Star Wars Zero Company director has ‘an axe to grind’ with turn-based tactics, says fans don’t have to settle for no story, crummy graphics, and clunky controls: ‘Depth doesn’t cost you elegance’

Does a tactics game need a story? Does it even need to look good? Greg Foertsch, creative director on the upcoming XCOM-like Star Wars: Zero Company, certainly thinks so. The former XCOM dev dove into his thoughts on the genre in a recent conversation with PC Gamer associate editor Ted Litchfield.

While it might seem like the biggest compliment a tactics game can get is ‘you know, it’s actually more of a puzzle game,’ Foertsch said that’s no excuse to spare players a good story.

“How do we do something that makes you feel something as a player, and not just think through a problem? That’s the space where I think the genre can grow,” Foertsch said. “I think that’s the space where we can innovate, and that’s the space where, I’ve forgotten the things I did before, and we’re worried about making something better next. That’s where Zero Company was born.”

Genre diehards might be content with even the spartan visuals of the original XCOM—that is, 1994 and not 2012—but Foertsch said he wants to realize the largely untapped potential for eye-catching graphics and immersive storytelling in tactics games.

“I have an axe to grind with the genre,” he said. “It’s so easy for genre fans to wear it as a badge of [honor], ‘Oh, the art doesn’t matter, the graphics don’t matter, the story doesn’t matter. It’s all about gameplay.

“The gameplay is what it is about. But depth doesn’t cost you elegance. You can absolutely have all those other things, and not to mention this genre in particular, you should have those things. It’s a single player game.”

He argued that you could turn off all the upcoming Zero Company’s fancy camera angles and the gameplay would still be “the same,” but the extra oomph offered by snazzy production values improves the whole package. “Why do you have to compromise?” said Foertsch. I’m inclined to agree with him after playing the criminally underloved Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a game Foertsch was art director on and a case study in how tactics games can have their cake and eat it too.

Foertsch maintains that it’s not an either-or, and he said he’s not sure why or how fans got “conditioned” to think strategy games can’t graphically luxuriate a little bit or spin memorable yarns. “We should have better stories, we have more immersion, we have better visuals … we’re here to tell you, you can have both, and that’s what we’re planning to deliver.”

If you’re itching to learn more about Star Wars Zero Company, you can read Ted’s full preview of the game—it’s chock-full of details and interview tidbits from Foertsch and others. We also have a handy explainer on the game that’ll tell you everything you need to know.

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