Star Wars Zero Company hands-on: Attack Astromechs, permadeath, and delightfully fatal Rube Goldberg tactics

Spread out across a dusty red courtyard in an unnamed backwater on Anaxes, my team of four hunkers down behind steel crates and the stucco walls that make up this little village.

Trick, a clone trooper on the team, just blew three outlaws into the air with his rocket launcher, somewhat leveling the playing field, and setting it a bit on fire.

That’s when our Tognath Jedi Padawan, Tel-Rea, gets antsy. She runs around her cover and flips, landing behind a hiding outlaw striker, slashing him with her glowing red and blue lightsabers. He crumbles to the ground, still very much alive. Annoyed, she Force pushes him across the courtyard into the fire from Trick’s earlier attack.

The striker flails into view of Eran Luca, a Neimoidian sharpshooter just waiting for something to cross in front of his scope. He pops off a shot from across the map, killing the enemy. 

This exhilarating moment in the mission is an excellent example of the Rube Goldberg death traps you can tactically set up in Star Wars Zero Company and one of the many reasons you should be anticipating the turn-based tactical game’s release.

In Star Wars Zero Company, you take on the role of Hawks, a former captain in the Grand Army of the Republic who now leads Zero Company as they are recruited for an operation that has them taking on a new threat in the twilight of the Clone Wars.

You can read the full story, which was first published Aug. 11, on Epic Games Store News.