
From the developers of Warhammer 40,000: Gladius, ZEPHON is a post-apocalyptic 4X strategy game built on Proxy’s unique tactical combat system. Guide survivors through a turbulent future, navigating unexpected disasters, eldritch horror and cyberpunk monstrosities. What will you do to survive?
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About
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 centres 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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Add-ons
Each DLC is estimated with the same model as a game, then summed — a modeled figure, not reported DLC sales.
Updates
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 119 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
same problem with gladius computer knows where you are at all times and the fog of war limits your sight to one or MAYBE two hexes out so units are always right outside your field of view
Imagine a Civ 5 game where at the end of turn 500, genocidal aliens invade and AI gains consciousness at the same time and begins to cover the earth with itself. That's where this game starts. There's no victory condition except total conquest or diplo. And after 200 turns the aliens and AI each spawn titan superunits and there's a battle royale to the death. And you have to choose a side. (Or, if you have [spoiler]BALLS OF STEEL[/spoiler], no side.) Basically the 4X equivalent of a heated RTS skirmish, kind of a "Brawler 4X". The original lore reminds me of Starcraft but with more grimdark and a little more cheese (though watching the opening cinematic for the Terran campaign in Starcraft, I'm reminded that Starcraft had plenty). I don't mind a little cheese if it's tasty though. I've tried for years to get into WH40K but never found a game I liked. This game is a reskin of WH40K Gladius (same studio) but that new skin is a doozy. The aliens are a bit of Lovecraft with a heavy influence from the visceral body horror of Clive Barker. They form a sort of sadomasochistic mutilation cult that is very Hellraiser, combined with some SM:AC mindworms. The aliens themselves are driven by The Voice, which is some kind of [spoiler]evil omnipresence that corrupts beings and uses them to spread itself throughout the Universe.[/spoiler[ Their vibe overall is like if H.R. Giger painted de Goya's "Saturn Devours his Son". The Cyber faction starts off with a lot of Neuromancer (again, body horror) and progresses into a mixture of advanced tech and the kind of cold and efficient machine feel you get from the flying orb in Phantasm or the famous office scene in Robocop. Also there is a Mad Max-esque Australian woman who hates you. I do have gripes with the game. The terrain has some major modifiers (which I love), some of which stack. The map, however, is not particularly legible. With a forest and a ruins on the same tile, that's 67% damage reduction, though being able to tell at a glance that the tile has both (or even just a forest sometimes) is not easy. You can mouseover and it will list the terrain modifiers but that is exhausting when looking at a battlefield with 20-30 units onscreen. The LOS system is also frustrating because the terrain has 4 levels and it's not easy to tell what level each is at. Again, you can mouseover but that is a pain and it's not clear how tall some terrain features are so it's mostly using the range preview for each space. The diplomacy swings WILDLY (except on Nightmare where no one is your friend lol) but probably my biggest complaint is that if you plot a multi-move course, it doesn't tell you how many moves it will take, it only shows nodes. At first I didn't like the game at all because of the 'brawler' feel. I like lots of victory conditions to add depth. But once I started seeing that it is a basically an RTS-4X hybrid, I was able to enjoy it for what it is meant to be: a quick race to an all-out balls-to-the-wall brawl (and oh brother you can make some mashups). Or an alliance victory if you farm influence, give gifts nonstop, and luck out with the AI factions. Verdict: Great game if you vibe with its genre and setting, but wait for a sale because if you like it you will be dropping another game's worth or so on DLC.
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Reviews, worldwide (the counter carries no country): 1.13/day in the week to Jul 21 → 1.4/day in the week after.
For scale, across Steam · Top Sellers · Brazil over the last 30 days: the 26 chart moves that followed a price cut of more than 20% went a median of 7 places towards #1, and the 2,400 moves with no price cut behind them went 2 away. One store, one chart, one country — it is the only place we have enough observations to say even that.
Prices outside the United States have been collected since 6 August 2026 and chart positions since 19 July 2026, so a cut older than that has no market to compare and a market that joined later has no history yet. Nothing here is converted between currencies.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English*, French, German, Korean, Russian, Polish, Simplified Chinese, Spanish - Spain*languages with full audio support
Build ids and update times come straight from Steam's PICS — the same source SteamDB reads. Patch history grows as we record new builds.
Hours played at review time, across 119 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Великолепный сеттинг, шикарные юниты, сочная картинка (слишком сочная для 4Х), отлично играется... Но недолго. Проблема в чём - фракции одинаковые. Я надеялся хотя бы на сюжетную кампанию, но по факту сюжета никакого и нет. Его дали в демке, его дали в обучении, а дальше роуглайт - катай скучные катки, чтобы открыть в конце кусочек сюжета и бонус на следующую катку. Вы белены объелись, что ли? Только роуглайта в 4Х не хватало... Карта набита нейтралами, что обеспечивает регулярную войну. Которая состоит в клепании одинаковых юнитов, микроконтроле и прокачке героев. Кекекеке. Моба-элементы в 4Х? Свежо! Дипломатия кастрированная и с читами. Рядом с тобой спавнится фракция с двумя городами и ты обязан с ним закорешиться, иначе ранняя война угробит твою экономику. И так КАЖДУЮ катку. Чтобы более-менее нормально игралось, либо мелкую карту берём, либо гигантскую. Города в полном афедроне. Во-первых, их не взять с наскока базовыми юнитами. То есть, тебя заставляют вместо раша фармить бомжей. А если вражеский город ограничивает твой полуостров, то можно сразу переролливать карту, это не контрится. У города 3 клетки атаки и она гарантированно снимает полжизни любому начальному юниту. Во-вторых, поселенец открывается на 3 уровне технологии - а это где-то 50 ходов, но если тебе повезло, тебе на первых 10 ходах прилетит нейтральный юнит, который может строить город, и твоя экономика улетает ту зе мун. Я хз, зачем это было сделано. Сиды карт тоже ужасные. На одной вокруг меня просто лежали точки ресурсов, которые сделали мне победу из ничего. На другой вокруг меня наспавнилось этих возрождающихся драконов, которые каждые 20 ходов задалбывали. В общем, казик какой-то, а не 4Х. Дропнул. В целом, для полного счастья QTE не хватает. Точно - нужны QTE.
Zephon is an outstanding gem of a game. It combines aspects of games like Civilization and XCOM. It has an engaging and fun tech system, which doesn't require you to explore all tech paths, so it seems like each game is very different. The real best part of this game though is that it has an engaging story, good writing, and original music. These parts are not "afterthoughts", and its genuinely like reading a good book. I am glad I bought it.
I am a veteran player of Gladius. In my opinion Zephon is a great improvement and it's very nice to play. I really enjoyed the "end of the world" event, that makes the matches not too long. If you enjoyed Gladius I strongly believe you will have a lot of fun with Zephon.
Игра великолепна. Я прошел почти все стратегии, что когда либо выходили в мире. Особо отмечу: 1 - стабильность, в том числе сетевой игры. (если что-то пошло не так, то загрузка всегда поможет, в отличие от других сетевых игр) 2 - одновременный ход. (очень комфортно при игре с друзьями) 3 - вариативность развития (для максимальной эффективности имеет смысл использовать юнитов и технологии разных фракций) 4 - серьезный вызов для игрока (адреналин выделяется ведрами почти всю игру) Однако хочу предупредить, сложность даже на уровне "умеренно" весьма высока.
Ok, HOW DID I MISS THIS TITLE FOR SO LONG??? This game's exudes my favorite aesthetics, and does them so right. Dystopian future, Lovecraftian, Cyberpunk. Hits all the right marks. Its gritty, creative, and compelling. I love the environment, character looks, soundtrack, and overall execution. Really great factions too. I just want more. I'd love to see this IP more, be they new 4X, RTS, FPS, RPG. Bring it!
Не получается любить эту игру. Начнём с хорошего: 1. Вселенная. Я не большой фанат Лавкрафта, а здешняя вселенная вся им пропитана. Но пропитана годно. Тексты увлекательные, юниты атмосферные. И в целом мне нравится, что разработчики Гладиуса решили сделать игру по своей вселенной. 2. Юниты. Они разнообразные, сбалансированные, каждый имеет своё применение. Всё так же, как и в Гладиусе, низкотехнологичные юниты в поздней игре теряют актуальность, это грустно. Но в остальном хорошо. 3. Экономика. Она стала сложнее и разнообразнее, чем в Гладиусе. Есть больше опций для постройки и специализации городов. Теперь по минусам: 1. Концепция партии. Студия экспериментирует с тем, как сделать игру максимально захватывающей. Для этого вводятся 3 мощных воюющих друг с другом нейтральных фракции, и в конце игроки должны к одной из них примкнуть, чтобы разыграть последнюю битву. В теории звучит хорошо. На практике одна из сторон получает слишком много союзников и выбивает слишком большое преимущество до финала, из-за чего она просто ногами запинывает всех остальных. И у игрока остаётся только выбор между "выбрать сильнейшего и смотреть кино про избиение" и "выбрать слабейшего и пытаться вытащить заранее проигранную игру". Иными словами - эксперимент провалился. 2. Интерфейс. Он плох, он очень-очень плох. На яркой, искрящейся, высокодетализированной карте не видно ни юнитов, ни элементов интерфейса (дальность хода юнитов). Даже особенности местности читаются с трудом. Ориентироваться на карте просто больно для глаз. После Гладиуса это большой шаг назад. 3. Дизайн юнитов. Мало того, что их не видно на карте, так их дизайн делает их максимально похожими друг на друга. Не говорю про сверхтяжёлые танки и титаны - тут вопросов нет. Но отличить одну пехоту от другой, оценить её опасность - практически невозможно. И даже по прошествии десятков часов юниты не запоминаются, не ассоциируются со своими ролями. Из-за чего оценка исхода предстоящего боя целиком и полностью основана на протыкивании вражеских юнитов на предмет нанесения урона им/ими. В конечном итоге, играть в игру банально неприятно, и разумного вызова в ней тоже нет. Гладиус был лучше.
Seems very unpolished. Some examples: All diplomacy starts by asking if you want to listen to the offer instead of just showing the offer. A completely pointless extra click Many units have action they can perform after ended move. However the game will move on to the next unit unless there is an attack avaible, forcing you to constantly go back and find your previous unit on the map to execture the necessary order. There is sort of lack of direction in the game. First playthough I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, but won anyway. Diplomacy is seemingly random. Had close allies suddenly declare war, but still claim to be close friends.
Moving a unit consumes all movement points regardless of the distance actually traveled. This is an "intentional design choice" meant to "increase tension by-" blah blah blah One of the biggest problems with random things in games is that ninety nine times out of a hundred its a pass/fail thing that opens no new play opportunities when you fail. You either get the thing or you don't. You find the thing or you don't. You convince the person or you don't. In TTRPGs this can be interesting because you have a DM that can dynamically alter the entire plot on the fly. In video games it just means less content, so its just the devs doing a bunch of work to make the game less fun- not that most people have realized this yet. That doesn't mean randomness has no place in a game. You just have to treat it as a mechanic to be engaged with instead of this weird check thing where you have to know all the numbers to hit before you reach X or Y part. Of course, making a series of gambles is only interesting when you can employ strategy to mitigate risk, which modern devs still haven't figured this out on a conceptual level, so your ability to do so is often incredibly basic and unengaging. They generally have to work really hard to make the game *around* the mechanics more fun to counteract how unfun the mechanic is. Think lootershooters or diablo clones and grinding. Now exploration in 4x games is gambling. Worse, its *mandatory* gambling. Punishing players for doing something they *have* to do is bad game design, and 4x games are snowbally, so mitigating swing is even harder. Its why no one really likes Civilization-likes anymore and are moving towards Grand Strategy type games like Stellaris, because they mitigate the issues inherent to 4x strategy games a whole lot better by shrugging and saying "yeah ♥♥♥♥♥ unequal, lets make it fun anyway or just make it not matter" instead of competing over who can miss the point the hardest. You can't have such a bad spawn in Stellaris that you effectively brick outside of extremely specific starting scenarios like starting right next to a genocidal faction as a pacifist. It's already a risk in a 4x title to move units into territory where you don't have vision for obvious reasons. There's also opportunity cost because you never know when you're bolting towards more empty desert and away from important things like strategic control points or resources that you don't know exist. It's actually one of the biggest *flaws* of 4x titles because so much of your ability to compete is down to your spawn and whether or not you get lucky with exploration. Nerfing movement is nerfing risk mitigation in a game genre that is only fun when you can mitigate risk. Upon further review, its clear the game is missing other basic QoL features for things like unit and city management. I'm sure that's also an 'intentional' and 'deliberate' choice as well. It's doubling down on what makes a 4x bad instead of trying to figure out how to shore up the weaknesses. Worse still, they're *smug* about it too. Notice no one is praising the actual mechanics in the reviews, that's because the only thing good about the game is the atmosphere/lore/storytelling. Well I guess the art and sound are pretty good too. The point I'm getting at, is you should not play this game if you want a good 4x game. It's a terrible 4x game. That's why I'm giving it a negative review. This game should not have been a 4x game. It should have been a narrative driven strategy/tactics hybrid with a simplified strategic layer, a tactical layer, and a 'send these dudes out to a location and then make decisions about what they do when they're there' mechanic. Would have been much simpler. But then again, these are the devs for Gladius and I'm certain this game was made because they had the infrastructure and desire to build another grimdark 4x game.
Active players
Estimated daily and monthly active players (DAU/MAU) modeled from peak concurrency.
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Where this game's players are, estimated from review languages.
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