ZEPHON Preview

The fifth demo for ZEPHON (Steam Link) was the first time I played the game. I had some idea of what to expect since I had played a fair amount of the developer’s previous game, Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War. I hadn’t expected the game to wear its predecessor’s influences on its sleeve so unabashedly, but the game plays wonderfully despite the similarities in mechanics and user interface.

Worldbuilding

Beginning with the basics, ZEPHON takes place in a cruel, grimdark world. Billions of people died instantly after the discovery of some otherworldly being (as far as my limited interpretation has conceived), and humanity’s weapons of war autonomously continued fighting against the following extraterrestrial invasion that threatened the remaining people on the planet. Horrible abominations of twisted flesh were created, I suppose, by the space magic that these extraterrestrials possess, and the rest is largely unknown to me.

While the setting is clearly inspired by Warhammer: 40,000 in some ways, it has a number of key differences that elicit a comparatively intimate mood. Firstly, the setting is limited to Earth, meaning it is more focused on scale than Warhammer: 40,000. Secondly, the factions and technology present in ZEPHON are more grounded, with less focus on zany societies like the Orks or the pure edge that the Dark Eldar brings. The technologies are brutal, and I felt for the soldiers who would die to robotic buzzsaws or have their minds destroyed by otherworldly creatures, especially since humanity’s numbers have probably dwindled into the hundreds of millions. Lastly, there are fantastical elements (space magic). Still, ZEPHON is decidedly more eldritch in aesthetic than the magic of Warhammer: 40,000, and the soldiers you command will often comment on the horrors they are constantly subjected to. These differences are up to taste in the end, of course, and there’s plenty to appreciate about both approaches! Whatever the case, ZEPHON feels like a fight for humanity’s survival, whilst Gladius feels more like a wargame in presentation.

Gameplay and UI

Setting aside the interesting worldbuilding, for now, the game plays quite well. Proxy Studios are skilled in their craft. Even in this prerelease state, I found the controls to be smooth and intuitive and the game to be well-balanced. Piercing heavily armored enemies with anti-tank grenades or taking out units with high model counts using explosive weapons feels satisfying. If you have played Gladius, you know what to expect. But if not, each unit has several traits and special abilities that can give it an advantage against another unit type. For instance, after researching frag grenades, a militant unit can throw them to deal massive damage to unarmored units that consist of large numbers of soldiers. The combat is quite tactical, with many counters of the aforementioned nature. Meanwhile, your units can also gain various modifiers based on support abilities, technologies, and terrain, adding more complexity to the combat.

After reading all the above, it probably seems obvious to state at this point, but ZEPHON is a war-focused 4X game. As such, it has somewhat limited economy and diplomacy compared to some games in the genre. However, that is not to say that developers ignore these aspects entirely. Diplomacy is a welcome addition to ZEPHON after its complete absence in Gladius, even if it made thematic sense in the latter’s case. Interestingly, the unchangeable abilities that each faction begins with have a large amount of influence on the AIs’ opinions. In my first game, the mystical Tribunal and a minor faction of peaceful aliens called the Anchorite had a favorable opinion of my humans due to their strange flesh-regrowing ability. They became my allies, and the three-for-all became a simple matter of destroying the technology-focused Artificer, resulting in an easy victory for me. In a way, the victory felt a bit too easy, but I still appreciate the roleplay-focused approach to diplomacy that the developers have presented.

The economy functions incredibly similarly to Gladius, down to how cities expand, their rate of growth, and the order in which you build within your cities. This is not a bad thing, but something a little different would have been appreciated. Either way, I appreciate that there are multiple queues in each city, allowing you to build both buildings and units simultaneously. There is an unfortunate shortage of 4X games that allow such a thing!

Back to the subject of economy, there are six resources that each faction can make use of. While I usually focused on a few of the resources while not concerning myself with the others, it allows flexibility in strategy that will be touched upon soon when I talk about the game’s tech system! Food and Power are essential resources for every faction. Minerals are second in importance, allowing powerful armored units to be manufactured by all but the Furtive Tribunal. The two specialized resources are Chips, largely used by Cyber technology factions, and Algae, which is used mainly by the pseudo-magical Voice technology faction. The final resource is the ever-familiar Influence, which allows you to recruit hero units, buy items, and use special operations. There are a few city-level resources, but they’re less important than the global ones. Research is technically a global resource as well, but it always feels like its own thing.

If I have a critique, it concerns the user interface. The UI is minimalist graphically, using plain black and white icons for most buildings and units. The simple icons keep the menus tighter and easily navigable, but I would appreciate more color. The simple UI is also a bit odd when compared to the frankly wonderful digital paintings the studio’s artists created for both the opening video and the game’s events. Even so, I had no trouble navigating the UI for the most part, so the layout is not a problem in my experience.

ZEPHON’s technology tree is separated into tiers; the demo gave access to four tiers of technology, while the final game will feature ten tiers. Each tier is nonlinear, allowing players to research anything within a tier as they please. To unlock the next tier of technology, the player only needs to research three techs in their highest available tier. This research method allows great flexibility in how the player approaches the game, and I had a great time trying out different research orders in my games.

A key difference ZEPHON features in its tech system compared to Gladius is that no faction (at least in this demo) has a unique tech tree. While some players might be disappointed, they will soon see its strengths as well. Each faction gets access to basic technologies that typically focus on their economy, as well as a unique tech or two in some of their tech tiers. However, each faction also gains early access to technologies from one of three different research trees. The first research tree is Human, representing flesh and blood people, conventional weapons, and appropriate gear for people to use. The second tree is Cyber, which heavily features cyborgs and abilities that further boost research output. The final tree is Voice, which stars horrible biological abominations, space magic that heals or debuffs enemies, and abilities that can summon creatures from, presumably, space or some extra-dimensional world.

While the technology trees are not quite as unique and varied as the tech trees present in Gladius, each faction’s unique abilities can create incredibly varied styles of gameplay. There is also something to be said for the quasi-universal tech tree. If a player wants to, they can easily step outside their faction’s usual strengths to gain access to hero units or support abilities typically associated with another faction. For instance, the Emulated Mind normally uses a melee-focused Cyber hero in the early game but can gain access to the Human or Voice heroes in tech tier two, allowing the Emulated Mind to diversify their options into unit buffs or healing.

Factions

Now, we should get to the nitty-gritty! Each of the four playable factions in this demo had a different playstyle that significantly changed the way I played, especially in the early game. I tried three of the four factions but was unable to try the fourth due to a particularly busy weekend. The fourth faction, however, clearly listed its early tech and its abilities, and I will present those abilities below in a succinct manner with some expectations that I have about how the faction plays.

Fallen Soldier

The first faction I played, and perhaps the most basic of them, the Fallen Soldier represents average humans, wields conventional weapons, and features a straightforward gameplay style for any 4X veteran. One notable ability the faction has, however, is that units can regenerate health passively every turn, even if they have used their actions in combat on the previous turn. In exchange for this powerful ability, the upkeep of the Fallen Soldier’s units is increased. I appreciate the simplicity of the ability and the accompanying malus to offset it.

The Fallen Soldier’s focus on humans unsurprisingly means that their early access technologies are human, and they can gain access to a powerful frontline commander who wields a chainsword and shoulder-mounted miniguns. He even has some passive buffs that apply to all nearby units, making him well-suited for joining the vanguard. Beyond the commander unit, other Human Tech highlights are a few types of infantry grenades, access to a flying hero unit with a jetpack, an anti-air gun, and a tank.

Playing the faction was simple and was a good way to get used to the game’s mechanics. I found that I could produce units quite quickly, and the passive healing ability meant that I hardly lost any units. I had hardly unlocked tanks before I accidentally won the game, not realizing that my enemy only had one city! On that note, my enemy kept sending their units far away to my ally’s city while my units besieged their city for nearly seven turns with no losses. It appears the AI could use a bit of work.

Emulated Mind

The second faction I played, the Emulated Mind, was probably my favorite. They are a Cyber faction that plays somewhat similarly to the Necrons in Gladius. Interestingly, they are limited to only one city but, in exchange, they get access to two powerful abilities. First, they gain double resources from outposts, which are resource nodes that your units can capture for passive resource gain. Furthermore, the Emulated Mind gets a long-range cannon in their city center with a range of six full hexes. I love artillery in strategy games, so this was a surefire way to win me over. However, when I found out that you can double the range of the cannon with a tier-two technology, I got unreasonably excited. The cannon was instrumental in securing the areas around my city in the early game, as it did incredible damage to low-armor targets, and I was able to clear the surrounding area with very few units.

The Cyber techs that the Emulated mind had access to did not just feature plentiful cyborg units, but also gave huge buffs to Research income, allowing you to get new techs even more quickly. I skipped the first-tier hero since I had seen them in my previous game and went for their higher-tier one. It turned out to be a good choice, and research took very little time due to all the buffs available. The hero was essentially a sphere with revolving square structures. It gave strong buffs to allied units, but it also featured a powerful laser that could easily put down some scary enemies. Unfortunately, I was running out of time due to my busy weekend and wanted to experience the Voice technology faction, so I ended the game early. Even so, I am eager to play the faction again someday!

Furtive Tribunal

The Furtive Tribunal was the third and final faction I played. Unlike the other factions in the game, the Tribunal (as its name suggests) is led by a council of three individuals. While not important to the discussion on mechanics, I found their unique flavor text in diplomacy and events to be interesting for that reason. Concerning the Tribunal’s gameplay, the faction’s abilities are a bit on the tame side. Most notably, their research labs produce less Research than other factions, but they can use Influence to gain a large influx of Research instantly. These tame abilities are supplemented, however, by a unique gameplay style. While the Human and Cyber factions largely use ranged weapons and have to be careful with positioning, the Tribunal’s Voice units are mostly melee-focused and use a combination of buffs, debuffs, and rush tactics to overpower their foes.

The melee dragoons riding strange, alien creatures were only tier one, but they were so powerful that I did not feel like I necessarily had to create other units. I did anyway, of course, and I was sort of disgusted by the things the Voice could make (in a fun way). They have access to a huge, biological transport unit that carries soldiers in a basket under its towering, crab-walking figure, but its many legs were human arms ending in hands with far too many fingers. It also had a face on either side of its body and was thoroughly disturbing! Furthermore, it was surprisingly strong in a fight. The second Voice hero was also quite disgusting, with a tentacled maw and a centaur body. Its bladed arms could deal massive damage, and it could teleport in order to flank enemies easily. Quite a nasty combo!

Heartless Artificer

The final faction was the Heartless Artificer, who I did not have time to play. I can imagine that the faction’s gameplay is quite research-focused, using Cyber technologies like the Emulated Mind. However, the faction has a crucial difference, in that it can build multiple cities and has faster population growth. The Artificer can sacrifice her population to increase production in a city but the high population, combined with sacrificing people so cruelly, inevitably lowers Loyalty. As such, the Artificer can use Influence to increase a city’s Loyalty instantly. This is, mechanically and thematically, a near polar opposite of how the Emulated Mind functions, and it makes me curious what the remaining four factions will be like!

Final Thoughts

There are a few minor details that I did not cover in-depth, specifically the two minor, non-playable factions I came across. These were of little importance, aside from diplomacy, but I did notice they each had their own unique units that I could recruit, so I imagine they could be powerful allies if a player invests in good relations. But aside from those details, I covered most of the demo’s content.

Overall, I came away quite satisfied. I do not believe that ZEPHON will be a groundbreaking 4X game, it’s an iteration, rather than a brand new game, but it is more than competent in its goals and delivers a satisfying experience! Through its colorful, yet brutal, graphics and special effects, the grimdark world is brought to life. The artwork in the events and the personalized writing also help to give a more intimate touch to the world, pulling the focus in from the strategy layer to an individual’s point of view. While the UI could be more colorful and eye-catching, it is laid out well and does its job. And finally, the gameplay is deep and tactical, rewarding good positioning, using the right tool for the job, and, in some cases, patience and clever planning. With such a well-made demo, I am eager to see more from ZEPHON in the future and expect it to be quite an enjoyable experience in its final release!

Claire De Leon

Claire is a massive fan of strategy games of all kinds, but turn-based strategy is by far her favorite. Playing Civilization 4 as a child, she was absorbed by the flexible strategies and varied gameplay that the 4X genre could bring. Nowadays, her favorite 4X titles are Age of Wonders 4 and Civilization 6. Aside from 4X games, Claire enjoys both tactical and action RPGs, grand strategy, and spends way too much time playing tabletop RPGs with her friends!