I hire Tagoz Tru fully expecting him to die. The Weequay bruiser isn't one of Star Wars Zero Company's big-name signings, like Tel-Rea the Jedi ronin or Cly Kullervo the Mandalorian bounty hunter. These characters – both of whom I have to google, just to make 100% sure they're not lifted from some Star Wars cartoon – come with their own dedicated side quests and hours of bespoke voice acting. And even they can be lost forever in battle. So what chance does a randomly rolled recruit like Tagoz have?

Better than I'd expected, as it turns out. Zero Company's permadeath is a tradition borrowed – like so many of this game's essentials – from XCOM, the seminal tactics game in which you fed faceless soldiers into an extraterrestrial meat grinder. There, finishing the campaign with a couple of dozen body bags to your name could be written off as an unqualified success.

Zero Company dangles this threat right from the beginning, killing off one of your starting roster in the tutorial, just to show that it means business. But that also illustrates just how thoroughly you need to fail for this ever to be a concern.

Release date: August 27, 2026
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series
Developer: Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts

A character whose health bar hits zero will drop to their knees, where a squadmate can revive them, Gears Of War -style. They'll get back up with an injury that limits their combat effectiveness, and it's only on the third wound that you lose them forever.

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