The Pangu Virus has been unleashed in San Francisco, turning thousands of innocent lives into mindless beasts that feel no pain and have no fear of death. With each passing hour, the Pangu Virus evolves, creating new and ever more horrific mutations with one goal in mind… Spread.
You are Captain Winter, a military officer fighting alongside the Center for Epidemic Research and Control(CERC). With a massive arsenal and the resources of the US Government behind it, you and CERC will stop at nothing to ensure the terror of the Pangu Virus does not escalate beyond containment, even if a whole city and millions of lives must be sacrificed.
- Cepheus Protocol is inspired by classic RTS games such as Company of Heroes and World in Conflict, alongside the book World War Z.
- Survive if you can against a relentless enemy that evolves and grows more powerful with each day.
- Build specialized units from a variety of bases that can be placed anywhere in the open-world map.
- Battle those infected by the Pangu Virus across four open-world islands, featuring unique and challenging environments.
- Choose from three combat tiers that play to your style. Each tier has specialized units, equipment, and weaponry.
- Engage a relentless horde of infected which numbers grow larger and stronger with each territory captured as you battle for control of San Francisco.
- Hunt Patient Zero, who races across the city seizing territory. Each capture zone increases her population as the virus spreads and possesses all organic matter.
- Form an alliance or side against the Anarchist and Police factions, which struggle to survive among the madness that has enveloped San Francisco.
Note: Steam Remote Play is for allowing your friends to try out the game if you already have purchased it. It's not for online co-op: that is is planned in the current roadmap, but is not complete yet
The rebuild is now the default version of Cepheus Protocol, and the first 48 hours gave us exactly what we needed: a real stress test at scale.
Discord playtests help, internal testing helps, but nothing compares to thousands of players stress testing the game in every possible way. Thats how you find the edge cases you never see in controlled sessions.
The good news is weve already reproduced and fixed several of the biggest issues being reported, and were pushing those changes live right now.
[hr][/hr]What We Learned (First 48 Hours)
The rebuild foundation is holding up well, but community play testing immediately exposed edge cases, mainly around vehicles, navigation, and some UI flow.
[/*]A lot of confusion is still coming from missing systems (Civilian Evac, dynamic civilians, etc)
See the FAQ below!
[/*]UI overlapping issues were resolved
[/*]
Patch Notes:
Increased Max Server Search to 200 limit(Might have to look into pages long term)
[/*]Optimized some loading screen elements that were causing VRAM to balloon at times
[/*]Fixed incorrect UI icon for m240b
[/*]Some Level Geo/Textures were optimized that were causing VRAM to balloon at times
[/*]Tweaked hydra damage higher so the Apache feels more \"worth it\"
[/*]Abrams smoothbore/Cerberus 105 increased damage towards certain units
[/*]Guard Towers & Turrets are limited per zone now instead of the global pool!
[list]Set up server validation for clients setting down structures in a zone, to ensure \'build limits per zone\' are respected even if a client does multiple structures at once during a lagspike
[/*]Set up CERC turrets to no longer have a global recruit limit of 12 (instead it\'s 6 per zone)
[/*]Build Limit per zone now respected by construction function: Guard Tower updated to 6 per zone instead of 6 total
[/*]Improvements to Structure \'build limit\' registration to work when setting down a construction hologram, and to deregister as soon as the structure dies
[/*]
Fixed a flaw with formation position updating getting \'wrong direction\' if update would take it past a particular path point (more egregious when starting up move orders for helicopter/ground vehicles only moves)
Fixes units sometimes stopping mid air when given a new formation move order
[/*][/*]Set up some formation logic for helicopter-only moves to \'start\' the formation further ahead.
Result: Seems to fix \'helicopter stuttering\' if you\'re issuing multiple move orders to a group of helicopters
[/*][/*]Some improvements to Command Widget shop handling for special case actions (like back button, resupply component, radio component, etc.) (should fix the Heavy Vehicle shop \'losing the back button\')
[/*]Made it so hub/main menu games display as \"Hub\" instead of Main_Menu. Other Pandemic maps were renamed on how they appear on the Main menu Server join page
[/*]Increased brute speed
[/*]What Were Still Hunting
These are the kinds of issues that dont always appear during internal testing, but show up immediately once the community gets hands-on.
If you run into anything weird with:
Vehicles doing something dumb
[/*]Units ignoring obvious navigation
[/*]UI menus acting strange
[/*]
A short clip or a quick Discord screenshare helps us reproduce and eliminate it fast. Feel free to hop on discord and we can jump into a voice call. Anything helps! As we are seeking to knock out the remaining pathing issues pronto!
[hr][/hr][hr][/hr]In Progress
Were also actively working on several high-impact systems that affect moment-to-moment gameplay:
Engineer repair behavior for vehicles
[/*]Engineer Auto-repair for structures and vehicles
[/*]
Next Big Goal: Doctrines + Airstrikes (Targeting Week of 11th)
Were shifting back to the next major pillar of the rebuild.
Our goal is to get Doctrines back in and bring Airstrikes back with the full set of related systems and support options by next week.
Thats the next big step toward restoring long-term progression and replayability in the rebuild.
[hr][/hr]Balance Passes (Ongoing)
Balance is still being tuned every day as more players jump in and we get real data.
Michael is actively monitoring feedback and adjusting:
Weapons
[/*]Turrets
[/*]Vehicles
[/*]
This is an ongoing process and we will keep tightening it as the rebuild stabilizes.
[hr][/hr]If Youre Confused, Read These First (Pinned)
Havent Played in a While? Start Here
[dynamiclink href=\"https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/979640/view/518607443608996338\"][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink href=\"https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/537736957039477253\"][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink href=\"https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/537735054151909378\"][/dynamiclink]
What Still Needs To Be Finished
Here is the consolidated list, in one place, so there is no confusion.
Missing Or In Progress Systems
January Goals
[list]Remaining Vehicle Abilities And Behaviors
[list]Bradley TOW
[/*]
Doctrines
[/*]Save System for Pandemic
[/*]BUGS, BUGS and Bugs! We still are hunting down desyncs and bugs as they are reported!
[/*]Game Balance - Is still ongoing and being tweaked. Michael is monitoring Steam/Discord for feedback
[/*]February Goals
Any Remaining Bugs/Performance Tweaks/QOL Adjustments based on community feedback
[/*]Remaining Enemy Roster Needed For Angel to be unlocked
[list]Leviathan
[/*]Birds
[/*][/*]Additional Pandemic Regions Locked Until The Above Is Complete
Angel Island
[/*]San Francisco North
[/*][/*]TBD
We are committed to not rushing to the \"end\" to ensure everything prior is working correctly. These are the ones currently in limbo that we will be tackling once the above list is \"completely\" done.
LHA6 & LCAC
[/*][/*]Civilian Evacuation & Dynamic Civilian Groups
We made two pinned threads so we can centralize answers and stop misinformation:
[list]Rebuild vs Legacy: which version youre on, whats missing, what to play (link )
[/*]Civilian Evac 2.0 + Dynamic Civilians plan: why its delayed and whats changing (link )
[/*]If youre asking: where is evac where are civilians what build am I on Start there.
[/*]That is the remaining gap we are closing through Q1. Anything else will be discussed only after the current list above is done.
[hr][/hr]Q1 2026 Target
Our target through Q1 2026 is to bring back the remaining missing pillars and have the rebuilt version fully represent the complete Cepheus Protocol experience again, but better.
That means:
More stability and performance
[/*]Larger scale gameplay
[/*]More and better maps
[/*]Complete Pandemic mode pillars
[/*]Operators expanding toward Doctrines
[/*]
Public Campaigns
A few times each week, our developers host public multiplayer sessions where we jump into the chaos ourselvestesting, refining, and showcasing the true state of the game. These sessions are open for everyone to join, chat, and experience the evolving sandbox that Cepheus Protocol Multiplayer and Single player has become.
[u]Our Last Dev Campaigns:[/u]
Operation: Island Sweep Treasure Island Playtest Recap
In one of our first large-scale playtests for Treasure Island, CERC forces deployed from the carrier deck and immediately split into two coordinated fireteams. One team moved quickly to secure the bridge linking Yerba Buena Island to the main landmass, establishing a forward barricade to stem any early infected movement. Meanwhile, the second team advanced on the military base, fortifying it as a staging area for deeper incursions into the city.
Operators were dispatched on foot for reconnaissance, sweeping through nearby districts to identify infected activity and relay positions back to RTS players. These early scouts faced brutal resistanceseveral near-wipeouts forced emergency retreats to fallback outposts, where teams regrouped before launching counteroffensives.
As intel solidified, CERC forces began a methodical push toward the carnival grounds, establishing forward operating bases (FOBs) block by block. Each zone cleared became a new resupply and logistics hub, allowing the team to maintain pressure and steadily expand their perimeter. The fighting intensified near the construction site and hospital district, where infected forces attempted multiple breakoutsbut each was repelled by quick RTS responses and layered defenses.
Key tactical strikes were launched against newly emerged gas towers, which the infected had built to irradiate CERC positions and force retreats. These were neutralized in time, allowing squads to resume their advance. The operation culminated in a coordinated sweep through the hospital zone, ending with the elimination of Chelsey after a protracted urban engagement.
In a final act of desperation, the infected launched a last-ditch assault to retake the military base. It was shut down by a precision Blackhawk strafing runsecuring victory and leaving only isolated remnants, which were tracked down and eliminated by roaming patrols and air support.
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33900595/14ba08ea1ad526dd075f3270124e1dcf89f98c5f.png\"][/img]
[img src=\"https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33900595/d61c110b02d1a5f9dbfbea7967ecffed6176e6ad.png\"][/img]
[dynamiclink href=\"https://youtu.be/xEvcprpgEi4\"][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink href=\"https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/567017334005301886\"][/dynamiclink]
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