The TLDR of the steam reviews seems to be to just buy and play the old ones. They are less pretty but much better mechanically and story wise. They also lack intrusive Denuvo DRM and data collection policies. I haven’t played the game personally but that seems to be the consensus from the top couple of reviews.
Personally this one will be staying on my wishlist for a few years.
Add Homeworld to “game successfully enshitified” ever growing list.
I’m hearing a lot of OG Homeworld fans turned off by this one.
Instead of retaining unique charm, they spent a shitload of money on generic video game story #6 and generic wet-looking cutscene render #4.
Simultaneously, many core gameplay mechanics were dumbed down and made more palatable for the masses.
It’s a tough pivot to make, but what else are fans of the genre gonna play hahahah
It’s a tough pivot to make, but what else are fans of the genre gonna play hahahah
Sins of a Solar Empire 1
And hey, we get to hope Sins 2 remains great.
Sins 2 despite unfinished is already pretty good, and a true successor to Sins 1.
The campaign is a little cutscene-heavy and a little short, but the story isn’t much worse than HW2’s, maybe a little better imo.
Mechanically though, it’s (probably) better than the remasters. Directional damage is still there, homing projectiles are gone, fighters dynamically form squads instead of staying in a big blob or fixed-width squads in 2. I read some of those reviews at most of them don’t appear to have played more than the first 2 missions? Like, there was one lore error in one line of dialogue and people lost their goddamn minds.
I think it was really just a victim of 1) Embracer’s implosion meaning it had to launch now or not at all and 2) people’s expectations being all the way up at 11 since the last game was so long ago. Really, a little bit of story DLC to flesh out the main campaign and there would be no problems.
Doubt we’ll see it though.
Thanks for the fair review! It seems it’ll be a good buy in 1 year then, if they don’t close down the studio until then.
Nebulous Fleet Command 🤘
Fuck yeah
Sounds like there’s a gap in the market to me
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is likely to fill it this summer.
I’m trying so hard not to get hyped after all the disappointments but it’s difficult.
At least you can already try it, it’s on EA on Epic store, and from what I saw trough streams, it’s already a worthy successor despite not being complete.
It’s the same game fundamentally, but improved and properly modernized in everyway.
There’s a replay in Twitch from yesterday here if you want to check : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2148190491
Man fuck you Randy. I’m not buying your malware wendigo wearing HW’s skin.
Graphics are amazing, has Ultrawide support, and the game play is everything you’d expect from a HW title. The single player story though is fucking god awful and pathetically short. I’m holding out hope for the DLCs since they ‘killed the Big Bad’ in the main Campaign. War Games seems like it’s fun and promising as well. I haven’t played WG a lot as I was focused on the SPC, but the couple rounds I played it seems a fun twist to add something fresh to RTS.
Was super excited when I found out about this game. Did not play demo, didn’t read up on it so I could experience it spoiler free.
Saw it game out via steam wishlist email, went to buy it when I got home from work, and stopped when I saw the “Year One Pass”
Fuck this practice of “sell you the rest of the game later” bullshit
Yeah, same. And man, I loved homeworld. Even spent too much money on that remastered collection with the mothership model when I was in college and shouldn’t have done it. But nah, not gonna buy an unfinished game.
It’s too expensive anyways.
Its going to be a great buy in a year at like 30€ with the pass included.
The time has come.
I remember vividly myself as a child playing Homeworld 2 multiplayer with my older brother (over the LAN?)
Had hard time wrapping my head around 3D navigation, but enjoyed having fun time with him and that’s what matters
Kinda scared to return and see what is it now, as third game finally rolled out. Probably quite nostalgic? :)
Also, for Hiigara! For Kharak!
I’ve been a fan for a while; played the originals, the remastered, and got Emergence (Cataclysm) when it launched on GOG.
I’m having a blast so far. It needs some balance work, but as long as they continue tweaking it I think the base game is entirely enjoyable. They’ve also confirmed mod support is on the way; I’m not saying that makes up for any deficiencies in the base game, but it will definitely add replayability.
God what I would pay for some sort of remaster or even a new title with mechanics like Cataclysm. That game was one of the best expansions I’ve played for a game.
I’ve been playing it and I feel like its not quite the 80/100 I expected. Its probably closer to a 70/100 to me. Which isn’t bad, its just not reaching the highs Cataclysm/Emergence did. Its better than HW2, which had a pretty lazy heroes journey bs story. That’s not an accomplishment though.
The megalith combat is really great. Its more interesting than just deep space combat that the franchise is known for. The story teeters between compelling and boring. The ship designs are amazing, and the fact I can see the elements of Sajuuk present in the Incarnate is compelling worldbuilding.
I am outright confused why they are using CGI cutscenes over the drawn cutscenes Homeworld is known for. The combat feels pretty basic, its not as smart as HWR Players Patch. This was a problem with DOK as well. I fear it will share DOK’s other problem: it stops being interesting the moment the campaign ends, and i’ll never touch it again.
Homeworld 3 was never going to move numbers, i’m worried Gearbox set this up to fail. I really think this franchise should branch out beyond RTS and give us games to explore the universe that, at times, feels as huge as its ambitions. I’m reminded of a one-off Kiith from the Cata manual, where they lost everything on Kharak – their family, their other Kiithid; so they stole a freighter and a crusade against the Taiidan Remnant became all they lived for. As the bodies were stacked, their Kiith grew once more. That would be a badass game to play, a space sim like Freelancer where I am taking out the trash.
How long until Denuvo will get patched out after release? What do you think?
I’ve been playing through the first two games again for the first time in many years to get set for this. They hold up pretty well. Haven’t tried Deserts of Kharak but might play that too. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed them.
I’ve heard Homeworld Emergence (formerly Homeworld Cataclysm) is quite good. It started as an expansion pack for the first game but kept expanding until it was a standalone game.
Cataclysm was better than 2 IMO
Cataclysm was fuckin amazing. Enough so that I’m going to reinstall it. Thank you GoG.
