A free playable demo for the strategy game Zephon has launched on Steam, a mix of Warhammer 40k and Civilization 6, with a strong focus on combat. The strategy game takes place in a near future where the apocalypse has wiped out large parts of humanity. Humans and machines defend the remnants of our civilization against creatures straight out of a nightmare.
This is the story of Zephon:
- In Zephon, humanity faced a divine trial, where most failed and were therefore crushed. Billions of lives were wiped out in an instant, ‘turned to ash and scattered to the winds.’
- After the near-total extinction of humanity, the remains of civilization fight with weapons, vehicles, and their technology against nightmarish creatures in a devastated world.
- The game is set to release on Steam in 2024. At the moment, a free demo on Steam is already playable. The demo is about 3.13 GB in size and can be downloaded in a few minutes.
City building and a lot of combat in a nightmarish version of our world
What does the game remind you of? Zephon is at its core a 4X game like Civilization VI or Age of Wonders 4, but with a strong focus on combat, similar to Warhammer 40k.
You start with an engineer (in other games this would be a settler); two infantry units and a vehicle, can establish an initial city, but also quickly face massive monsters that require several rounds of continuous fire before they are finally defeated. The game is controlled on a kind of hexagonal map in turn-based strategy mode.
The city-building part looks solid, albeit somewhat minimalistic. There is also a research tree and diplomacy, as one would expect.
In comparison to Civilization VI, the focus on battles is much more pronounced: In Zephon, the world is hostile. Here you don’t have 30 turns to leisurely explore the surroundings, as in classic 4X games.
If the game reminds you of the dark atmosphere and mythological apocalyptic themes of Warhammer 40k, you are right. The game comes from Proxy Studios, who are also behind Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War, but here they are experimenting with some other IPs.
The demo gives a first glimpse of the game and the gameplay on a small map – strategy fans should quickly feel at home here.
Most will probably lean back after a brief play session and wait for the game to be properly released in 2024, so they can get a clearer picture of how deep and atmospheric Zephon really is.
The scenario already sounds like a change from the usual titles:
