We were expecting a tactical Star Wars game worthy of its name, and Bit Reactor offered us a great one with Star Wars: Zero Company. The studio didn’t just spring out of nowhere since it was founded by Firaxis veterans, creators of the XCOM and Civilization series. It’s enough to mention that we knew what to expect as far as game mechanics are concerned. It remains to see how accessible the game is.

Type	Action-Adventure
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Developer	Bit Reactor
Release Date	August 27, 2026
Age Rating	12 years and over

Key points according to accessibility type

Physical	Visual	Hearing	Cognitive
Full remapping Turn-based game Few buttons Radial menu demanding fine-motor skills	Effective colors and filters Adjustable text size Sound information Less-contrasted game interface	Differentiated sound settings Sub-titles with non-verbal information Information beyond the field-of-view No mono sound	Difficulty levels No French voiceover No screen reader Complex tactical game

Bit Reactor has released its first game and it chose to take us to the end of the Clone Wars. We play as Hawks, a former Officer of the Republic who assembles a squad of mercenaries to carry out clandestine operations far from the major battles already depicted in the saga. You’ll encounter scoundrels, astromech droids and even an undercover Jedi. The tone is more intimate than usual narratives recounted by Aaron Contreras, who is also a Star Wars Jedi writer. He explained that he wanted to move away from the classic “groups of friends and romantic relationships with the hero” narrative often found in this type of group game.

Zero Company clearly follows in the footsteps of X-COM and more recently, Crown Wars: The Black Prince, which we also reviewed last year. We’ll therefore naturally keep them in mind during this review.

In terms of gameplay, you’ll manage a team of mercenaries. Each has a specific class, such as “gunslinger,” “sentinel,” or “juggernaut.” This class determines your passive effect, special skill, and ultimate which will consume any perks gained during the game. All characters with the same class will therefore have the same skills. However, each mercenary also has a unique talent specific to that character. For example, you’ll encounter the perk “You’ve Met Your Match,”  which grants a damage bonus against the most dangerous targets in the galaxy.

The recruitment screen displays each recruit’s biography, weapon class and credit cost. Squad size is capped, even though it’ll change during the game, forcing players to make choices rather than simply amass every mercenary they encounter. Recruitment is therefore a balancing act between budget and available space and not just a matter of personal preference.

Mercenaries develop bonds by being sent on missions together. This unlocks double training in addition to dialogue options which will grant bonuses, such as movement or damage, to the pair involved. Each mercenary is also equipped with a weapon determining its firepower and range, which can be customized. You’ll also equip single-use items like grenades or medpacs.

Between missions, you’ll navigate using a holomap which looks like an interconnected orbital system. Each element is only available for a limited number of cycles and is displayed at the top of the screen. You can create contacts to increase your influence and unlock bonuses and items, launch text operations that grant rewards based on choices made during conversations, or start a mission directly. A credit indicator and a second progression resource are always displayed, alongside the squad’s experience level.

During missions, exploration and combat phases alternate. Exploration phases involve 3D movement down a corridor-like environment. There are, however, a few interactions necessary to gather information and gain advantages. Once in combat phase, the view switches to isometric and time freezes. This is the tactical, turn-based stage. Each allied unit has three actions they must combine in order to deal with enemies. Sometimes, a secondary objective must also be accomplished, such as defending an area or rescuing a character. A mission can therefore consist of several tactical phases interspersed with exploration.

What’s really special about Zero Company are its transitions into true 3D between tactical phases. Players can wander around their base to talk to their allies, forging bonds and unlocking opportunities. Exploration phases during missions are also unique to its genre. It’s a real departure from the 2D rooms of an XCOM base or the static village of Crown Wars. These interludes give characters more depth and credibility.

We made a discovery during the French-language video, if you prefer that format. You’ll be able to see gameplay in more detail. Don’t hesitate to subscribe while you’re at it, so you won’t miss any future videos.

So, we have a game that blends team management, pure tactics and exploration. These are three different ways of engaging players. We’ll explain how Zero Company handles this for people with disabilities.

What if I have a physical disability? 7 / 10

Let’s start with some good news! Star Wars: Zero Company is easy to pick up and play. It doesn’t require many buttons. It offers full remapping and it doesn’t require any specific button combinations. Regarding long holds, some actions like zooming out and sprinting can be activated with a single press rather than holding, however, there are still 1.5-second holds to confirm certain actions, such as ending a turn or making important decisions.

It’s worth noting that you can adjust joystick sensitivity, but you won’t be able to play entirely without them. So, you can’t play using only adaptive controllers. The joysticks are even indispensable at certain points. Note that there isn’t any dead zone management, either. This is a shame, as this feature helps compensate for unintentional movements or lack of strength. Aside from these limitations, handling is therefore adequate.

Let’s move onto gameplay, properly speaking. During the tactical phase, which represents a large part of the game, you actually use very few buttons. The left joystick is used for selecting and moving within action areas. Confirmation is (A), cancellation (B), selecting the next or previous unit is (RB or LB, it cycles), and finally, the end of the turn is (Y). So, you essentially play with five buttons and a joystick.

As for the other useful buttons, you could add the right joystick camera for adjusting camera angles. You can zoom out using the LT button and open the map using the selection button. Other commands are more situational, such as moving up or down a floor, which is controlled by the D-pad to manage the verticality of certain levels. Enemy information is displayed using X, firing information using RT, and sprinting using L3. When exploring, controls are even more limited. You move using the left joystick, while orienting the camera with the right, and a few confirmations with A are all that’s needed.

The game’s real flaw is its constant joystick use. You have to use the joystick to navigate radial menus and select targets for certain actions, like grenades or area-of-effect attacks. This radial menu is the heart of the problem, for it demands fine motor skills that other solutions might have avoided. A simple action bar, like those in X-COM and Crown Wars, with movement controlled using directional buttons is far more effective. The same issue arises with game menus, for example “Inspect” mode provides additional information on keywords or statistics, and it’s activated using L3. This allows you to move an on-screen cursor using a joystick or mouse. These two frequent and important joystick uses can create real obstacles for many players.

On the other hand, Zero Company remains a turn-based game. This gives you ample time to perform actions and rest between them, if needed. You control the game’s pace yourself, which is still quite rare in video games. This is typical, though, of a few specific genres, particularly tactical and management games.

In conclusion, the game requires minimal input and no combos. However, it remains highly dependent on joysticks for precision, with no compensation possible for dead zones or for using only adaptive controllers.

What if I’m visually impaired? 6 / 10

Visually, Zero Company gets off to a good start, with yellow and electric blue used natively in the interface, these being two colors that are quite resistant to color vision deficiencies. Red, however, is still used for everything related to enemies. Fortunately, colorblind filters are available in the Accessibility menu, with an independent intensity setting.

Filters have their limits in that even though you can change their strength, you can’t choose their color. In some contexts, this can lead to a loss of visibility. In our example below, the red attributed to enemy-related elements is replaced by an orange/salmon hue thanks to the filter for people with deuteranopia. However, in a sand-colored environment like Tatooine, some contrast is lost.

Regarding interface, text size can be adjusted over four levels including small, standard, large and extra large. This ensures good menu visibility. As for subtitles, settings go much further. You can adjust size, text color, background opacity and modify the blur behind text to enhance readability. This level of customization is rare.

The Gameplay menu also offers two options that help identify important on-screen elements. The “Hidden Characters Outlines” accessibility toggle maintains a visible silhouette for characters hidden behind an obstacle. The “Highlight Destructible Cover” tactical UI setting highlights what can be destroyed during combat. These are welcome aids in a game where understanding the battlefield quickly is crucial.

Regarding motion sensitivity, Zero Company allows you to disable or reduce the frequency that the “action camera” is displayed, which shows close-up shots to showcase a specific ability or action in combat. Disabling it keeps the camera stationary throughout the fight, thus limiting sudden movements for those prone to motion sickness. A “UI stabilization point” is also available in this same motion-reduction section.

During tactical phases, movement zones are displayed in blue, and effect zones, such as those for grenades, are displayed in orange. This is a combination that remains visible for most people with color vision deficiencies. Each targeted enemy also displays a percentage accuracy directly on-screen, numerical information that doesn’t rely solely on a colored bar for interpretation. Status effects, such as cumulative fire damage over several turns, are also accompanied by duration numbers.

Regarding sound aids, our opinion is more mitigated because they’re essential. There are some in the menus, which are not infinite, so we know when we’ve reached the bottom.

During tactical phases, some sounds are very useful if you disable all other sounds. For example, one sound indicates a change in the action zone, signifying that movement will cost one additional AP. Once in a protected zone, sounds will be different to indicate full or partial protection. In the radial menu, sounds change depending on whether an action is available or already used. This provides good audio cues.

However, audio information will be lacking about key elements such as health points, hit probability and active effects, such as the risk of triggering a surveillance zone. These are essential for playing using sound. Furthermore, during exploration, there aren’t any collision sounds and characters continue running in place when blocked by walls.

These shortcomings will therefore make the game difficult or impossible to play for visually-impaired people or someone with low vision, despite a solid foundation. In fact, Ethan had great difficulty completing the tutorial phase because the elements were indeed yellow, but they were on yellow sand, so Ethan couldn’t detect them at all, even though they were essential to the tutorial’s progression.Zero Company delivers solid visuals in terms of color, interface and subtitles, with genuine comfort options. This earns it a decent score. However, it lacks audio reinforcement for some essential gameplay information. Consistent contrast, such as for subtitles and gameplay information, would also be necessary. Therefore, it remains unsuitable for those with impaired vision. So, be careful when making your choice and watch our French-language Gameplay video to ensure elements offer sufficient contrast for you.

What if I have hearing loss? 9 / 10

Regarding hearing, Zero Company clearly gives its best performance for all four accessibility profiles. Subtitles are comprehensive and everything can be customized, including text size and color, there’s customized speaker name color and background opacity. The only thing missing is speaker position. You can also enable combat dialogue in the subtitles, an option often lacking in this type of game.

Especially, a “dialogue closed captions” option allows non-verbal sounds to be displayed. This is exactly what’s needed to understand a scene’s context without relying on ambient sound. It’s one of the game’s key strengths in terms of audio accessibility.

During tactical phases, enemies are indicated on-screen by red markers, even beyond your line of sight. However, you have to look for them at the edge of the screen, as they’re sometimes hidden under the character interface, so it’s not always very clear. The “Audio” menu also allows you to adjust sound sources independently and prioritize dialogue, even completely muting music and ambient sounds to keep only voices, if necessary.

However, not everything is perfect. There isn’t any mono sound, so lateral hearing loss will cause a loss of some spatial information. Ambient sounds also persist during tactical phases, such as distant gunfire, even when ambient sound is muted in the settings. This can, therefore, interfere with the perception of finer sounds. During conversations in the surrounding environment, whether exploring or at base, there isn’t any indication of speaker location.

These reservations remain minor compared to overall experience. Zero Company relies far more on visual information than sound to convey essential gameplay elements, which is a significant advantage for hearing-impaired players. It’s therefore a game that can be played with ease.

What if I have a cognitive disability? 5 / 10

From a cognitive standpoint, we’re getting to the heart of the problem for this type of game, for pure tactics require a good understanding of mechanics, placement optimization and combined actions, and Star Wars: Zero Company is no exception.

Learning these mechanics will therefore be crucial. In principle, there are some good points, such as ample time, lots of icons to understand each action, and elements always in the same order. Using it is interesting.

Using the game requires knowing what you’re doing. The first mission includes a very tightly-directed tutorial. You have to position characters and click on clearly defined actions, and since you can save the game at any time, it’s fairly easy to replay. Although that may help with performing actions, it won’t help you understand why you’re doing them. “Okay, I have to go there, behind the wall!” However, that in itself won’t explain the very principle of total or partial protection.

There are, in fact, explanatory text boxes, however they’re quite dense, in written form, and with no screen reader. In other words, people who can’t read will struggle to understand, especially since the game is only in English or German [sic.], with subtitles. So, regarding the story itself, this type of player may feel lost. Furthermore, since missions have logical sequences and connections, a player may quickly get confused.

For those who can read, the challenge will be remembering everything. There isn’t a dedicated tutorial section to refresh your memory regarding a gameplay element between sessions. However, information about how to use each game element appears when you select it.

In my test group, there are several people who struggle with reading and processing large amounts of information at once. For some, it was possible to play, but only with my guidance about what to do, and without having an overview of the group of four or five characters’ actions.

However, Star Wars: Zero Company has an inherent problem with its tactical style, because it quickly becomes demanding at a strategic level. You have to understand the mechanics, optimize and coordinate positioning and squad actions, and this is very complex for those with cognitive disabilities.

Choosing the right difficulty level helps a little. Four levels are available, from “Story” to “Expert,” each with a precise description of what it changes. In Story Mode, characters inflict more damage and enemies are much easier to fight, with greatly reduced accuracy and damage.

It’s impossible, however, to auto-complete a mission that’s too difficult, even in Story Mode, and difficulty levels remain static. They can’t be adjusted separately according to each type of activity. An option also warns you at the end of your turn if there are any unspent action points remaining, to prevent losing them through simple inadvertence.

Managing game pace proved problematic for those with a more hyperactive personality. It’s a slow-paced game that encourages analysis and preparation, and this was too restrictive for two team members who much prefer jumping into the action.

The radial menu created difficulties for everyone, since ultimately, coordinating thumb movement on the joystick with the on-screen radial menu required a sometimes-lengthy learning curve. It’s the type of menu which remains relatively uncommon in games, and therefore represents a real lack of practice.

Zero Company therefore offers some good tools in certain situations, with icons and difficulty levels being the most prominent. However, the very nature of the tactical genre, combined with the lack of a screen reader and a demanding radial menu will exclude a large number of players with cognitive disabilities.

Our Opinion

Star Wars: Zero Company confirms what we already suspected with Crown Wars, that the tactical genre remains structurally complex from a cognitive standpoint, regardless of the quality of the accessibility work done around it. Here, the score climbs slightly compared to Crown Wars (five versus four), thanks to more difficulty levels and effective icons, but the radial menu adds a layer of physical and cognitive complexity specific to this game.

It is precisely in the visual and auditory aspects that Zero Company clearly distinguishes itself from its predecessor. Whereas Crown Wars didn’t offer virtually any graphics options, Zero Company focuses on native colorblind-friendly colors, additional filters, and above all, subtitles with an exceptional level of customization, down to the color of each speaker’s name. The option of including closed captions for non-verbal sounds clearly makes a difference on the auditory level.

Star Wars: Zero Company inherits the same fundamental flaw as all games of this genre, that is, it’s a fairly complex game which expects players to understand its intricacies. A new player can quickly feel lost. It’s a good game in terms of presentation, but it doesn’t resolve the structural limitations of pure tactics.