TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 9,870
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
It's the Runa-approved way to play.
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Star Wars Zero Company is enough like XCOM that everyone's been calling it ZCOM, but there are some ways it isn't quite XCOM enough for me. For starters, the radial menu you use to select each character's actions, a controller-friendly system that flings all your abilities out in a circle around the active character like a medieval jailer's ring of keys.
The first time I panned over to find an enemy I wanted to attack and then had to pan back to the character I'd selected to pick an attack off their radial menu I found myself wishing for a more traditional way to play. And look at that, there it is in the options menu. Go to the Gameplay section, scroll down to Ability Selection Style at the bottom of the General area, and bump it from Radial over to Linear.
That puts moving and shooting and overwatching and etcetera onto a numbered row of boxes down the bottom of the screen where God intended, getting them out of the way when you're trying to line up the perfect angle to punch someone into a wall from. There's also a Hybrid option if you're indecisive and feeling a bit "¿Por qué no los dos?"
I'm still in the early hours of Star Wars Zero Company, but playing with a mouse and keyboard, Linear Ability Selection just feels better. Between this and the fact you can bother a gonk droid, maybe it is a 90% masterpiece like Ted says.
Best laptop games: Low-spec lifeBest Steam Deck games: Handheld must-havesBest browser games: No install neededBest indie games: Independent excellenceBest co-op games: Better together
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Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.
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When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
Star Wars Zero Company is enough like XCOM that everyone's been calling it ZCOM, but there are some ways it isn't quite XCOM enough for me. For starters, the radial menu you use to select each character's actions, a controller-friendly system that flings all your abilities out in a circle around the active character like a medieval jailer's ring of keys.
The first time I panned over to find an enemy I wanted to attack and then had to pan back to the character I'd selected to pick an attack off their radial menu I found myself wishing for a more traditional way to play. And look at that, there it is in the options menu. Go to the Gameplay section, scroll down to Ability Selection Style at the bottom of the General area, and bump it from Radial over to Linear.
That puts moving and shooting and overwatching and etcetera onto a numbered row of boxes down the bottom of the screen where God intended, getting them out of the way when you're trying to line up the perfect angle to punch someone into a wall from. There's also a Hybrid option if you're indecisive and feeling a bit "¿Por qué no los dos?"
I'm still in the early hours of Star Wars Zero Company, but playing with a mouse and keyboard, Linear Ability Selection just feels better. Between this and the fact you can bother a gonk droid, maybe it is a 90% masterpiece like Ted says.
Best laptop games: Low-spec lifeBest Steam Deck games: Handheld must-havesBest browser games: No install neededBest indie games: Independent excellenceBest co-op games: Better together
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?