local heroes

Sonic branding for Zerow’s new serious game.

Local Heroes is the newest serious game by Dutch developers zerow, launching in April 2026. It brings residents, businesses, energy cooperatives, municipalities, and grid operators together to make decisions collaboratively - leading to quicker consensus, greater room for action, and a lower risk of grid congestion.

context

The energy transition is slowing down due to grid congestion and outdated regulations, even though enough renewable energy is available locally. Local Heroes turns this complex challenge into something manageable: accessible enough to engage all stakeholders, yet realistic enough to support meaningful decision-making.

It aims is to inspire a motivating approach to these challenges - fostering a sense of achievement among players while highlighting the power of collaboration. At its core, it’s driven by a simple but powerful feeling: solutions are within reach.

approach

To support Local Heroes’ mission of fostering collaboration and inspiring a sense of possibility among its users, we were tasked with creating a sonic world that reflects these goals. The challenge was to stay true to the core emotions—simple, effective, and positive.

The sound of Local Heroes is designed as an extension of the game experience, helping players feel a sense of belonging and reconnecting them emotionally each time they open it. We approached this holistically, shaping a cohesive sonic identity that remains closely aligned with its emotional core.

We began with the foundation - the sonic “DNA” that informs everything else. Using atmospheric elements and subtle piano tones, we shaped a calm, inspiring core for the game’s sound. Given the wide range of touchpoints, starting from this holistic base was essential to ensure consistency and seamless integration across all applications.

Slowly evolving strings and soft background textures add depth and create space for reflection - something the experience truly calls for. From this foundation, the key sonic assets for Local Heroes emerged: the looping main title theme, the audio logo, and the background music for their promotional video.