The Homeworld franchise’s 21-year hiatus is almost at its end. The wait for Homeworld 3 has been an interminably long one, but developer Blackbird Interactive’s long-awaited sci-fi RTS is almost upon us. As we prepare to dive headfirst into its epic space battles, here, we’re going to go over a few key details that you should know about the game.
SETTING
It’s been a long time since Homeworld 2, but its sequel is set to pick things up where it left off. The 2003 title ended with protagonist Karan S’jet emerging victorious over the Vaygr, following which the discovery of an ancient network of intergalactic hyperspace gates brought about a new era of booming trade and progress throughout the entire galaxy. Predictably enough, however, that era of peace seems to be coming to an end, with a new threat casting its shadow over the galaxy.
STORY DETAILS
The main new threat in Homeworld 3 is known only as The Anomaly. When the hyperspace gates were opened, not only did Karan disappear, the mysterious Anomaly also leaked out, and now, a century later, it’s spreading its scourge across the galaxy. Races are being wiped out and entire star systems are going dark. It now falls to Karan’s successor Imogen S’jet to not only figue out what The Anomaly is, but also how to defeat it.
CINEMATIC COMBAT
Cinematic and explosive combat has always been a hallmark of Homeworld games, and developer Blackbird Interactive is looking to recapture that in the series’ long-awaited comeback. Speaking in an interview with PC Gamer, game director Lance Mueller explained that similar to is predecessor, Homeworld 3 will be a more deliberately paced game than most real-time strategy games, but will also make “spectacle” a priority in combat.
“Homeworld has always been a lower action per minute kind of game,” Mueller said. “We want to keep it that way. It’s more about moving your forces to a point. Your fighter pilots know their job. At the same time, we really want to promote playing at your own pace. With tactical pause you can slow it down, do what you need to do, and then let the game play through. Cinematic combat is also a huge pillar of the franchise: we want you to be able to get in there, find the coolest camera angle, and enjoy the spectacle.”
MEGALITHS
One of Homewold 3’s biggest new additions that Blackbird Interactive has highlighted are megaliths. Previously only visible as background art in past games, megaliths are massive, hulking derelict ships that will serve as the battlegrounds for numerous battles, and, according to Blackbird, will “bring 3D terrain into the classic Homeworld battlespace.” From trench runs and ambushes to using their massive structures to hide your fleets, megaliths are promising to bring some interesting wrinkles to the Homeworld gameplay formula.
TERRAIN
Terrain in general is looking like it’s going to play a much larger role in battles in Homeworld 3. The aforementioned megaliths will, of course, contribute to that significantly, while on top of that, players will also encounter other things such as shipwrecks and asteroid fields, which you will be encouraged to strategically leverage to your own benefit during battles, whether as chokepoints, blind spots, or more.
SPACE HAZARDS
Of course, the things that you will find in space won’t always work to your advantage, and will often present hazards that you will have to contend with. For instance, those aforementioned asteroid fields will be as capable of damaging you and your fleet as they will be for your enemies, while you may also encounter other dangerous space phenomena like particle storms.
FLEET FORMATIONS
Building up a massive fleet and watching it fly through space and dive into battles is what makes Homeworld games as gripping as they are, and Homeworld 3 will hammer that point home as well. According to the developers, players will be able to set their fleets in different kinds of formations, which, in addition to just, you know, looking cool will also come with gameplay advantages, based on each units’ role and where you place them in your formations.
NEW SPEECH SYSTEM
One of Homeworld 3’s more intriguing innovations is its new speech system, which will essentially replace the classic barks of units that RTS titles are known for with full-fledged conversations amongst them, with the intention being to humanize them. Each ship in the game will have two voices- one for a ship commander that will focused on key commands and gameplay-related things; and one that will be more flavour-driven, and will focus on contextual conversational chatter.
FULLY 3D MODELED CUTSCENES
Blackbird Interactive is placing a great deal of emphasis on storytelling with Homeworld 3, which is going to be reflected in the significantly higher production values of its cutscenes. Gone are the simplistic and fairly static cinematics of older Homeworld titles. In Homeworld 3’s campaign, all cutscenes will be fully pre-rendered and 3D modeled, featuring full voice acting and English lip syncing.
WAR GAMES
Though the single player campaign is going to be one of Homeworld 3’s biggest draws, there will be plenty more to dive into outside of that as well. Take War Games, for instance, which is an entirely new roguelike mode. War Games, playable both solo and co-op, will task players with advancing through a series of randomly generated battles, with challenges growing progressively stronger, and new unlocks and upgrades becoming unlocked as you progress further.
SKIRMISH MODE
In addition to its campaign and War Games mode, Homeworld 3 will, of course, also feature PvP options. Those will come in the form of Skirmish mode, which will allow players to hop into six-player battles. Those six players can divvy up in a number of different permutations, from 3v3 to 2v2v2 to even 5v2 or 4v2. At launch, the game will feature eight Skirmish maps.
TECH DETAILS
Blackbird Interactive has also touted a couple of Homeworld 3’s more impressive visual and technical features in the lead-up to its launch. Built on Unreal Engine 4, the RTS uses a Physically Based Rendering System for a more realistic simulation of light and how it reacts to different surfaces and materials, which will enable dynamic lighting with real-time reflections, shadows, and global illumination. Meanwhile, Blackbird also says Homeworld 3’s nebulae are going to come in the form of dynamically generated gas clouds, which will not only make them look more realistic, but will also bring gameplay opportunities, like hiding a ship in a particularly dense nebula by flying deep into it.
MOD SUPPORT
The Homeworld franchise is no stranger to active modding scenes, and Blackbird Interactive says it intends to keep that going with Homeworld 3. Players will be given access to the Unreal game editor, which will allow you to rebuild maps, add new content, tweak finer settings, and much more. The game will also feature in-game mod-io integration, which means players will be able to seamlessly and smoothly download mods created by the community.
YEAR 1 ROADMAP
Blackbird Interactive has multiple paid and free DLC drops planned for Homeworld 3’s first post-launch year. A free content update will first arrive in June, then in August, then in Q4 2024, then sometime in 2025, bringing new challenges, Artifacts, maps, and more for the War Games mode. Meanwhile, three paid expansions are also planned. Launching in August, October, and sometime in 2025, new playable factions, challenges, fleets, and more.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Homeworld 3’s system requirements on its lowest in-game presets aren’t particularly demanding. On the lowest settings, for instance, it will require either a GTX 1060, or an R9 480, or an Intel ARC A380, alongside either an i5-6700 or a Ryzen 5 1600X, in addition to 12 GB of RAM. On the other hand, if you want to play it on its highest possible settings, at 4K with max ray tracing options enabled, you’ll require either an RTX 4070 Ti S or an RX 7900 XTX, along with either an i7-12700K or a Ryzen 7 7700X, and 16 GB of RAM.