The Homeworld series is much loved by strategy gamers all around the world, and Gearbox released the announcement trailer for the upcoming game, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, earlier this week. From the initial look, this is shaping up to be a game worth getting, and not just for the strong backstory.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing Homeworld on my local Walmart game shelves (yes, back when they had a decent selection). Being a Trekkie, it caught my attention. While our PC at the time couldn't run the game, I never forgot about it, and when the Remastered Edition came out this past February, I pounced on it. It's been an enjoyable challenge ever since. 3-dimensional combat is not for the faint of heart.
The story was excellent, drawing you in even in the very first mission. The remastered graphics and UI brought a wonderful update to the timeworn look, keeping a classic alive.
And now we finally get a new Homeworld game. The story deals with the events leading up to the discovery of a lost refugee vessel that provided the tribes on Kharak with a Hyperspace Core and a map back to Hiigara.
The main difference between the old and the new games seems to be in gameplay mechanics. Instead of 3D space maps, battles and campaigns are fought on a traditional RTS landscape. As one writer at Forbes put it, "Functionally speaking this game deviates quite massively from the fully open and 3D strategy used in Homeworld, purely down to the fact that it operates across a landscape. In that sense it is more of a traditional real time strategy game and I am curious to see how that will work with the Homeworld legacy behind it."
And gamers aren't the only ones excited about Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. "'All of us at Blackbird are super-proud of Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, and we owe it to the outstanding team at Gearbox,' Rob Cunningham, CEO of developer Blackbird Interactive and art director on the original Homeworld games, said in a statement. 'Words fail to describe how exciting it is to be releasing a new Homeworld game, deepening the story for both existing fans and a new audience.'"
The game will be released January 20th, 2016, and is currently availble for pre-order on Steam.
