Reactor, a studio founded by former Firaxis Games developers with deep roots in the modern XCOM series, and the influence shows. Squads are built from a roster of original and fully customizable characters, ranging from scoundrels and clone troopers to astromechs and even a Jedi, with tactical synergies that reward players for keeping the same operators together across missions.
Every mission plays out across a shifting battlefield where each decision changes the outcome of the campaign.
Record-Breaking Review Scores
The numbers speak for themselves. Star Wars Zero Company opened to an 86 on Metacritic for the PC version and an 88 on OpenCritic, earning a “Mighty” rating on the latter. That puts it ahead of recent franchise highlights like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (85) and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (82), and makes it the best-reviewed major Star Wars release since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II in 2004.
- Metacritic (PC): 86 / 100
- OpenCritic: 88 (“Mighty”)
- Release date: August 27, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Steam, EA app), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
- Price: $49.99 standard, $59.99 Deluxe Edition
Critics have highlighted the game’s memorable cast, its willingness to explore the genre rather than lean purely on the Star Wars license, and a story that borrows the grittier, war-beneath-the-war tone of shows like Andor. Some reviews flagged minor camera hiccups during turn transitions and occasional swings in hit-chance luck, but the consensus places Zero Company among the best tactics games of the year regardless of the Star Wars branding.
Tactical combat on an industrial platform, one of the many battlefield types players will face throughout the campaign.
What’s Next for Bit Reactor
Following the wave of positive reviews, Bit Reactor’s team has already signaled interest in sticking around in the galaxy far, far away. Studio leadership has said they would love the opportunity to make more Star Wars games after Zero Company’s reception, though nothing has been officially confirmed yet. For now, the studio’s focus remains on supporting the current release, while player reviews continue to roll in alongside a strong 77% positive rating from the Steam community.
With a Metacritic result this strong, Star Wars Zero Company has quickly become a case study in how a licensed game can put genre craftsmanship first โ and it may well set the bar for what a Star Wars tactics game should look like going forward.
Picture Source: Electronic Arts
