So it’s confirmed, Bit Reactor’s Star Wars: Zero Company got a firm release date of August 27th, and a proper gameplay trailer showing off the upcoming turn-based tactics game set in a very intensive period of the Star Wars timeline.

Star Wars: Zero Company Release Date Confirmed for August 27

Zero Company is shaping up as everything a XCOM fan could hope for in a game, much of it shown off during a trailer released as a part of the Summer Game Fest.

In three brief minutes it not only sells us more details about the story premise, but also shows off various layers of gameplay, including strategic decisions, tactics combat, various team compositions, as well as visuals and functional customization of characters and weapons. That’s a lot.

There are a fair few interesting things to be gleaned from the trailer.

First of all, it appears as though it won’t be using a strong grid, and goes for a more flexible measurements instead. For example the Jedi ability Shockwave is shown to have a range of 5 meters, and the measurement template doesn’t conjure any grid. It might have been an interface tweak for the trailer, however.

If it wasn’t, this approach appears closer to Midnight Suns, rather than XCOM, if we go by Firaxis’s games, and why shouldn’t we, since studio Bit Reactor is the new home of quite a few former Firaxis staff.

Unlike Midnight Suns, however, Zero Company sticks with a cover system and to-hit chance for attacks, so get ready for the 99% to-hit chance misses. That’s ZCOM, baby.

There’s also going to be a good selection of cosmetic option to outfit your crew of specialists, including plenty of rarely utilized species and several types of Clone Trooper armor, which is pretty rad. The weapons will also be customizable, seemingly tapping into the weapon mod system from XCOM 2.

Of course, proof of the pudding is in the eating, so as a starving XCOM fan I am getting my fork ready for Star Wars Zero Company launch date of August 27th.