Like many of you, I was raised on Star Wars. I was obsessed with the original trilogy, I collected the action figures, and I desperately tried to convince myself that the prequels had any redeeming qualities. Then I became an adult and realized I was categorically Over It. Disney’s bland-as-butterless-toast spin on the galaxy far, far away hasn’t helped matters. I could have happily continued living in a state of Star Wars-free bliss if not for the recent announcement of tactics game Star Wars Zero Company, which unfortunately changes everything.
Zero Company is being developed by the ex-Firaxis devs at Bit Reactor, and it sure does look like a Star-Wars-flavored XCOM. But of course, there are many flavors of XCOM these days; what I, in particular, am looking for is a turn-based tactics game where I can get irrationally attached to all my highly-customizable little guys, and then they can die sudden, grisly, and, most importantly, permanent deaths. PC Gamer’s preview of Zero Company makes it sound like the developers are very much hoping to please permadeath sickos like me:
If anything, Zero Company seems ready to take that idea [of permadeath] even further. Soldiers you create can be customised to the class and appearance you want, but appropriately for Star Wars you can also choose their species. Then the game also has authored characters – the crew seen in the trailer and art – who turn up already armed with personalities, backstories, and roles in the story. But not only will they have a degree of customisation too, they're not exempt from permadeath, and if they are lost in some Outer Rim skirmish, that will actually affect how elements of the story play out.
This, to me, is great news. The last official XCOM game, XCOM: Chimera Squad, focused on a series of authored characters who, thanks to the demands of the plot, could not die permanently. Their preexisting personalities, somewhat paradoxically, also made it harder to imprint on them. The formula works best when you can make characters yours, when their internal battles play out less on the field and more in your imagination.
XCOM 2 and its expansion, War of the Chosen, got this right, allowing much more customizable characters to form bonds with each other that affected gameplay and showing them performing various activities in your base. You could even create posters to commemorate big wins – or tragic deaths. Those are the kinds of features that accentuate the drama playing out in your head rather than detract from it. In other words: The Good Stuff.
It’s worth noting that Zero Company aims to gently ease players into the genre, and as a result permadeath will be optional. I am mildly concerned, then, that Bit Reactor won’t be able to explore the idea as fully as it might if permadeath was baked into the very bones of the project. But we’ll see; Zero Company isn’t coming out until next year. I imagine trailers and previews and preorder incentives and every other tool in the marketing hype cycle toolbelt will tell us a great deal more before the game actually releases. And in the meantime, maybe Firaxis will finally announce XCOM 3. Highly unlikely, but I can dream.
