What the Overviews Actually Confirm
Steam uses similar wording about a squad learning to cooperate on missions. These are confirmed progression and team-effect systems, but neither overview presents a table headed Passives.
The distinction matters because skill, ability, bond, synergy, bonus, and passive are not automatically interchangeable labels. An active command can create a synergy, while a relationship can supply a continuing stat effect. Only the interface wording for a specific effect can settle its formal category.
They do not specify the total count, which classes or characters own them, how many ranks exist, or whether a passive comes from a class, specialization, bond, item, recruit trait, or base upgrade.
There is no general statement here covering always-on effects, start-of-turn triggers, reactions to damage, proximity requirements, limited charges, cooldowns, or effects that apply only when paired with a particular operative.
Bond Bonuses Are the Clearest Passive-Like
IGN's hands-on preview reports that stronger bonds can unlock stat boosts for connected squad members, using health and critical-damage improvements as examples. These are passive-like because the preview describes benefits granted by relationship progression rather than a separate attack selected during the turn.
That report comes from a near-finished preview session, not a complete exported database. It supports the existence and general purpose of bond-derived boosts in the tested build, while leaving exact percentages, tiers, pairing restrictions, unlock costs, and release balance outside the claim.
The IGN video was published August 11, 2026. A launch patch could change a number or label.
A reader should also keep bond effects separate from class passives. A bonus earned between two operatives may depend on the relationship, while a class effect may belong to one character regardless of squadmate.
The Combat Still Shows Effects, Not Their Rules
Fire and black smoke divide the center, while blue and red bars distinguish the opposing sides.
The top-left objective reads Escape the Vulture Droids and Get to the Extraction Zone, with a 0/4 counter. Near one operative, the interface displays icons and numbers including +28 and +3. Those visible elements prove that the scene contains objectives, unit status, and combat feedback.
They do not identify a passive. Assigning the feedback to regeneration, armor, bond level, critical chance, or another mechanic would be guesswork.
The same limitation applies to the explosion and coordinated positioning. A character standing near an ally or attacking at the same moment can illustrate tactical teamwork, but one captured frame cannot determine whether a passive aura, active skill, reaction, item, scripted event, or environmental effect caused the outcome.
It shows why labeled UI capture is necessary: visual activity can reveal that feedback exists while withholding the mechanical definition a passive guide needs.
How to Record a Passive Without Inventing It
A reliable passive entry needs the exact displayed name and description, the character or system that grants it, the build or patch where it was observed, and the unlock condition. A cropped icon or creator summary should not replace readable menu text when exact mechanics matter.
Trigger and scope should be recorded separately. The text must establish whether the effect is permanent, conditional, turn-based, range-limited, tied to health or cover, restricted to one operative, shared by a bonded pair, or applied squad-wide. Similar visual icons cannot fill those fields.
Values require the same care. Base amount, rank scaling, additive or multiplicative behavior, duration, refresh conditions, and interaction with equipment or difficulty can change a build calculation.
Until a stable catalogue is available, the page should not rank best passives, recommend a universal build, or claim that an unnamed bonus is mandatory.