Star Wars Zero Company Platinum Journey: An 85-Hour Grind, Missing Post-Game, and the Lothal Bug

Almost exactly one month since Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment launched STAR WARS Zero Company on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, the most dedicated tactical commanders are finally securing their Platinum trophies and 100% completion marks. The verdict is in: achieving absolute completion in this Clone Wars-era XCOM-like requires a hefty commitment of roughly 85 hours. While the core 40-hour campaign offers an incredibly tight strategic experience set against the backdrop of 20 BBY, the road to the Platinum trophy introduces a distinct set of hurdles, mechanics, and unexpected bugs that require careful planning.

In this breakdown, we examine what the 85-hour completionist journey looks like, why the trophy requirements mandate multiple playthroughs, the community’s frustration with the lack of an infinite post-game mode, and a severe bug on Lothal that is actively ending Ironman runs for unprepared players.

The 85-Hour Tactical Commitment

For a turn-based tactical game, 85 hours represents a substantial investment. STAR WARS Zero Company (Steam app id 2075800) earns this playtime not through bloated map sizes, but through the deep roster management required at the Den—your primary base of operations—and the intricate tactical combat that demands slow, methodical play. During the first playthrough, most players naturally gravitate toward familiar combat tactics, relying heavily on basic cover systems, standard overwatch traps, and safe flanking maneuvers to survive the Separatist onslaught.

However, earning the Platinum requires stepping far out of that initial comfort zone. You are forced to recruit diverse operatives from across the galaxy, and heavily invest in the game’s intricate bond system. Players who have completed the 85-hour grind report that while they initially ignored recruitment during their first 40-hour run, the hardest difficulty achievements absolutely mandate a mastery of squad synergy.

Building relationships between your operatives yields unique passive abilities and cross-class combos that completely alter how you approach high-stakes missions on planets like Christophsis, Ryloth, or Geonosis. Unlocking these higher-tier bond abilities is remarkably powerful, but it comes with a noticeable time cost. Returning to the Den from a stressful deployment only to find 30 different conversation and training interactions waiting for you can feel slightly tedious. The progression layer is deeply rewarding, but it undeniably turns the base management phase into a major time sink for completionists.

Why You Need Three Playthroughs for the Platinum

One of the most heavily discussed aspects of the 100% completion route is the realization that a single, or even double, playthrough is rarely enough. The trophy list across all platforms includes several achievements directly tied to maxing out relationships with specific operatives. Because of the narrative structure of STAR WARS Zero Company, a three-playthrough requirement has emerged as the community standard.

The primary culprit for this extended playtime is the “temporary departure” mechanic. Depending on the story choices you make as Commander Hawks, certain operatives will leave your customized Zero Company squad for several cycles to handle their own affairs or answer urgent calls from the Republic. If you are halfway through maxing out a bond with a specific clone or a mercenary of a rare species and they suddenly leave the roster, you can easily miss the narrow window to secure their associated achievement before the campaign concludes.

To mitigate this, trophy hunters need to meticulously plan their best squad composition right from Cycle 1. You cannot maximize every bond in a single run. Instead, you must group specific operatives together, focus entirely on their training interactions at the Den, and complete their unique companion missions as soon as they appear on the galactic map. These optional companion missions are widely considered some of the best content in the game, providing crucial backstory and making the operatives feel like living, breathing characters rather than disposable units. However, trying to juggle all of them at once will lead to a diluted bond pool, inevitably forcing you into a third 40-hour run just to clean up the remaining relationship trophies.

The Missing “Infinite Mode” and Hawkes’ Empty Promise

Perhaps the biggest frustration voiced by players who have spent 85 hours earning the Platinum is the abrupt nature of the post-game. At the conclusion of the main campaign, Commander Hawks delivers a memorable line about “going out and earning more credits.” For fans of the genre, this sounded like the perfect setup for a procedurally generated endgame—an infinite tactical mode where players could continue to take on randomized contracts, level up their existing roster, and experiment with new operative combinations without the pressure of a narrative timer.

Unfortunately, this infinite mode does not officially exist in the base game. Once the credits roll, your current squad’s journey is effectively over. If you want to try a completely different team synergy or test out the late-game capabilities of a newly recruited class, your only option is to start a brand new campaign and sit through the early-game tutorial sections all over again.

The community has been highly vocal about this missed opportunity. The desire to keep the existing squad intact and run endless tactical missions against increasingly difficult Separatist forces is incredibly high. While PC players have begun relying on community-made mods to introduce endgame loops, console players on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S are left waiting and hoping that Bit Reactor eventually patches in a dedicated endless sandbox mode to validate the massive roster of available operatives.

The Cycle 23 Lothal Bug: A Droideka Surprise

While the 85-hour grind is mostly a matter of patience and planning, there is a specific technical issue that is actively ruining playthroughs for completionists. A severe, game-breaking bug has been widely reported during a specific Coil Crisis mission on the planet Lothal, typically occurring around Cycle 23.

According to community reports, primarily from PS5 users, the game completely hangs during the final enemy movement phase of this mission. The UI remains active and background audio plays, but the turn never passes back to the player, leaving the squad stranded in a frozen state. After waiting for several minutes, players are forced to hard-quit and restart the application.

This is where the bug turns into a tactical nightmare. Upon reloading the save file and re-entering the mission, the game’s procedural generation engine appears to glitch, inexplicably spawning a Droideka into the map that was not present during the original run. Because Droidekas in STAR WARS Zero Company require highly coordinated armor-shredding attacks, heavy action point (AP) investment, and precise flanking maneuvers to defeat, having one randomly dropped into an already precarious Coil Crisis mission makes the encounter exponentially harder.

For players attempting the hardest difficulty for their Platinum run, this sudden Droideka spawn can result in a total squad wipe. If you are approaching Cycle 23, it is highly recommended to create multiple manual saves before initiating any operations on Lothal. If you do encounter the freeze and the subsequent Droideka spawn upon reloading, your best tactical response is to immediately fall back, utilize heavy explosives to strip its deflector shields from a distance, and set up overlapping overwatch fields rather than attempting to aggressively push forward into its line of sight.

Narrative Payoffs: Excellent Writing and Pong Krell

Despite the multi-playthrough requirement and the occasional technical hiccup, the consensus among those who have spent 85 hours in STAR WARS Zero Company is that the writing easily carries the experience. Bit Reactor managed to strike a delicate balance that perfectly captures the tone of the Clone Wars era. The dialogue frequently shifts between lighthearted, classic Star Wars dad jokes during Den downtime and the grim, serious reality of leading troops into meat-grinder battles in the Outer Rim.

This excellent writing is perhaps best highlighted by the community’s reaction to the antagonists. Players have been flocking to forums to discuss how the game manages to give fans even more reasons to absolutely despise Pong Krell. The narrative integration of established lore figures into the journey of Commander Hawks and Zero Company feels earned rather than forced. It serves as a testament to the developers’ understanding of the franchise; they knew exactly which emotional buttons to push to keep players invested through dozens of hours of turn-based combat.

The Final Verdict for Completionists

Earning the Platinum in STAR WARS Zero Company is a badge of honor that demands strategic foresight both on the battlefield and inside the Den. It requires an 85-hour commitment, a willingness to play through the campaign at least three times, and the patience to navigate occasional brutal bugs on planets like Lothal. While the lack of a true infinite post-game mode stings for those who want to keep playing, the depth of the bond system, the incredible companion missions, and the top-tier Clone Wars writing make the journey well worth the effort for dedicated tactical strategy fans.