Going in Blind: Star Wars Zero Company Could Be an XCOM Gateway, but Not for Everyone

Star Wars Zero Company was already on my radar because I love Star Wars, but I was also curious what it could offer someone who doesn't regularly play XCOM-like games. I have played some games in the genre, including Mario + Rabbids (which I know isn't the prime example, but it was my gateway into the genre, so don’t be mad haha), but the lack of accessibility in many strategy games has often kept me from playing more.

With its Star Wars setting, interesting story, and enjoyable tactical gameplay, Star Wars Zero Company could be a great introduction to the genre. Unfortunately, its limited accessibility will prevent many disabled players from enjoying everything the game has to offer.

This is more of a first-impressions review than a complete review. While playing the Steam version, the game crashed after the first mission. I couldn't continue to a second mission and get a better sense of how the strategy, story, and difficulty develop over time. These impressions are based on the tutorial, the opening mission, character customization, and the den area that acts as the home base.

Because of the crash and my limited time with the game, I cannot give it a final accessibility score. However, there is still a lot to discuss about both the gameplay and the accessibility options available during the opening section.

A Promising Star Wars Story

The story immediately intrigued me. Even in the tutorial and first mission, the Star Wars setting made me want to keep going and learn more about the characters and their situation. That setting is one of the biggest reasons the game works as an introduction to XCOM-like strategy.

These games can be complicated, especially for players unfamiliar with the genre. There are operators to manage, abilities to learn, enemies to track, and tactical choices to make. Placing that experience inside the Star Wars universe made it more enticing for me. I wanted to understand the strategy because I was already interested in the world.

The den also helps establish the story and the team. It functions as the player’s home base, where characters can walk around and interact with different areas. I only got to experience a small part of this section, but it made the game feel like more than a collection of tactical missions.

The game also has a character customization system. I spent a surprising amount of time creating my character, which can often feel like the first boss of a game. The available customization adds another personal element before the tactical part of the game begins.

Familiar but Enjoyable Tactical Gameplay

The first mission introduces the standard features players might expect from an XCOM-like game. Operators can move around the map, take cover, use Overwatch, attack enemies, and activate special abilities. Each operator has a unique ability, and players can customize which operators they bring.

Although the opening tutorial was not particularly difficult, the gameplay was already enjoyable. Moving operators into position and deciding when to attack gave me a taste of the strategy that will likely become more complicated as the game continues.

I am interested in figuring out that strategy. XCOM-like games generally become more difficult as they introduce additional enemies, abilities, and decisions. I cannot say how well Star Wars Zero Company handles that development because I could not play beyond the first mission, but the basic gameplay is there.

The controls also felt relatively intuitive. When using a controller, actions appear in a radial menu. Keyboard and mouse players use a more traditional action bar along the bottom of the screen. The game communicates the basic choices well enough that I could understand what I could do during my turn.

When preparing to fire, the game can automatically target the next or closest enemy. Players can aim manually, but only at an enemy within line of sight. The turn-based structure also means no timer forces players to make an immediate decision.

These features let players slow down, examine the map, and think through their next action. That helps accessibility, but it also makes the strategy more approachable for anyone new to the genre.

Difficulty and Permadeath

The game includes adjustable difficulty and optional permadeath. When permadeath is enabled, losing an operator means that character can be permanently removed. Players who do not want that pressure can turn permadeath off and allow an operator to return after being downed.

Optional permadeath is a welcome feature. Losing a character can make each decision feel more important, but it can also create pressure and indecision. Players who become attached to an operator may not want to lose that character because of one mistake or a strategy they did not completely understand.

Turning permadeath off allows players to experiment without worrying that every failure will have a permanent effect. It can also help players with cognitive disabilities who experience difficulty when making decisions under pressure.

The option does not remove the strategy from the game. Players still have to consider positioning, cover, abilities, and enemy locations. It simply gives them more control over the consequences of a mistake.

Subtitle and Text Options

The subtitle menu includes one of the game’s most interesting accessibility features. Players can adjust the subtitle size, text colour, and background opacity. The menu provides a large preview, making it easy to see how the subtitles will look before returning to the game.

There is also an option called subtitle blur. When the subtitle background is not completely opaque, the game blurs the environment behind the text. The idea is to help the subtitles stand out without requiring a solid background.

It is an interesting concept that I haven't seen used this way before. Unfortunately, it does not always work well. Text can still blend into a light background, and there is no slider to adjust the blur amount.

Giving players control over the effect's strength could make subtitle blur much more useful. Some players may not want an opaque subtitle background but may need a stronger blur to separate the text from the image.

The game also offers dialogue captions. Conversations between nearby characters appear as captions, allowing players to follow dialogue happening around them.

Text size can be increased to extra large. This made much of the interface legible for me, although I would still like certain text to be larger. The game has a lot of text, so more control over the size of different parts of the interface would improve the experience.

Visual Accessibility and Interface Problems

The most significant accessibility barriers are related to the interface and the visual presentation of gameplay. The radial action menu does not have enough contrast. Although the icons stand out slightly, parts of the menu can blend into the environment.

A high-contrast interface would make the available actions easier to identify. The game would also benefit from a high-contrast mode for operators, enemies, and important parts of the environment.

(Here's my crude design of what a High Contrast Mode could look like: Operators in a shade of blue, enemies in Red, Overwatch would be the same colours as the game already provides, and higher-contrast UI widgets)

This isn't only a menu-reading problem. Identifying enemies is an important part of the strategy. An enemy in a corner can be hard to notice, especially when the character blends into the environment. Missing that enemy could result in moving an injured operator into danger and losing them because important information was not visually clear.

Players can move the camera around the map and look for enemies outside the current view, but that does not completely solve the problem. A high-contrast mode would allow players to separate operators and enemies from the environment more easily.

The game includes colorblind filters, but filters are not always an effective solution. They can do more to demonstrate what colorblindness looks like than fix the actual barriers. More options for adjusting individual interface colours would give players better control.

Some parts of the interface are a decent size and relatively intuitive, but the lack of contrast makes the overall experience inconsistent. A strategy game communicates a large amount of information, and that information needs to remain clear throughout every mission.

Blind and Low-Vision Accessibility

There is no screen reader, navigational assistance, or as I mentioned a high-contrast mode. This makes the game extremely difficult for totally blind players and creates barriers for players with low vision.

The lack of a screen reader is particularly significant because the game contains so much text. Players need to read menus, abilities, character information, and other details to understand the strategy.

Navigation is another problem. Players must move through the den to reach different parts of the home base, but there are no audio cues or sound effects to guide them. Combat also requires players to understand the layout of the map and locate operators, enemies, and cover.

The extra-large text may make the game playable for some low-vision players, but it will depend on what each person can see. Totally blind players will likely be unable to play independently.

Motor and Hearing Accessibility

The controller-remapping system is one of the stronger accessibility features. Players can assign a second button to an action instead of only swapping buttons. This could be useful for someone using an adaptive controller or anyone who needs multiple ways to perform the same command.

The lack of a timer also helps motor-disabled players. Players don't need to complete quick actions during combat, and automatic targeting reduces the need for precise aiming. Combined with controller remapping, these choices make the game more approachable for players with different motor disabilities.

For players with hearing disabilities, customizable subtitles and dialogue captions provide access to conversations. However, there is not much beyond those options. Icons appear on the edges of the screen to show where an enemy or point of interest is, but they're so small that it's hard to notice without actively looking for them.

Final Thoughts