Honestly the Zone and Companionship are not concepts that I feel would intersect too well, at least unless the game perspective shifts dramatically.

Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, mind.

One of the very few companions I ever liked in a video game was Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

Reason being that she is unkillable, never in your way, helps you out by throwing ammo and health packs whenever she finds them. Pretty much someone that is there to help you out but does not need to be nannied.

That probably puts me in the minority as I always stress out about any companions too much, in a “I need to keep them alive at all cost” way. It adds another survival layer that I’d rather not have to deal with.

Probably a projection from real life where I worry about my dog, gf, family etc and don’t really want to carry that over into virtual world.

I always liked how Freespace have done this. Your wingman don't get to have unique names nor plot armor but you could give them commands and they felt really useful. They were not permanent companions and yet you cared about them and felt something when they went down.

Would be cool to get an implementation of that system. Imagine defending the vehicles graveyard in Garbage with a squad of loners assigned by Bes for you to command.

Would probably kill the tension and break immersion when the ai does something weird (more likely to see since the companion is following you)