Star Wars Zero Company Difficulty Settings Explained (& How Beskar Mode Works)

Star Wars Zero Company offers a robust suite of difficulty options, and figuring out what’s right for you can present a major holdup when starting the compelling tactics game. In addition to several standard settings, it also features some additional modifiers that can significantly alter the challenge presented in a playthrough.

Luckily, most Zero Company players can find the perfect level of challenge without too much trouble or time spent in menus. Whether you’re totally new to tactics games or a veteran of everything from XCOM to Fire Emblem, Star Wars Zero Company should have something that perfectly suits your set of skills.

All Star Wars Zero Company Difficulty Settings Explained

The basic difficulty settings of Star Wars Zero Company are as follows:

The Story and Normal modes are relatively self-explanatory. Story provides minimal challenge for those simply interested in experiencing the narrative. Normal is less frictionless than Story, but it’s still meant to be accessible to those who haven’t played tactics games before.

Tactics veterans, meanwhile, will want to start with either Hard or Expert. Along with increasing enemy health and damage, Hard decreases the effective range of the squad’s weaponry, adding an extra layer of challenge in positioning. It also decreases initial bond levels between characters and disables the Bacta Tank, which can heal injured units instantly (standard med bays take one cycle to heal a unit).

Expert sticks to the same list of changes as Hard, but increases their severity, providing a more punishing tactical experience.

Permadeath & Beskar Mode Explained

Across all difficulty settings, two more toggles can dramatically alter difficulty. Beskar Mode is the equivalent of an “Ironman” run, maintaining a single save file that makes it impossible to revert to an earlier save to avoid the consequences of actions. Ironman mode features true Game Overs when a critical squad member dies or a crucial mission is failed.

Permadeath, meanwhile, results in the permanent death of Operators after receiving a third injury. This is still fairly easy to avoid, since injuries can be healed in a med bay, but it provides some additional level of threat.

Recommended Zero Company Difficulty Setting

star wars zero company squad — *Star Wars Zero Company* Operator squad.

While you might already know which options sound most appealing to you, if you’re undecided, you should take the following approach:

New to tactics games: Play on Normal, with Permadeath enabled and Beskar Mode disabled.
Familiar with tactics games: Play on Hard, with Permadeath enabled and Beskar Mode disabled.
Notably proficient at tactics games: Play on Expert, with Permadeath enabled and Beskar Mode disabled.

If you feel particularly unequipped or particularly skilled, you can adjust upward or downward from the above options. As a point of reference, I’ve personally found much of the game to be slightly on the easier side on Hard, as someone with some tactical game familiarity. It’s still best to avoid reloading saves to maintain the intensity, but the risk of Beskar isn’t necessarily worth it on a first playthrough.

At any rate, it’s always possible to replay Star Wars Zero Company and up the challenge on the second playthrough, which could also be the best way to embrace the risk of Beskar Mode.