Star Wars Zero Company Community Pushes for New Game Plus as PC Modders Remove the Campaign Timer

It has been slightly over two weeks since Bit Reactor and Electronic Arts officially launched Star Wars Zero Company on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. By most metrics, the turn-based tactical strategy game has been a resounding success. Fans of the Clone Wars era and XCOM-like mechanics have poured millions of hours into commanding the protagonist Hawks and their highly customizable roster of operatives. The game successfully blends the rich lore of the 20 BBY era with grueling, high-stakes tactical combat against the Separatist forces led by the ruthless antagonist Kundri Fathom.

Now that a significant portion of the player base has finished the estimated 30 to 40-hour campaign, the post-launch conversation is rapidly shifting toward replayability and endgame structure. As players roll the credits and prepare for a second playthrough, a major point of friction has emerged within the community: the glaring absence of a true New Game Plus (NG+) mode. Simultaneously, the PC modding scene is actively altering the core mechanics of the game, most notably by completely removing the built-in campaign timer that dictates the pace of operations from the Den.

Here is a closer look at what the community is saying, how modders are changing the tactical landscape, and where the game currently stands as we move further into September.

The Missing New Game Plus Mode

Throughout the main campaign of Star Wars Zero Company, you spend dozens of hours meticulously building your squad from the ground up. You recruit mercenaries from across the galaxy, train specialized clone troopers, and assign distinct classes to each operative. You upgrade their energy rifles, customize their tactical camouflage, and carefully nurture the interpersonal bond systems that grant powerful combat synergies on the battlefield.

Players learn to master the nuanced 3 Action Point (AP) system, figuring out precisely how to flank a squad of Separatist battle droids on the crystal-strewn surface of Christophsis, or how to set up overlapping overwatch fire zones in the dark, hostile fungal forests of Felucia.

However, once the campaign ends, players are finding the transition to a new playthrough incredibly jarring. Starting a fresh campaign currently wipes almost all character progression. While you get to retain unlocked cosmetics and your Databank lore entries, you lose all of your operatives’ skill trees, high-tier equipment, and interpersonal bonds.

A highly upvoted thread on the Zero Company subreddit recently captured this widespread frustration. A user named LarryLovesRock praised the game extensively, explicitly highlighting a surprise late-game short adventure featuring Captain Rex and Anakin Skywalker as “the cherry on top of the cake.” Despite these high praises for the narrative and combat, the user expressed severe disappointment over the lack of a progression-carrying NG+ mode.

“Why in the big hell didn’t they add New Game Plus? I mean we all want to keep upgrading our squad, bond, skills, get all the stuff that we couldn’t,” the user wrote. “Y’all elevated us to the sky to let us free fall with no parachute… there’s no way in hell I’m gonna aggravate myself playing a new fresh campaign with nothing but cosmetics.”

This sentiment is echoing across various community hubs. In a game heavily built around squad attachment and RPG-lite progression, stripping the player of their custom-built team at the exact moment they reach the height of their power feels counterintuitive to many strategy veterans.

The Brutal Reality of Expert and Beskar Mode

The lack of an NG+ mode is particularly stinging for veteran players who want to tackle the game’s hardest difficulties on a second run. Star Wars Zero Company offers an Expert difficulty setting, alongside a permadeath option known as Beskar Mode.

Many players expected to finish their initial run on a standard difficulty, build up an elite squad of max-level operatives, and then carry that legendary team into Expert + Beskar Mode for a final, definitive challenge. Instead, taking on Beskar Mode currently requires starting entirely from scratch with basic rookies armed with entry-level blasters.

You cannot rely on simple run-and-gun tactics on these higher difficulties. Enemies will aggressively flank your positions, utilize their own overwatch cones to pin down your operatives, and coordinate fire on your weakest links. Surviving requires tight synergy between your heavy weapons specialists and your support classes. Without the ability to bring a custom-built, fully synergized squad into these harder modes, players feel their initial 40-hour investment is heavily devalued. Starting fresh means going back to basic rifles and grenades, losing the specialized loadouts that make the late-game combat so deeply satisfying. If you want a refresher on how punishing the permadeath mechanics can be when a low-level operative gets caught out of cover, be sure to check our guide on how permadeath works.

Players have drawn comparisons to classic games and modern RPGs alike, noting that the reward for finishing a long game is typically the ability to replay it with your hard-earned power intact. The community is loudly requesting a patch from Bit Reactor that allows players to carry over their squad roster, abilities, and weapons. Whether this will disrupt the early game balance is a valid concern, but most players agree they simply want the option to play a power-fantasy second run.

PC Modders Erase the Campaign Timer

While console players are largely left waiting for official patches to address endgame progression, the PC community is already heavily modifying the Star Wars Zero Company experience via Steam.

One of the core structural mechanics of the game involves a strict campaign cycle timer. When you are managing your squad at your base of operations, the Den, time is currency. Every day spent researching new blaster capacitors or healing wounded operatives is a day closer to the next mandatory operation orchestrated by Kundri Fathom. Taking on side operations to earn credits, intel, and experience points consumes this precious time. Eventually, the timer forces you into major narrative missions, whether you feel your squad is adequately prepared or not.

This creates a tense, strategic layer of time management, forcing players to prioritize certain upgrades or character bonds over others. However, not everyone appreciates being rushed in a single-player strategy game.

According to a recent report by Gamereactor UK, a prominent modder has successfully removed the campaign timer from Star Wars Zero Company. This follows a remarkably similar situation with another recent release, The Blood of Dawnwalker, which also saw its strict time limits stripped away by the modding community shortly after its launch.

By installing this timer removal mod, PC players are fundamentally changing the flow of the game. Without the ticking clock pushing the narrative forward, Hawks can take on an infinite number of side missions across the galaxy.

This allows players to essentially grind out maximum levels for their entire roster of operatives before ever advancing the main plot. You can recruit every available species, unlock every top-tier class ability, and perfect your team synergies without any narrative pressure hanging over your head. For players interested in maximizing their damage output and experimenting with different team setups, this mod is a dream come true. You can view our best squad composition guide to see exactly which classes benefit the most from this unlimited farming potential.

Of course, removing the timer entirely trivializes some of the game’s intended difficulty. The tension of deploying a fatigued or wounded squad because you are simply out of time is completely lost. However, the immense popularity of the mod indicates that a significant portion of the player base prefers to engage with the tactical combat and base building at their own leisurely pace, rather than constantly fighting against the clock.

Early PS5 Discounts Arrive

For those who have not yet jumped into the Clone Wars tactical experience, there is some good news on the pricing front. While the game launched at a very reasonable $50/£45 price point compared to the modern $70 standard, bargain hunters are already finding ways to get it even cheaper.

The Manchester Evening News reported this weekend that PlayStation 5 players in the UK are utilizing cashback sites to secure physical copies for a fraction of the cost. Through a combination of TopCashback sign-up bonuses and Argos deals, new customers are snapping up Star Wars Zero Company for as little as £29.58.

Seeing discounts this soon after launch is a common retail strategy to boost physical sales, but it provides a great entry point for players who were perhaps waiting for reviews or post-launch patches to stabilize the experience. If you are picking the game up this week and preparing to build your own squad, reading through our combat tactics guide will give you a vital head start on mastering overwatch and flanking maneuvers before your first operative takes a permanent laser blast to the chest.

Looking Ahead

As Star Wars Zero Company settles into its post-launch window, the ball is firmly in Bit Reactor’s court. The core gameplay loop—the deep class customization, the tension of permadeath, the rich 20 BBY atmosphere, and the incredibly well-received surprise appearances from legacy characters—has proven to be a winning formula.

However, the lack of a New Game Plus mode is currently acting as a bottleneck for long-term player retention. Strategy games thrive on experimentation and replayability. If players feel their 40-hour investment is thrown away upon completing the final mission, they are far more likely to uninstall the game rather than start a fresh run with weak recruits.

With the PC community already taking the game’s mechanics into their own hands via mods to alleviate time pressure, it will be interesting to see if the developers address these progression concerns in upcoming patch notes. Until then, PC players will likely continue to bend the rules of the Den to their liking, while console commanders cross their fingers for an official NG+ update.