Zephon - A Heavily Combat Focused Civilization Style Game On A Post-Apocalyptic Earth

[@rewmangeorge5957]

The Interdimensional Aliens invaded and killed 80% of human population in one go. Surviving Humanity made a collective shrug emoji and proceeded to open every single cell in SCP Foundation seconds before all nukes in existence simulateously hit the ground. Reminding the multiverse that we indeed are the spiteful SoB's. The game.

[@getfreur2458]

Nah, i'm almost sure the ones who brought the monsters was the aliens, but humanity did give Zephon full control over...everything. So Zephon had quite a lot of doing 9/11s against the alien space ships, until there was no ships intact.

[@jakefrost7404]

Love HFY Sci-Fi.

[@R3LL1K1]

We all know that certain "elements" of our own species would side with the bug people.

[@Bloddrake]

There is nothing wrong siding with your own tribe, the bugmen and bug people belong together.

[@H_Hold]

​@@Bloddrakecorrect they are infact Gene Stealers

[@orkhepaj]

they already did and the bug people havent even arrived :O

[@Marinealver]

Keep them coming, we need to know there is more than just Dustborn out there.

[@silvermknight]

As someone who REALLY wanted to like Gladius, but didnt want to ALWAYS deal with 40K lore, I think this will be right up my alley especially once the mods get going. Someone is going to make this into a Mass Effect of Gundam game and I am here for it.

[@DragonfameDracas]

It is so nice to see a company actually innovating on their designs.

[@von_nobody]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is game that Arch probably forget at 5:20

[@LabyrinthGurami]

There´s also the "newer" Civ beyond earth one. But it´s mostly forgotten even though it´s quite good...

[@CantusTropus]

@@LabyrinthGurami Beyond Earth just really suffered from a lack of faction identity. Regular Civ can fall back on history, Beyond Earth made itself distinct through ideological factions, whereas Beyond Earth sort of tried to do both and ended up with the worst of both worlds.

[@theliato3809]

@@CantusTropus I dont think its even that. I think its just that civ is heavily focused on what was in history and going beyond that seems to make people think that its not part of the civilization brand

[@animal8100]

age of wonders planetfall is another game in that category

[@tcmasters123]

There was also Pandora: First Contact that come out around the same time as Beyond Earth and was made by the same company as Zephon lol

[@theliato3809]

sci fi/fantasy or both together as a post apocalypse base setting is something civ games need to explore more.

[@lonelywolf9294]

My first thought when I saw the thumbnail was Age of Wonders: Planetfall. Which when I first found it, seemed to me to be a 'more combat focused Civ game'. Branching optional tech trees, hero units, various sci-fi factions, it all seems very familiar. I may have to give it a shot. Thanks for highlighting it, Arch

[@mrbigglezworth42]

The age of wonders series is one of a handful of 4X games that makes you use all 4 of those Xs. Mainly the exterminate one, but hey, it feeds into all the other Xs too.

[@steinerscout7896]

I liked Gladius but this game feels like there is a lot more potential because it's their baby and don't have to worry about GW's BS. Looking forward to how much they do with it.

[@lysytoszef]

The world-building is REALLY good. You can see its a game and the world with some thought put into it.

[@garrettmastantuono8043]

I care not from what games the reviews flow. Only that they flow. Thanks for everything man 🙏

[@kottylion6302]

Aliens are called Acrin, Archonite is their last surviving leader

[@Jaegerrants]

5:14 Pandora: First contact perhaps? Since Alpha centauri and Beyond earth are Civ games I don't think those are what Arch ment. Or Shadow empire, man it had been a while since I had a game where manual and in game encyclopedia were mandatory.

[@IRMentat]

i can't stand the mainline civ games but alpha centuri retains a special warm place in my heart. edit, there's a TB video on pandora as well, going to watch that after this for the member-berries, the man was an customer-first institution in the middle of a media landscape that had long since lost it's way. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o17QooOGd9uJgqM

[@shadowrider7072]

Been playing the game.... really enjoying it. 10/10 would cower in fear again when the "last days on Earth" message appears.

[@tas4292]

Very Beyond Earth looking I'm interested

[@TheControlBlue]

That game was quite the disappointment though..

[@tas4292]

@TheControlBlue it was ok, everyone expected it to be Alpha Centaurii 2 and when it wasn't the player base just jumped ship immediately. Combine that with some questionable design choices in the expansion, the game settled at an even meh. The game becomes pretty good with mods but so does any game, but it's special resources and affinity system is very similar to ZEPHON.

[@jaywerner8415]

Proxy Studios has made THREE GAMES including this one: Pandora First Contact, Warhammer 40K Gladius, and this game Zephon. Certainly looks like a interesting game if the others where anything to go by.

[@shadeling6717]

Got this game myself and started with cyber units. After seeing the later voice units i think i found the faction i'm going to play next.

[@Cahnisama]

This looks way more like Endless Legend than it does liek Civ

[@shadowrider7072]

Combat it much better imo. While I loved the faction diversity of EL, I was NOT a fan of how the combat was handled.

[@LL-if4pg]

@@shadowrider7072 Amplitude left Sega and stated they were going back to their roots, I hope they can implement something like EL but with Humankind combat

[@DefaultFlame]

5:30 Are you thinking about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri? (Love that game to bits.) Edit: This game seems right up my alley. Love the unobtrusive but extensive lore and lore blurbs. Something much neglected in modern games. I remember spending a lot of time in Alpha Centauri digging around in the lore library. (Datalinks? I think that was the name?)

[@Kross415]

Any 4x is worth a check in my eyes, ty for the preview.

[@Beard_Hood]

what is 4X?

[@AntonsVoice]

@@Beard_Hood eXplore eXpand eXploit eXterminate

[@HarryO_Possum]

​​​@@Beard_Hoodstrategy subgenre. I think the 4x stands for "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate", or something along those lines. Civilization is probably the most famous 4X franchise.

[@Kross415]

@@Beard_Hood eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate. 4x is what this genre of games is called because of those 4 pillars.

[@Kross415]

@@HarryO_Possum Correct, I answered but youtube being youtube deleted my comment 🤣

[@dawall3732]

The thing about games like this that always bothered me is buying stuff with influence. You'd think it would be the exact opposite. The more stuff you buy, the more influence you'd get with the ones you buy from. It always made me think that the ones who thought up the idea of using influence up to purchase objects. We're Communist because economics is supposed to work in the exact opposite way. You purchase something, and the more you purchase, the more influence you have over, the ones you're purchasing from.

[@revermen3580]

You could think of it in historical terms. Rather than "purchasing with influence" its like pushing another faction to give you tribute; where the influence stands for how far you can push them before they grow a spine.

[@Navigatortrue]

Sounds like a restful holiday in Kreg

[@OzyWazza]

Hey now - I'm not THAT floppy! More like a wobble-board!

[@andrewgrinn3435]

A second review in such a short time, you spoil us Arch. Adding it to the wishlist as well.

[@TheHej2]

It is sad that there are no more good games. but this looks promising

[@wispfire2545]

This looks interesting, whislisted. (:

[@quanion2464]

The comparison to Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri + the rest of your review made me really curious. I think I will give it a try. Especially it having an end should help some of my friends coming around to this.

[@wolfmirebacta8710]

loved the demo. Though reading the lore made me really wish we got a STALKER/METRO style RPG in this setting

[@gbladewarrior6884]

I'm making a game similar to this so its good to know my competitors.

[@TheControlBlue]

GODspeed (Consider blockchain technologies if you want to set yourself apart from the herd)

[@TheControlBlue]

Oh! Anything that manage to replicate the feel of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is guaranteed to be GOTY

[@H_Hold]

I mean this looks kinda cool, more for complete strategic & tactical level freedom though. Like C&C3 Kanes wrath and supcom 2 but larger maps & unit caps. Ideally i want galaxy wide conflicts with simultaneous planetary engagements or outright Wars going on while space combat is occurring overhead and elsewhere in the void. Very tall order, Probably gonna need a quantum computer or two to handle it, But its a dream.

[@styxriverr5237]

They actually had a colonizing another world 4x before Gladius, it's where their just cut throat A.I. comes from. Even on the lowest difficulty it's upon you like a vicious rabbid animal. I only won once while playing it and that was accidental, economic victory I kept playing to see if I could get the one I actually wanted and got shit rocked. And Gladius further refined just the general gameplay. So I am really looking forward to this one.

[@lordcommissarspartan]

That intro was a new one, zamn

[@bazerger6258]

Doesn't Gladius have a victory condition through the faction missions? I seem to remember there being that.

[@AntonSlavik111]

I forgot this released must pick it up and it reminds me of Armageddon Empires.

[@qwefg3]

Yes dommy Mommy not being a main commander to play as was a real missed opportunity that should hopefully be fixed with DLC. The game feels like previous game only with even more upgrades making it feel like an upgrade in a good way.

[@0Defensor0]

Have you tried Endless Space yet? I think it has a really fun twist on the combat: whenever you engage in combat (and don't go to auto resolve) the overworld map gets converted into a smaller scale battle map. Elevations of the overworld become high grounds, water and impassable parts become obstacles, etc. And if you can attack from a direction where there is a small peninsula behind the enemy, you can reduce their spawn points to a single tile, then massacre them with your entire army on the map. It's really fun if you can exploit it!

[@mrbigglezworth42]

You sure you're not thinking of Endless Legend? That had a tile based system, Endless Space 1/2 had a card based system. Neither were particularly good, and neither was Endless Legends form of combat. Amplitude spent more time developing the other methods by which to win the game as well as having each playable faction getting their own primary quest line you could go through to win as well. I won't say the combat mechanics were an afterthought, but man they are pretty terrible.

[@0Defensor0]

@@mrbigglezworth42 Dammit, I don't even own Endless Space! I blame Amplitude for this, they name everything "endless" - they even have Endless Dungeon AND Dungeon of the Endless, it's so confusing!

[@mrbigglezworth42]

@@0Defensor0 Amplitude has a brand, and they stick to it. I do find it neat that all the Endless games are connected in one way or another. Endless Space 1 came first, so can be a prequel to Endless Legend, followed by Endless Space 2, and Dungeon of the Endless is how the Vaulters even got to Auriga at all.

[@jrr7031]

Looks really cool! Id love to get ALL the lore on this universe. Edit: your thumbs up button isn't working on mobile at this moment.

[@Ravager4561]

I really enjoy these reviews it reminds me of the old totalbiscuit reviews. You should take a look at executive assault 2, its a rts/fps/4x ? hybrid game. Quite impressive what the lone developper has managed to achieve.

[@mattikuokkanen]

Developers’ first game is Pandora: First Contact

[@scp2539]

2:50 they needed something for dlc

[@Lagbeard]

It does very much look like Gladius, and reuses the exact UI. Now Gladius does have some issues on it's gameplay, mainly the whole loyalty system and I swear the AI cheats to some extent by pumping out Units faster than physically possible by a player.

[@JohnDoe-vm5rb]

I would say you'd right and it does cheat. Always assume an AI cheats. This is not me being hyperbolic, it's simply that most AIs are not that smart, even FEAR's legendary AI is as much smoke and mirrors as it is actually intelligent AI. Probably more so. Designing a 'smart' AI is hard, and can eat into the computer's resources. When you can just do a 'numerical difficulty' (force feed them health potions like you're trying for foi gras, giving them 10x the health bar as normal, faster build times, massive resource bonuses, ect) it's always done in pretty much every game.

[@Pestilencemage]

Honestly... it looks like it will quickly become random battle game with goof units. Like that one with the wizards and the rifts... and the dumb ai sea creatures were kinda op on coastal towns

[@revermen3580]

Searched wizards and rifts, found a rougelike game called rift wizard.

[@garnettkaruna8767]

Ah yes the hard to see and read map returns.

[@Arcodus]

Icarus! Were the flying twin-rotored strogg called Icarus?

[@Cyberdemon-9001]

Been looking at this for a while. Kinda looked looked like civ beyond earth.

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

Is this more like Warlock and Warlock II, then? It had cities too, and hexes surrounding 'em. But what you did for most of the game is built units and fought.

[@striderfox71]

This looks ALOT like the Warhammer game that does a civ like thing. Gladuis... HA you got me

[@John21WoW]

what, no livestream of this or did I miss them?

[@Ibian666]

Would that other game you forgot be Alpha Centauri?

[@michaelroy7754]

Hey arch have you played starsector?

[@Pyr0manic01]

The biggest gripe I have with Zephon is the price, which is a bit high, considering how similar it is to gladius and that the developers got a bunch of EU funding.

[@getfreur2458]

I brought it and considering the amount of stuff they put in the game I think it's a fair price.

[@qasderfful]

I would not call it "heavy combat-focused". It just has less eco and more combat on the map, and an actually good combat system. It's a fully-fledged 4X.

[@revermen3580]

If you're being technical, less economics play means less exploit.

[@qasderfful]

@revermen3580 this isn't being technical as much as being formalist.

[@revermen3580]

@@qasderfful aaaah, I see what you did there!

[@Ericshadowblade]

It looks and plays similar to Gladius

[@GodOfOrphans]

I've been meaning to get more info on this it looks right up my ally but the EU cofunding made me a bit wary, not all fund beneficiaries are ideological picks but enough are that I was concerned. I take it thr game is clean then?

[@MordethKai]

I don't suppose I could convince you to check out Zoids Kai?

[@brandonchild422]

Its nice to see an actual game review with pros and cons rather than people going on about its politics and etc.

[@rusm5710]

Games are pushing politics while giving the player trash gameplay so what do you expect...

[@stuartchadwick184]

Good to see No Woke.

[@GalvayraPHX]

The mechanics are extremely similar to gladius. As are the visuals. If it were a DLC or a total conversion mod for gladius, I'd be for it, but as it is, it feels way too much like the dev trying to double dip.

[@kelthuzad4634]

its basically just gladius and its probably going to be drowned in DLCs again and they are already asking for a full price game

[@robfrank3423]

Who wants to bet the domy mommy will be dlc?

[@CaptainShiny5000]

So, I absolutely love Gladius - great game - own all the DLC. However, I doubt I can afford another black hole that swallows my money, so I remain cautious for now. If the DLC content remains somewhat digestible and affordable I'll probably get it at some point. I don't even think that Gladius' DLC business model is unfair or anything - it's just too much.

[@rusm5710]

Gladius sucked ass. Probably why they gave it away for free

[@vorben7826]

@@rusm5710 Damn, tell us how you really feel.

[@giroromek8423]

And another fourth 30% in taxes 😂

[@mrbigglezworth42]

I'm trying this game....and I don't like it much. It's got all of the same systems as Gladius, which felt slow as hell to get running, but now with "factions" that can all get access to each others units so I haven't really noticed much mechanical difference from the leaders you pick aside from which units you start with.

[@Capt.Slappy]

Ah, another dlc nightmare game. Hopefully, the base has a decent amount of content

[@mizukenhaganekawa4]

I like this game mechanically, just like I liked Gladius, but the one thing bugging me is Practical Romantic. He's an arab judging by the names he and his cities get, but his description says "a bible is just fuel". Maybe it's just me, but I know only one Bible, so claiming it bacame just a fuel for a guy who's most likely a muslim sounds hipocritical to me. Would prefer neutral "religious scriptures" or something like that, if they really wanted to add that bit.

[@revermen3580]

Hypocritical? Or cowardly? As in the devs were afraid to name drop the book which would make sense for the mohammedian to reject when he turns to atheism.

[@TheControlBlue]

​@@revermen3580definitely cowardly.

[@AntonsVoice]

Based on your description, it feels like a better, more in-depth AoW:Planetfall, thrown in a pot with sid Meier's civ.

[@Kross415]

Gladius does indeed resemble AoW more than it does CiV

[@rusm5710]

Planetfall is way better than this

[@wesleythomas7125]

It looks good but not $50 good.

[@93Avenger93]

now IF ONLY they actually used the Civ 4 or some other way to make combat not the complete cancer that is single unit per hex style civ games employ today ... maybe the late game would be actually FUN to engage with and you'd be able to actually THINK about tactics and unit composition instead of just VOMITING OUT unit mass to blanket the map with because to do otherwise is to loose. Also the game has this other "interesting" aspect where past the super early game infantry units cease to be useful as everyone and their mother gets splash attacks.

[@isaacstandley730]

Reskinned gladius.

[@Иван-к9ь1у]

It is extremely shallow. There is little to no variability, so once you've beaten the game as any faction there is no reason to play it again. Gladius, while being generally the same, is saved by unit and faction variability, which is absent here.

[@sebaaullador1292]

Shut up

[@revermen3580]

Spoken like a conscience lol. My wallet thanks you.

[@morescodesup2087]

My brain rot is telling me that cybernetics faction is an amalgamation of the skibidi people. Why brain?

[@FARBerserker]

Civ Beyond Earth. Worst part of the Series. Well, probably untill Civ7.

[@orkhepaj]

just a reskin game

[@xaviersoucyrouleau4991]

😂TLDW it plays a lot like gladius with a half baked diplomacy system while being worse in terms of unit variety. OVERALL A WORSE GAME!!! Glad to have saved YOU 50 bucks😊

[@sebaaullador1292]

Nah, dont care about your rambling

[@revermen3580]

You are a gentleman and a scholar.

[@austinevs]

I would like one actual review of the game and not youtubers trying to be cheeky and making little on liners constantly in the video. Shut up and show the game.

[@malaficus]

Boring.

[@MrDeothor]

i'm sorry arch, but your reviews/previews are... lacking.

[@Darlunis]

the graphics look like poo

[@_Luluko_]

Why is it always this stupid hexagon style. Way too many games have this. And I hate it.

[@INSANESUICIDE]

Holy shit, there are 4 comments and all bots, how tf is YT not dealing with this?

[@AlessandroRodriguez]

Rookie number, I have already block 7 of rhem

[@elitetripod4188]

Beep boop

[@TheFolros]

The KZbin team is investigating the potential bot accounts thoroughly, very thoroughly.

[@INSANESUICIDE]

@@TheFolros YT team might be doing something, but what I do not know. I reported a bunch of ads for being literal fakes and scams, took weeks before I even got a reply about it, and that was just two of the several dozens. Guess they were inspired by UK police.