ZEPHON

[b]ZEPHON[/b] is a polished, combat-heavy 4X that excels in tactical depth, atmosphere, and pace. It’s a solid, flavorful evolution of Gladius, though diplomacy and city expansion take a back seat. For around $40 USD, or during sales, it delivers strong value—Solidly recommended for 4X fans leaning toward battle-driven strategy. Focused unit‑per‑tile battling, terrain tactics, and smart AI—combat feels meaningful and satisfying. The game blends sci‑fi, cyber-horror, and eldritch tones into its narrative and visuals. Story flavor and leader character moments stand out. Compared to heavier 4X titles, [b]ZEPHON[/b] favors brisk pace—unit production is slower, but research and combat-focused design keeps things moving. Unlockable rules modifiers and eight distinct leaders help avoid monotony, motivating varied playthroughs. Some find diplomacy and economy underdeveloped. Combat is vital to succeed, and passive approaches often fail. Loyalty woes and hex‑slot building limits can frustrate expansion strategies. City‑building feels more rigid than in other 4X games. [b]ZEPHON - The Twisted & The Hollow[/b] If you want fresh tactical layers and enjoy the Dark Sci‑Fi/Eldritch vibe of [b]ZEPHON[/b], this DLC is a solid expansion—especially for early-game power and storytelling. Priced at ~€13, it delivers significant new mechanics, though current balance may favor Twisted Mother and Hollow Warlord heavily. Perfect for those looking to shake up early stages and deepen narrative engagement. [h1]8/10[/h1] DISASTER | BAD | MEDIOCRE | OKAY | GOOD | [b][u]GREAT[/u][/b] |AMAZING| MASTERPIECE [quote] Reviewed on: Win11 Home 64-bit, Intel i5-11600K, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB TUF, 32GB DDR4-3600 RAM, 2 x Kingston NV1 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Internet Broadband 1000/1000 Mbit[/quote] [quote] If you like this review, then please consider giving it a thumbs up. I've also reviewed other games that you might find interesting. If so please follow [u][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27418263/] Top of the Chart.[/url][/u]

This is a combat 4X with the combat being the really the whole point. You do have exploring, city building, pop management, and diplomacy, they all however take a major backseat to the combat. Do not expect Civ 5 levels of those features. They still are serviceable and round off the game as a whole. The game itself is also very close to Gladius. You have a lot of people saying its completely different and that isn't all true from a game mechanics perspective. If you have played and beaten a game a Gladius, then you will see just how similar they really are. I say this just to inform those who think they are getting a totally different game in all departments. That being said the game is also really different in terms of the game itself and quality. Just to name the things it does better; the game's lore fits it well, it looks really good, the combat is more polished from Gladius, the animations are better than in Gladius, the units are all voiced and they are voiced well at that(expect for the tanks in my opinion), you get more units(without having to pay for 7 different dlcs) and the game feels more complete, it has more research options than Gladius, it has 3 NPC only factions that make the game more dynamic, It does the other 3Xs mentioned above much better than Gladius as well. One of the few things that Gladius does better is faction variety. Each faction feels much more unique which goes a long way for making a game last and replayable. That being said Gladius has a Games Workshop problem where it is very dlc heavy and they sell you units that should have been in the faction to begin with and over 7 different dlcs with one faction unit per dlc. Typical GW BS. I do have gripes with Zephon as this is not a perfect game; playable faction variety is limited and you get a feel for everything the game has after 2 full games (You can dip into other factions techs. It sounds cool but it can make everything feel samey on your second or third game so on. The leaders have a few standouts but that's really it.), lack of tooltips or info being displayed and explained( they have a compendium, but a lot of stuff should have a tooltip however over to show effects, debuffs, terrain and etc.), lack of heroes(only two per faction tech tree), and lack of the other 3X elements being fleshed out. This is still a 4X game even if it is a combat 4X. I would call this a good game, I've gotten 30 hours into it so far and still enjoy it. I hope what I wrote above was insightful and helps you make a decision about this game.

Coming from Gladius with over 600 hours, the Diplomacy makes this game unplayable. There is no depth, it takes hours to figure out how turn off most of the random ais (more than what you want). You can't initiate or deepen your relationships. Lots of random AI. They need to patch this shit.

Perfect if you like Gladius and want more. I wish the DLC would bring a new faction though. Great game overall!

I can't speak to whether you'd enjoy this game if you're a veteran. As a new player to turn based, this game has a terrible tutorial. You'll leave the first game with no real idea of why things went wrong. This game is DIFFICULT. On easy, it's possible to get stomped in the first 15 turns. I know you can modify everything to tailor this game how you'd like it, but you'd think the base difficulties would be sufficient. Here were my main issues: - Free roaming monsters are way too concentrated and will surround and kill your platoon if you try to explore. This game should encourage exploration. - Quests are too involved. They are fun for the story, but the risk is very often not worth the reward. - Enemy AI is either cheating, or is not toned down enough. You'll suddenly see a giant enemy army appear out of nowhere, perfectly upgraded, best special items saved up and ready to use, and you'll get stomped. - The ways in which you can play is too limited. Unlike Civ6 you can't really afford to not focus on combat. Building allegiances will run your resources dry and they won't really help you. Those resources are better spent building your own army. - Half the research is useless - why get things that will expand your empire when you'll end up with no loyalty, growth, and housing? Remove the penalty for these completely on easier difficulties. - Map is too cluttered with damaging stuff. Again I know you can just change this, but I shouldn't have to dig into the game settings to find how to turn off literally every other square damaging your units when you land on it.

Honestly a great game and I hope the devs show it the same love and support Gladius has. The lore is the best part though. Honest to God I would love a Fallout/Stalker styled RPG of the game as the lore alone has been shockingly fun to read. Having it only in an RTS format sucks as I could see a fun eldritch horror styled Stalker game coming out of this if made correctly. The lore and everything is already there that I hope the devs do more with it. The only complaint I really have is that it seems like the AI can ramp up production out of nowhere but for all I know that's just because I haven't learned what I'm doing yet or have had bad spawns. but the neutral factions (especially the aliens) can just out of nowhere start causing head aching issues Besides that there's also the (what I feel) early endgame. It seems the endgame happens real soon where I've seen some factions not even have tanks yet. Setting it to longer has still led to it just getting into the late tiers, but barely.

One of the better 4x strategy games out there, in my opinion. The gameplay is good, and while the faction diversity could be better (at least more unique), the factions do feel different to play, so that is good enough. The endgame steamroll (a common issue with grand strategy and 4x strategy games) is largely nullified by the inclusion of the apocalyptic endgame events, which are pretty fun. But what really sets this game apart is its lore, worldbuilding, story (as far as it has one), and the nightmarish vibe it has. That's all top notch, and the artists/writers have done a fantastic job.

A really fun turn-based strategy game. Highly entertaining with a really intriguing world. The graphical style is phenomenal. 10/10 recommend.

Great gameplay and vibes. No idea how this game isn't way bigger

Nice writing/worldbuilding, decent gameplay, good graphics. I´d recommend it to anyone who´s into grimdark and turn-based strategy games.

Being the greatest fan Gladius ever had, I had to have this one. Conclusion, Zephon is frigging fantastic. It's different to Gladius in many ways and all of them are good. It's a bit expensive but I recon when you count the hours you will probably get out of Zephon it's going to end up a real good deal. The story/lore is very detailed so if you want to get yourself fully immersed some reading will be required, at first anyway. When the who's and why's are known the story alone should suck you in. Everything feels smooth and polished too. no rough edges. The game doesn't waste your time so your first 2 hours should convince you.

Once i learned all the mechanics of voice units it became enjoyable to teleport an entire army onto to my enemy and bring about the end.

The best world building I've ever seen in a 4x game, and the game itself is quite good. Excellent combat with satisfying graphics. I would recommend this one.

This game is not only VERY bare bones, but it's balance is kind of shit. But the most annoying thing? LOS. None of my units can see more than like 1 space out from themselves without an active ability. But the enemy AI seems to be able to see the entire map. So when playing, you are just constantly getting units ambushed and swarm killed in a single turn. You can't tactically respond to instant death. You can't retreat from an enemy you had no idea was there. You can't save a unit that died in a single turn from max health. I played for 13 hours, and will never launch this shit again. It's not worth $5, let alone fucking $40.

Cool setting. Almost feels like if you were to play a turn based starcraft.

Just one more round... oh i have to go to work in two hours, better get some sleep... I can sleep tomorrow

Don't have much to say other than it's a fun game if you are in to 4x!

Slow bland turn by turn, walls of texts, poor tutorial, hard pass.

stellaris + lovecraft on earth.

Just dont enjoy it

jokes game

its ok

boring

civ vibes, my kind of civ vibes, reckon an 8.7