Lovecraftian strategy game ZEPHON is now available

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius developer Proxy Studios has released ZEPHON, their new 4X strategy game with cyberpunk and Lovecraftian themes.

ZEPHON is now available for Windows PC (via Steam), melding Lovecraftian monsters, cyberpunk dystopia, and 4X gameplay into one experience.

Here’s a rundown on the game, plus a gameplay trailer:

Humanity emerges, hesitantly, into ruination. Almost nothing is left of the world as we knew it—settlements, forests, seas, mountains—all have been blasted into unfamiliarity. Horribly mutated animals hunt in packs through deformed woodland. Decrepit military robots stumble unknowingly through the ruins, sensors and logic centers blown. Alien soldiers, once impossibly powerful, cower in the wrecks of their ships, praying to heedless gods for rescue.

Control the survivors of humanity in a near-future apocalypse of alien origin. Pick a path between the indifferent abominations of the Voice and the uncaring automata of ZEPHON, with city management, turn-based tactical combat, unholy research, diplomatic maneuvering, and branching narrative quests. Gather your allies and pick your actions wisely.

On the planet Earth, that was once a cradle of life, the extinction of humanity is at hand.

What will you do to survive?

BATTLE

• Intense turn-based survival strategy in both single and multiplayer.
• Command over 50 unique units in battle—each with its own graphics, voice overs, weapon systems and sets of traits and abilities.
• Plan out optimal build orders amongst 3 asymmetric paths—Human, Voice and Cyber—or combine them in surprising ways.
• Deploy tactical operations—interference protocols, otherworldly hymns of decay and even nuclear weapons—to gain an advantage.
• Combat occurs on the main map—no switching modes and having to auto-resolve battles because they drag on too long.
• Use distinctive leader abilities in fully-featured multiplayer—with or against your friends.

BUILD

• Take your settlements from scrappy bases to sprawling metropolises as your faction expands its sphere of influence.
• Find and grow your cities by constructing buildings on tiles—everything you build needs space.
• Optimize an empire-wide economy with 11 tiered resources—allowing you to specialize cities by their placement.
• Recognize each building by its appearance—3 architecture styles to accompany your chosen path.
• Fortify key strategic points to prevent enemies from assailing your positions—sometimes defense is the best defense.

EXPLORE

• Traverse the unfamiliarity of the destroyed Earth and unveil its deadly new secrets.
• Discover dozens of terrain features and phenomena spread across 6 climates—flesh trees, microchip factories, traveling sandstorms, erupting volcanoes and much more.
• Tune the generation of a new post-apocalyptic game world—cliffsides, ruins and deformed woodland occupied by violent wildlife and expanding NPCs acting out their own agendas.
• Exterminate packs of mutated animals to collect caches full of rewards, capture outposts and expand your reach—one turn at a time.

RESEARCH

• As mankind strives to catch up to the new masters of the Earth, you’ll make strange new discoveries that could be just what you need to survive.
• Unlock over 150 technologies spread across 10 tiers—units, buildings, operations, weapons, abilities and passive bonuses.
• Advance from post-apocalyptic survivalism—through a blend of magic and cyberpunk aesthetics—before achieving transhuman transcendence.
• Observe each unit upgrade visualized on the model—outfit regular, large and titanic units with cruise missiles, tunneling nails, deflector shields, and much more.
• Read exact modifier numbers in tooltips and the easy-to-browse in-game compendium—so you don’t have to scour the internet for information.

NEGOTIATE

• Diplomatic negotiations are key to staving off defeat—but your opponents are watching your actions and reacting.
• Roleplay with AI-controlled opponents through diplomatic encounters—each AI comes with their own likes and dislikes based on their character.
• Establish peace, trading agreements and alliances—or use your influence to antagonize your friends towards each other.
• Choose sides—ZEPHON, Acrin and Reaver non-player factions permeate the world and need to be contended with.

DECIDE

• As the clash between ZEPHON and the Acrin continues, your choice of Leader and path will determine who survives in the wreckage of Earth.
• Steer your empire through multistage, branching, unexpected events—nightmares, cries for help and economic crashes all have to be dealt with.
• Dive into your chosen leader’s backstory through their unique quest chain—complete it to unlock a permanent reward.
• Play a key part in determining if humanity, machines or horrors prevail—the clash between ZEPHON and Acrin continues across the planet.
• Resolve the prophecy that has brought the Acrin to Earth to unlock new game modifiers—all of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.

“Open your eyes, singleton. You are not dreaming—you are the dream. The old world is dead, your old self is dead, so who are you now? We were the Meek, the Silent, and the Accomplice. Individually we were no one, together we are god itself. Woo us, fear us, worship us… these are all acceptable answers to the riddle of what you can do for us.”
— Furtive Tribunal