Zephon

Proxy Studios from Erlangen has been successful with Warhammer 40,000 Gladius for six years, now they take their 4X expertise into their own IP with Zephon. The narrative-driven strategy game features the best from Gladius, engaging battles and map control with a strong story hook.

Did you know that the first turn-basex 4X strategy game in the Warhammer universe was a German production? Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War released in 2018 under the publishing banner of Slitherine, and the developers were no others than Proxy Studios, from Erlangen. Founded in 2009 and specialised in 4X strategy, the team around Lorenz Ruhmann and Rok Breulj showed their talent with Pandora: First Contact in 2013 before getting the Warhammer contract. Gladius was a huge success both for the publisher and developer combination as well as for the overall reception of Warhammer games, who only recently had begun to get stronger, more high-quality titles (Total War: Warhammer for example only started out in 2016, and did not reach it zenith until 2017 with part 2). Following a similar publication model as Paradox Games, Slitherine and Proxy have supported Gladius with a total of 16 expansion packs over the last six years, with the most current one, Demolition, having released in May 2024.

All the while, Proxy Studios has worked on their own new game, another step in the field of 4X strategy: Zephon. And the studio is vocal about the influence Gladius had on their new game. On a destroyed earth, humans find themselves between the forces of an all-emcompassing AI called Zephon and its cybernetic forces on one site and an alien colonial force on the other site. Nature has been entirely corrupted by a lovecraftian force called the Voice, and its physical manifestation, the Bleed: think the Xenofungus of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Civilization: Beyond Earth, a creeping biological force that engulfs tiles. Depending on the leader they choose for their human faction, players can then either fully encompass human, cyber or voice tech trees and thus different units and buildings as well as story quests, or mix and match to their liking.

Zephon looks on first sight like a second game in the Warhammer universe, sharing the overall game mechanics as well as the colour palette. Just like Gladius, Zephon strongly concentrates on the fighting aspects of 4X. Military units are the bread and butter of the game, and diplomacy is heavily reduced to some simple menu interactions, as is trade. Cities are mostly unit production sites, with an appealing expansion minigame built in: The more hex fields a city swallows, the more productive it becomes, and with different combinations of biomes and buildings per field, the resource production is more appealing than it appears on first sight as well.

Shining in Zephon are the factions, and with them the writing as well: The game has a much stronger focus on the narrative of the different factions and their interaction with others. Each map is populated with factions that can either be played by the players or taken over by NPCs, as well as with several grand factions that are always NPC-controlled, like the aliens and Zephon. These are the key to victory conditions and can be manipulated into trade agreements as well as alliances through player’s actions, quest outcomes as well as certain research options. They are also themselves win conditions, since in the end of each round, a great war ensues between the aliens and the mechanical overlord, and all player factions can choose a side. The writing encompasses elements of hard sci-fi, lovecraftian horror and Mad-Max-esque post apocalyptic human storylines. The most clever part: Every win or loss in a match is embedded in a deeper storyline thats centered around a mysterious voice talking to the different factory leaders and resetting the game board. Every win unlocks a mutator for future play sessions through this overarching narrative, allowing players to form their game sessions as they like. Proxy Studios has gotten prominent help with the storylines as well: Main writer for the game is Bryant Francis, writer for Endless Space 2 as well as Senior Editor at game industry website Game Developer.

Conclusion

For genre fans that like slimmer rounds and stronger focus on action, Zephon is a force to reckon with. The narrative bits might become repetitive after a some rounds, but the first few romps with a new leader feel tremendously fresh. A great evolution of the Warhammer structure into an original universe.