ZEPHON News

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[h3]Music[/h3]
ZEPHON will include an original musical score of 60+ minutes. We’ve designed the tracks to follow your chosen path and development stage. Early on we want to emphasize the exploration aspect of the game. Here we focus on more humble tones with an inspirational, wondrous feel, but very quickly it’s all shadowed by a line of the unknown--horror and survival.

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As the game progresses, and you develop into branching Human, Voice and Cyber paths, additional music will get mixed in depending on your investment into a path. Each path has three tiers of music so that we can progressively introduce the unique sound elements of the path.

We’ve experimented with a dynamic system of musical stems, each assigned to a path--think of them as individual instrument loops. Essentially, we would compose music on the fly to achieve greater variety and have essentially no forced breaks. The results were not great--a complex system with limited pacing options and underwhelming musical progression. We’ve gone back to the music design with that knowledge and leaned into creating dramatic melodic progressions that both pump you up and frighten you.

[h3]Human Music[/h3]
Going along the Human path, you’ll be greeted by electric guitars and marching drums.

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Later on, expect proud, overwhelmingly militaristic sounds.



[h3]Voice Music[/h3]
For the Voice, it’s better to have no expectations.

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Indecipherable whispers, primal monstrous screams, ominous haunting voices and screechy strings.

[h3]Cyber Music[/h3]
If you’re cold and calculated, sharp and methodical, you’ll enjoy the digital synths Cyber brings.

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What do you think of the music?

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Join our Discord to follow each segment of a reveal as it happens every Monday.

[h3]Cyber Path[/h3]
The motivations of the entity called ZEPHON are hard to ascertain, if it indeed has any—they certainly began as self-evolved intelligences on humanity’s shared data networks, growing complex on a rich diet of spare processes left by our profligate and inefficient technologies. What they made themself after the Acrin attack is something else entirely. And what they are today…? Perhaps a coherent entity with inscrutable interests? Or perhaps an insane agglomeration of evolved processes that pass a Turing Test?

Using the technology created by this entity is therefore certainly unwise. Yet this isn’t an era of wisdom, but a time of survival, and the tools taken from ZEPHON and their devices are useful. Like The Voice, though, their use comes with a heavy price, both for the individual and for the society they are a part of…

[h3]Ishim Enforcer[/h3]


Cybernetics engineers didn’t waste resources. Paralysed? They shunted your spine. Missing limbs? They’d give you something better. Pretty soon they were standardising the replacement parts and just outfitting the soldiers with them, whether they needed them or not.

The first specialised unit of any Cyber affiliation, this infantry unit is a replacement for your militants (or at least, replacement for parts of them…), but all-round superior, with tougher armour and better morale (if less soldiers per unit). It also has more upgrade options further down the line, allowing it to maintain its usefulness later in the game. Whilst it doesn’t have the Militants’ grenades, it can use its own laser rifle to cauterize any wounds and heal itself, meaning it has great survivability.

[h3]Exousia Marauder[/h3]


Before the Acrin arrived, I swear I saw video footage of those—giant hovercrafts used for rapid transport or salvaging oil rigs and broken-down tankers. They’re far from the sea now, though (is the sea still there?). I don’t think they had a missile battery back then either…

This adapted hovercraft design is the backbone of a cyber-focused campaign, fulfilling many of the support roles. Early in the campaign, its ability to rapidly move multiple small units (including across water) is key to expansion. It’s also no slouch in combat, with good armor, superb morale and good hitpoints, as well as a decent weapon. Finally, its repair upgrade allows it to rapidly heal units it’s carrying, making it something of a combat medic.

[h3]Malakim Destroyer[/h3]


Once you start aligning yourself with machines, you start to think like them. For me, the dead should be left dead. But for AI lovers, that’s a waste of cheap organic processing power. They say: ‘remove the bits you don’t need (like emotional centers), improve their mobility, wire them to a pair of big guns.’ The Malakim are impressively lethal, for dead men.

Where the Voice anti-armour infantry go low, the Malakim go high—literally, as their turbines allow them to hover over water and rivers. They don’t mind being in the open though, as their high armour (well, it’s less armour and more that most of their flesh is missing) lets them shrug off most attacks and return fire with their lethal Laser Autocannons. And if an enemy thinks about running, the Malakim’s sticky foam upgrade can prevent them moving for a time—key for taking out those flighty Abkluth or Outriders.

What do you think of the Cyber Path?

If you enjoyed reading this, help us out and tell your friends to wishlist ZEPHON—it's the only way we can encourage Steam to show ZEPHON to more people.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481170/ZEPHON/
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“At kirk, or at market, whene'er ye meet me,
Gang by me as tho' that ye car'd na a flie;
But steal me a blink o' your bonie black e'e,
Yet look as ye were na lookin' to me,
Yet look as ye were na lookin' to me.
O whistle an' I'll come, &c.”
— Robert Burns

In the ruins of a seaside hotel, between two unmade beds, I found it. A small whistle, six inches of bone ringed with bronze. Absentmindedly I took it, though I was looking for supplies. The pantry was immediately more fruitful—literally, as it was stocked to the ceiling with tinned peaches. I pictured an old Antiquarian or Colonel, who’d planned to live out his days here, at the end of Empire, dining every night on peaches and cream.

I returned to the camp and we dined on ancient peaches, sweet and vinous with rot. An old sailor looked at the sky and claimed, through amber-juice stained lips, that it was hurricane season.

Later in my slip tent, I happened upon the whistle as I was undressing for the day. It was inscribed deeply with a language in dead tongues. Not dead a generation ago, of course, but then the Acrin—. I found myself furiously cleaning the thing later, refusing to think of that. Of her. Of the dread wisdom they had brought. Of what we’d learned.

(When I sleep, I see her. As she was.)

Before I knew it, the thing was clean, dust and grit off it. It was distinctly-shaped, though a fair bit longer than a man’s, and the holes were so nearly bored as to be grown there. The bronze ring fit it loosely, but it was impossible to remove.

In this new world, it was a disturbing sight, frankly. Seeing it bare, I just wanted rid of it, especially after that moment of strange compulsion. I resolved to trade it away the following day—I could get food (not peaches!) for this, a tool or even a favor.

As I went to sleep, I tucked it under my pillow (my jacket) for safekeeping.

In the night, the wind blew hard. Hard enough that it pushed its way through the zipped tent flap. Hard enough I could hear a gentle trill from the whistle as the air passed over it. Shadows of the ruined seaside town wavered crazily in the night watch’s lantern-light, shifting as they were cast on the tent wall, and I remembered the shape of—.

I slept fitfully, at best.

In the morning, I went on the usual rounds over breakfast, seeing who had what swag left from the evening’s bartering. No-one would touch the whistle though. No-one wise at least. They told me to take it back, throw it in the sea. But I couldn’t, though. I don’t know why. Felt I had to get something out of it.

I took it to the fool at the camp’s edge. Voice knows how he survived out there, gaunt and dumb, day and night with everything roving and starving, but he did. ‘Til that day, at least.

As I approached, he was dancing with a broom he’d found, waltzing on the ruined pier. When he saw the whistle in hand, he stopped his capering, though. He didn’t look at it again, just took it from me. Put it to his lips. And blew it, of course he did. I don’t know why I didn’t stop him. And he dropped it and ran.

(I do know why. I knew what it was. I knew what would come.)

The whistle rose in volume, until I realised it was the wind blowing, the long-promised hurricane here in a moment. I ran crazily, lost my way back. Fell, in the dust. Felt my hands clasp around a white finger bone.

And then she was there. With friends, now. All of them together, returned as one. A mess of limbs and organs and skin, but still mine.

In that moment, I relaxed. We’d gone in together, into the dead universe, into the Voice. She’d never quite understood. And only I’d come back.

But now she’d found a way to follow. She’d just needed help.

I took her hand—the Vassael’s hand—one of their many hands—and told myself, as I’d heard in the depths of space, where the unsleeping dark, when I’d let everything go. I told myself, it’s what’s inside that counts. And she, my Vassael, had plenty inside.

--

Written by: Daniel Griliopoulos

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[h3]Voice Path[/h3]
A mysterious creed followed by certain Acrin and human mystics, its followers experiment with total sensory deprivation to get closer to true cosmic understanding. Those who achieve this inner silence, can finally hear something in the background of the universe—something infinitely ancient and wise—that they call The Voice.

The path of The Voice is the path of universal comprehension, hidden secrets, inhuman understanding, physical corruption and ancient wisdom. Your progress is idealistic, but leaves many monstrosities in its wake—failed mystics or those who understand The Voice only partially, and are changed utterly by this shortcoming.

[h3]Abkluth Dragoon[/h3]


When they crashed, the Acrin brought creatures with them—monstrous lizardthings, tearing Earth wildlife apart. Given their docility around the Acrin, I suspect they were meant for pets or food, but that didn't stop the Voice Cults using them for war.

The first specialised unit of any Voice affiliation, this cavalry troop consists of three Cult Militants mounted on the fearsome alien Abkluth. Their light armour means that they can’t survive prolonged firefights, so instead rely on their speed to close on enemies before they attack with their toxic spears and bite. Understandably, they are also experts in taming free-roaming Abkluth, allowing Voice-aligned players to increase their armies quickly.

[h3]Dark Vassael[/h3]


Not all who hear the Voice can comprehend it. Not all come back from the edge. Or not alone. Is it better to come back like this—a bag of aggregated human systems and minds—or not at all? What must it be like to be in there?

This horrifying agglomeration of man and alien is a Voice terror unit. Its strange weapon fires living larvae that do limited damage but cause enemy units to suffer morale debuffs, reducing their ability to fight back. Later in the game, the Vassael can summon Shoch’itris Lairs that deploy short-lived deformities which attack on their behalf.

[h3]Aegyllan Worm[/h3]


Hearing the Voice didn't change everyone the same. Some kept looking for that dark, quiet place, came back changed to find it, delving into the black depths of the Earth. To see a friend's face on one of these, dragging itself out of stone and dirt, that was hard.

The Aegyllans are best deployed as shock anti-armour troops. Their tunneling ability allows them to bypass terrain, defenses and other units—especially when upgraded in the late game to massively increase its range. Once at a target, their pointblank bioacid is exceptional against armoured units and large numbers of troops—and damages their armour too, allowing your other troops to finish them with ease.

What do you think about the Voice Path?

If you enjoyed reading this, help us out and tell your friends to wishlist ZEPHON—it's the only way we can encourage Steam to show ZEPHON to more people.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1481170/ZEPHON/
Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular reveals and exclusive closed betas to your inbox: https://newsletter.proxy-studios.com/

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