The Illustrated Tour Of Cybertron

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron has an ambitious vision. The game makers at High Moon Studios are looking to broaden the appeal and excitement of the Transformers brand by expanding the fictional backdrop in new and exciting directions. As exhibited in sci-fi franchises like Halo, Killzone, or Gears of War, a key component of a believable mythology lies in authentic and surprising locations and environments. Fall of Cybertron aims to bring the metallic homeworld of the Transformers to life as never before with an array of exciting locales.

Take our illustrated tour of the game’s many sites in the pages ahead. On any of the many art images and screens, you can click the image for a larger version.

Cybertron

The home planet of the Transformers is a world of metal on the far side of the galaxy from Earth. No known organic creatures exist on the planet, but life has found a way through sentient robotic beings that have the ability to transform their shape at will. Cybertron holds within itself the essence of Primus, the god-like creator of the Transformers.

Long ago, Cybertron and its inhabitants experienced a golden age of expansion, scientific growth, and peace. Cybertronian civilization spread out to colony worlds across the galaxy. That civilization came to a tragic end millennia ago, leaving behind relics and remnants of a time when the Cybertronians were more powerful than they are today.

More recently, a horrific civil war ravaged the planet, fought between two armed factions, the Autobots and Decepticons. The Decepticons poisoned the planet’s core with an insidious substance called dark energon, and the entire planet has shut down to repair itself. Cybertron is now a world in stasis, and most of its inhabitants are being forced into exile or face extinction.

Iacon

Once the capital city and headquarters for the Autobot cause, Iacon has crumbled into a war torn and depowered ruin by the time Fall of Cybertron begins. A snow of soot and ash coats the sprawling city. Dead robots lie scattered in the streets, with no one to mourn their passing. Once vibrant lines of energon that lit the city now sit dark. The Autobots lost the war for Cybertron, and few places so clearly show that loss as their home city.

In Iacon, and further into the Sea of Rust, players will encounter the fallen corpses of ancient Cybertronians

Iacon is blanketed in ash and soot -- the detritus of a seemingly endless war

[NEXT UP: A metallic desert, and the legendary space bridge]

Sea of Rust

The vast desert called the Sea of Rust exists beyond the boundaries of the towering metal cities currently populated by Cybertronian civilization. Rust storms scour the harsh landscape, threatening to eviscerate any robotic lifeform that might dare to cross its expanse.

Deep in the heart of this forbidding wasteland is a lifeline – a last reservoir of energon that could be used to power the Autobot’s final exodus from the planet. Some cataclysmic event created the desert, but the crumbling ruins hold secrets left behind by the ancient Cybertronian civilization that came before. In fact, while traveling across the Sea of Rust, players will see the fallen corpses of massive robots – members of the fallen civilization that once traveled the stars. Now, these robotic bodies are like mountains and valleys in the wastes, memories of a forgotten power.

The Sea of Rust offers plenty of indoor environments in which to hide

Space Bridge

Of all the great inventions and advancements from the lost golden age of Cybertron, none is so powerful as space bridge technology. This remarkable innovation allowed instantaneous transport across the galaxy by opening a path through time and space. Utilizing these portals, Cybertronian civilization spread to distant planet colonies, now cut off from their home planet. The space bridge network collapsed along with the ancient Cybertronian civilization, and its secrets were presumed lost – until now.

The calculating Decepticon scientist, Shockwave, has uncovered a last functional space bridge, and is slowly unraveling its secrets. He has already used it to examine a far distant planet filled with organic life – a place that will later be called Earth by its inhabitants. On Earth, he observes hulking reptilian beasts that inspire his dark science experiments. He has captured a powerful squad of Autobot warriors led by Grimlock, and those unfortunate soldiers will fall victim to Shockwave’s experiments as he tries to recreate those distant dinosaur creatures here on Cybertron.

Insecticon Invasion

While the surface of Cybertron is populated by intelligent, sentient robots, the underground is filled with dangerous metallic creatures of a more sinister and mindless variety. Many of these creatures have been forced to the surface after the core of the planet was poisoned by dark energon. Shockwave has taken the already dangerous Insecticon hordes and further modified them, making them an even more malicious threat.

As a result, large sections of Cybertron have now been overrun by the Insecticon menace. These dangerous creatures devour metal, and repurpose existing landscapes to match their own hive purposes. New Insecticons burst forth from pulsing pods positioned among the towering spires and web-like bridges that interconnect the hives.

The Insecticons have emerged from their underground homes to take over the surface

[NEXT UP: The lair of Shockwave, and the home of the Decepticons]

Shockwave’s Lair

Surrounded by the Insecticon technology that he hopes to cultivate, Shockwave’s lair is a cold and sterile fortress of mirrored surfaces and dark laboratories. It is a house of horrors to the unfortunate Autobots who are captured and brought here. Most will never leave.

Few Autobots return from the depths of Shockwave's sadistic laboratories

Kaon

Iacon was once the brightest city on the face of Cybertron, but that privilege now belongs to the Decepticon capital of Kaon. The city brazenly flaunts its remaining supply of energon, even though it too will soon fall dark as the entire planet continues to shut down.  

Kaon was once a smoky industrial cesspool where the lowest castes of Cybertron slaved away. As a distraction from their unfortunate lives, gladiatorial combat became common in and around the city. From the ranks of these gladiators there arose a champion named Megatron. His ambition would turn his quest for freedom into a war for tyranny, and all of Cybertron would pay the price.

Kaon flaunts its energon wealth, but it will eventually run out of power like the rest of the planet

[NEXT UP: The great spaceships of the Transformers]

The Nemesis

The Decepticon’s largest and most powerful battleship is a force to be reckoned with on its own, but filled with Decepticon soldiers, it is a dreadnaught of unstoppable power. The secrets of its creation remain mysterious, but one thing is known for sure. The Nemesis is the ship Megatron uses to pursue Optimus Prime and the Autobots into space. The two armies clash in a titanic battle in outer space before continuing further out into deep space.

The Ark

Optimus Prime commissions the Ark as a great transport ship to carry the last of the Autobots into space, away from their dying planet. Unfortunately, the Decepticons’ continued assaults against Iacon rapidly deplete energon reserves, and the massive ship may not have enough power to even get off the planet. Much of the story in Fall of Cybertron focuses on the quest for energon to power the Autobots’ final exodus.

Teletran

A comprehensive computer system and planetwide network, Teletran contains vast amounts of data. In-game, Teletran locations offer an opportunity to upgrade new weaponry. Teletran also holds the entirety of known Cybertronian history and culture, so Optimus Prime opts to load a portion of Teletran’s vast database onto the Ark, in the hope that some portion of Cybertron’s legacy will survive the planet’s fall.

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