The Game Census
Cepheus Protocol cover art

Cepheus Protocol

Halcyon Winds · 2020-05-15

SteamEpic Games Store

ActionAdventureIndieMassively MultiplayerRPGSimulationStrategyEarly Access

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative

Releases: May 15, 2020 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Cepheus Protocol is an Open World RTS Military Survival Game. Play as the CERC hunting Patient 0, maintain Quarantine camps, fight dangerous mutations & Rogue Civilian Combatants . There’s nobody else coming, it’s up to you now.

Cepheus Protocol is an Action, Adventure, Indie, and Massively Multiplayer game released in 2020, priced at $15.99, with an owner estimate of 200,000 .. 500,000 and a Mostly Positive review sentiment (75% of 3768 reviews).

35
playing now
75%
positive of 3.8k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
silver
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$15.99
steam price (US)

35 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 13:00 UTC (census sample)

Cepheus Protocol is an open world RTS military survival game. You play as CERC, hunting Patient Zero while keeping quarantine camps alive. Hold the line against brutal mutations and rogue civilian combatants. No reinforcements. No backup. It is on you.(Storyline via IGDB)

Trailer

Cepheus Protocol trailer thumbnail

Cepheus Protocol Exodus Trailer

≈26,938 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 35 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 346 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~43/week).
  • · Review velocity up 27% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 8% of 27,727 Action games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 75k–170k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 3,768 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $9.89 at Steam (2020-10-29) · bundled 2×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 11 of 20 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
12112120202026Week of 2020-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 36 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 66 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 54 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 30 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 26 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 22 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 37 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 40 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 16 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 27 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 34 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 21 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 18 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 32 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 32 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 25 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 24 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 28 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 31 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 12 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

7892026-09-15 14:00 — 33 players2026-09-16 22:00 — 32 players2026-09-18 05:00 — 27 players2026-09-19 13:00 — 45 players2026-09-20 20:00 — 61 players2026-09-22 04:00 — 19 players2026-09-23 12:00 — 9 players2026-09-24 19:00 — 29 players2026-09-26 03:00 — 39 players2026-09-27 10:00 — 35 players2026-09-28 18:00 — 49 players2026-09-30 01:00 — 35 players2026-10-01 09:00 — 22 players2026-10-02 16:00 — 52 players2026-10-04 00:00 — 73 players2026-10-05 08:00 — 31 players2026-10-06 15:00 — 53 players2026-10-07 23:00 — 62 players2026-10-09 06:00 — 40 players2026-10-10 14:00 — 62 players2026-10-11 22:00 — 78 players2026-10-13 05:00 — 41 players2026-10-14 13:00 — 35 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1217May 2020Aug 2026May 2020 — avg 10 · peak 27Jul 2020 — avg 8 · peak 29Sep 2020 — avg 15 · peak 50Nov 2020 — avg 8 · peak 34Jan 2021 — avg 8 · peak 22Mar 2021 — avg 14 · peak 30May 2021 — avg 50 · peak 122Jul 2021 — avg 27 · peak 66Sep 2021 — avg 43 · peak 95Nov 2021 — avg 66 · peak 159Jan 2022 — avg 29 · peak 89Mar 2022 — avg 33 · peak 75May 2022 — avg 36 · peak 114Jul 2022 — avg 34 · peak 87Sep 2022 — avg 20 · peak 51Nov 2022 — avg 32 · peak 72Jan 2023 — avg 36 · peak 80Mar 2023 — avg 22 · peak 46May 2023 — avg 24 · peak 84Jul 2023 — avg 54 · peak 116Sep 2023 — avg 20 · peak 55Nov 2023 — avg 29 · peak 73Jan 2024 — avg 41 · peak 112Mar 2024 — avg 40 · peak 100May 2024 — avg 23 · peak 51Jul 2024 — avg 32 · peak 66Sep 2024 — avg 27 · peak 57Nov 2024 — avg 26 · peak 76Jan 2025 — avg 26 · peak 67Mar 2025 — avg 21 · peak 50May 2025 — avg 22 · peak 51Jul 2025 — avg 23 · peak 61Sep 2025 — avg 23 · peak 78Nov 2025 — avg 25 · peak 65Jan 2026 — avg 73 · peak 190Mar 2026 — avg 55 · peak 110May 2026 — avg 42 · peak 116Jul 2026 — avg 61 · peak 206Aug 2026 — avg 95 · peak 311
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$19.99$9.892020-05-162026-08-242020-05-16 — best price $18.992020-08-10 — best price $14.992020-11-02 — best price $14.992020-11-28 — best price $14.992021-02-11 — best price $11.992021-06-24 — best price $11.242021-11-01 — best price $19.992022-01-05 — best price $19.992022-05-16 — best price $17.992022-06-25 — best price $16.192022-09-05 — best price $19.992022-11-23 — best price $16.992023-03-06 — best price $16.992023-04-07 — best price $17.992023-05-29 — best price $17.992023-07-13 — best price $19.992023-09-04 — best price $19.992023-11-02 — best price $19.992023-12-11 — best price $19.992024-01-10 — best price $19.992024-03-04 — best price $19.992024-04-10 — best price $15.992024-05-20 — best price $15.992024-07-11 — best price $19.992024-09-23 — best price $19.992024-12-04 — best price $19.992025-01-27 — best price $19.992025-03-20 — best price $19.992025-04-14 — best price $19.992025-07-10 — best price $19.992025-08-18 — best price $19.992025-10-06 — best price $19.992025-12-15 — best price $19.992026-02-03 — best price $15.992026-03-19 — best price $15.992026-06-25 — best price $15.992026-08-24 — best price $15.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

5
achievements tracked
80.2%
earned "Into the Deep End"
35.5%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerCo-opOnline Co-opSteam AchievementsSteam Trading CardsSteam WorkshopAdjustable Text SizeCamera ComfortCustom Volume Controls7 DLC

8 supported languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Korean, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Portugal

Post-launch support: 7 DLC released, first 2020-09-26, latest 2023-08-02 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)3,1658%5

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

RTSGoreIndieActionSandboxZombiesBuildingStrategySurvivalTactical

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

Star Control®: OriginsSurvivalistMedieval Kingdom WarsForce of NatureRatty CattyAncient CitiesBad North: Jotunn EditionCHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience

Similarity via IGDB.

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