Homeworld 3 Single-Player Campaign Review

Homeworld 3 Single-Player Campaign reviewed by Dan Stapleton on PC.
Homeworld 3’s campaign goes out of its way to change up the style of missions we fight our way through as Imogen S’jet seeks out a missing Hiigaran fleet and faces an unhinged enemy. The resulting battle of wills feels more consequential than the off-screen galactic threat behind it. Relatively close-quarters scenarios have you guiding dozens of ships through eye catching gauntlets of asteroids and enormous space stations, and the dogfights and capital ship slug-fests that play out are a sight to behold. Being able to pause time and give orders makes managing your fleet much less overwhelming, especially given the tricky controls and sometimes disobedient friendly ship AI. Straightforward tech upgrades and a limited selection of ship types limit the campaign’s replayability, but building an armada and watching it tear through the enemy is always a satisfying sci-fi light show.

[@lawbinson]

How did Blackbird make a Homeworld that lacked so many things that made Homeworld great?

[@xenimaging]

I'm bummed that they got rid of subsystem targeting. It was always super fun to take out defenses and engines and then send in the marine frigates to take the ship. Hopefully there will be a complex mod like the previous games.

[@Kyle7565]

In truth, subsystems not being carried forward will probably be the most disappointing thing. That was HW2's best gameplay feature

[@suddenimpulse030]

These devs just don't understand Homeworld. Its sad.

[@PreGHz]

@@suddenimpulse030 What makes you say that? The devs did surveys with the crowdfunding backers to ask if they cared about subsystem targeting, and if they would prioritize that over other other features. Most responders said no... If you wanna be mad, be mad at the Homeworld fans who put money into the crowdfunding campaign.

[@Kyle7565]

The dev team includes many of the original devs, and when they sent out the features survey, we all said in near unison we wanted it to be more like HW 1 (projectile physics) but with megaliths. Subsystems were HW2.

[@kraosdadafusfus8034]

@@suddenimpulse030 BBI are the original Homeworld team, who split from Relic and made their own studio.

[@Yes-Man]

A review that aged like fine milk.

[@spacecowboy426]

The answer is always "more ion cannon frigates"

[@Draidis]

Now of only we could find a way to get them to make a Homeworld: Cataclysm 2...

[@Aquarius1z3]

Kataklism was very bad game.

[@Draidis]

@Aquarius1z3 Then you either never played it or you're insane. Homeworld: Cataclysm (Since renamed Emergence) was the best part of the series. Are you confusing it with Homewoeld: Deserts of Kharak? Cuz that was a bad game.

[@Aquarius1z3]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@DraidisI’m a homeworld fan and was at top of competitions on ladder. Never liked the mechanics in katyklism

[@Draidis]

@Aquarius1z3 Then you are unique. Check out the metaxritic scores. Literally, there are 0 bad ratings, and every rating cites it as an improvement on the original.

[@lawbinson]

The best game

[@Sigmatr0n]

Excited to play, one of the most anticipated games of the year by me

[@LeGarrec]

enjoy your 8 hour campaign for 70

[@Vivany26]

​@@LeGarrecnot really that bad tbh

[@LeGarrec]

@@Vivany26 for 70 ? Its bad. For 40 its ok

[@Vivany26]

@@LeGarrec yeah, sorry for comparing it with cod mw 3 tho

[@LeGarrec]

@@Vivany26 who said something about cod ? Wtf

[@kevinjackson7539]

0:59 They did my girl dirty with that wig 😂

[@jacquesjtheripper5922]

Shame if no subsystem targeting, veterancy, replayability, and no strategic layer for the campaign, which would help replayability and interest. Plus short. Seems a let down for now. For sp, the dlcs seems will be mostly factions , maps so not much.

[@DexterBrilu]

Agreed. Seems to be a miss until the price drops.

[@ariasabe]

Just 10 hours? That’s a short story 😅 I am not sure about the $80 bucks

[@Sickopuppie]

NO VETERANCY?! :(

[@DexterBrilu]

Agreed. For a modern RTS, this is a big miss.

Looks cool! Gonna support the team and try to buy it ASAP.

[@tommycooker3996]

Score 8? Ridiculous, on Steam HW3 is already rated at ‘mixed’ and falling….

[@Elibbb-sx3kg]

The score is 8

[@mr.joshua6818]

Hard to tell with IGN, but does that mean it's really a 6?

[@aquaticnub1399]

@@mr.joshua6818it could even mean 10 in ign, we may never know

[@JrSlacker]

God's work.

[@kawalker]

doin’ the lords work here….thank you!

[@Delwryn757]

Ty

[@ac8911]

Surprisingly solid review. Bummed that they went with some simpler mechanics but I'd love to see those options added in future DLC or updates

[@thoru4367]

Damn, can't wait for this masterpiece

[@MrCommentGod]

*Timestamps for the video* Start: 0:00 End: 8:47

[@lauschangriff]

thank you

[@Xiox321]

Not all heroes wear capes.

[@ihatezen]

Shut up

[@carlstanford7607]

Hope this games does well enough to keep the franchise alive. The original homeworld was iconic.

[@HallyFPV]

The 8 rating was very generous imo... Will be waiting for this in the sale, no way in hell its worth £50!

[@stevens9625]

This gives me hope for a Sword of the Stars 3. 🙏

[@sammyflinders]

Still on "standby" for that Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition review Dan....

[@billthompson8182]

I'll be waiting for a sale. Oh, well.

[@jofanw]

how do you enable the MODS on PS5?

[@ryanjenkins9435]

Absolutely unbelievable game! Exceeded my expectations even made me tear a little 😅

[@BossBattleGameplay-]

Nice One 👍👍👍

[@mattwoodard2535]

Wonder how long before mods will be out for it? sm

[@BePatient888]

Modders... you have your mission. Imogen's wetsuit is a PRIORITY! 🤣🤣🤣

[@Levente20]

will it run max settings on a 1070 gtx?

[@GatecrasherSlim]

Dude look at it. It's not 2015 anymore lol

[@mhjmstultiens]

What no veterancy? :(

[@marekkos3513]

LOOKS Amazing !@

[@Dragonborn1178]

its so fun wait til you play it its super cool cant wait to get a mp game going

[@hansolsen3101]

Oof. 10 hours for the missions? And this game is $60? Seems like one to wait for a discount.

[@andreasoberg2021]

Maybe increase difficulty?

[@quicombo1]

Looks like deserts of kharak was not so bad after checking this review...will wait for a 2nd hand key and play this one too.

[@sinisterdesign]

Lame. Don't buy gray market keys: that money doesn't reach the developers.

[@CrimsonKoenig]

Show no mercy Weapon set to full power

[@bingbingma]

Review score spoiler shield

[@JonCampo91]

8? This game was a 5 tops

[@nikidelvalle]

omg omg omg it's happening

[@ashokathegreat4534]

Admiral Akhbar??

[@thenostalgiabusiness]

This reviewer sounded a lot like Dartigan at the beginning.

[@heisenbergw.w8247]

thought the same thing

[@kaiwendrich4150]

yeeeess a decent review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@doppelkammertoaster]

Dunno. For the fact that this is about the Singleplayer there is no word how goddamn short it is, how not well done the story itself is, and how the game focuses heavily on its MP and Rogue mode, including a freaking Battlepass. From a tactical and game design perspective, having to get the backs of a ship will lead to the same general swarming tactics, if that is the same weakness in all ships. Subsystems were more interesting.

[@monoono4051]

Most of your points are negative yet the Game scored an 8?

[@Corusame]

The game is a 6 at best. So many significant issues

[@irgendwasmitxy]

From a content perspective… it‘s a 39.99€ game…

[@jamesconlin5099]

Please review crow country

[@claudianreyn4529]

This game has Denuvo. Very bad decision. Denuvo has been criticised for high CPU usage and excessive writing operations on storage components, the latter potentially causing significant life-span reductions for solid-state drives (SSDs). Not to mention the performance can drop to 50%. I'll wait for the Denuvo removal.

[@flow221]

$60 game. How long is the single player campaign?

[@Edward_242]

He says 10 hours in the video, did you watch it?

[@flow221]

@@Edward_242 If you define watching as skipping through it, yes.

[@Boksberger]

ADHD strikes again. Poor flow.

[@titanjakob1056]

He said 10 I’ve seen people both on KZbin and reviewers say it’s around 12 but has 13 (including tutorial) missions

[@pigup1661]

@@Edward_242 no one watches a ign video all the way through, especially dan stapleton. The man is a joke.

[@zakblue]

She looks a bit like Andre the great in a girls body

[@dexcal8009]

Nice they scored an eight

[@Centauri902]

Humanizing Imogen. Why? She isnt supposed to be human. She is supposed to be fleet command.

[@YTCanCauseImpotence]

WARNING: spoilers throughout!

[@IsolestiK]

Control was terrible in demo hope it reverted back to homeworld 1/2 control system

[@G3LDY]

homeworld was out 25 years ago not 20

[@physxme]

No way this is 8 when stellar blade is 7.

[@diego2817]

Review summary: Homeworld 3 is a downgrade of homeworld 2

[@kameltoh9817]

Terrible face animations.

[@agentduck9285]

Horrific cutscenes in general, looks like early 2000s motion capture

[@danc1513]

@@agentduck9285 It's not a massively high budget game. It's fine for the most part.

[@agentduck9285]

@@danc1513 However the original games used still images which cost less and looked better, I'm not sure why they didn't do the same, as they obviously wanted to evoke people's nostalgia anyway.

[@Aragorn7884]

Imagine the GD mods for this...😮

[@charlesballiet7074]

wut olny 13 missions? thats half of the past games

[@BrokenNoah]

I'm guessing DLC for added campaign missions

[@robertbalassan]

it's actually the same :D 12 hours game .... as all were

[@warbossgrotsmasha23]

actually no, homeworld 1 had 16 missions and homeworld 2 had 15, so that's 3 less compared to the first game and only 2 less compared to the sequel

[@Xarr23]

​@@warbossgrotsmasha23Let's wait and see quality over quantity, some of the original's missions were go from A to B and defend X. Here they're adding new elements like tools turrets and terrain which opens the game for more involved missions.

[@titanjakob1056]

Tbf 1 had around 15 and 2 14 plus some of those missions can completed extremely quickly and consists of one minor fleet battle and go from what I’ve seen it’s more so bigger missions with multiple objectives

[@TimBraithwaite]

Reinstalling Cataclysm…

[@truedude616]

This fills the sins of a solar empire hole in my heart

[@mettente]

The Hair 😂

[@OhhhNeil]

Did he say ‘admiral allahwakbar?’

[@pouquy4197]

Yup, the famous Egyptian admiral from Star Wars

[@spacebarwasd9782]

Now we need HL3

[@TheHIOJK]

JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER: DAN STAPLETON DIDN'T LIKE BLOODBORNE BECAUSE IT WAS "TOO HARD"

[@Nihiilus]

Lol who was the guy who have Cuphead a bad review because he couldn't get past the tutorial?

[@EGRJ]

And yet this review says H3 doesn't have enough nuance and depth in several areas. Did you even watch it? Or do you just go around hating random reviewers because they disagree with you?

[@wyliemcevoy9319]

8 / 10

[@RyanMTube]

10 hours gameplay for this length of time to release!? With no replay-ability. Quite disappointed.

[@jimyang9889]

8? you must be kidding me...

[@miauscavern6920]

8:26 really?

[@EVIL9000]

should be lower

[@Slayer-777-]

10 hour campaign is that it 😂?

[@alfgart]

WTF are those cutscenes???? Part of HW magic was NOT showing and visually personifying the characters. They were all represented by the technology and ships. You never saw the Taiidan Emperor in HW1, and there was only a confusing pic of Makaan in HW2. And now we have complete shitty cutscenes with generic scifi characters. Holy hell, the demo and now this, HW3 is looking pretty bad

[@Corusame]

The game was made by people who don't understand what made Homeworld great. It's so disappointing and I'm just gutted.

[@thenextension9160]

It flopped bad

[@cassini7647]

Still feels little dissapointed and doubt too the characters if compared with homeworld 2

[@Risu1177]

An 8 what a surprise from IGN 7 meme

[@ivylastname5657]

why does this guy keep referencing a multiplayer review that doesn't exist

[@kariak1]

Love everything beside the faces / voice acting / story... it's something weird about them, they look like ai generated. had the same feeling with STASIS: BONE TOTEM faces guess they using the same technique. Also the voice acting is worse than Homeworld 1&2 you dont feel the urgency anymore, S'jet tone is like speaking with a friend.. (also the stary is kind of lame..)

[@Davelantor]

This person has never played previous homeworld games lol. The story was REALLLY BAAAD considering previous titles and it was less of a grand space opera and more like a story that is focused on 3 characters only, and some spaceships happening on the background. You need to believe that the queen that has a next level mastery on hyperspace but next game they can only come from a hole. lol

[@ttg889]

8

[@pavelsmirnove3509]

Again IGN

[@rileybobbert6527]

nice soywars references

[@diego2817]

Wokenes mehh

[@carnaud]

Lame recycle of a once great epic. Hopefully they fixed the network play...it crashed at the drop of a hat and the AI took over each disconnected player's other players. One didn't even know if they were disconnected (but you could still strangely chat in network) unless you were sitting beside the other player

[@user-jg8eh8fw5z]

Karen's face is very masculine

[@diego2817]

Is a Canadian studio, they don't like beautiful woman anymore

[@kyledabearsfan]

leftist influence strikes again

[@linuxgameplayxp6246]

At least she doesn't have vitiligo.

[@mischewski73]

sadly one of the worst game I've played since quite some time....

[@jeremyboku]

Another joke "review" by the clowns at IGN

[@dcpowered]

This game definitely should be a 10!!

[@williamhickerson4316]

If you've played all the other games.... It's nowhere near a 10....

[@JohnSmith-qg2bp]

It's a 4 not a 10 lmao

[@JungleOfMeat]

How is IGN still a thing...

[@TA3DArtist]

It’s all thanks to viewers…like YOU! 😊

[@dudeguybro]

Pretty sure it's the largest gaming media outlet in the world. Lol. You know, no big deal. O_o

[@flow221]

Because you watched and commented on this.

[@thenextension9160]

lol the review is so bad. Clearly the game face planted hard.

[@killerluuk]

Most annoying voice evet

[@equinoxgabon5036]

horrible campaign story

[@salvatore771]

Its dissapointing honestly, when you play it dont have your hopes up, the game is a glorified mobile game, its regressive from homeworld 2 and homeworld 2 was the weakest in the series!

[@Corusame]

It's what happens when the developers don't understand what made the original a great game

[@borismuller86]

@@CorusameDICE literally admitted this when asked why they didn’t make Bad Company 3.

[@borismuller86]

@@CorusameDICE literally admitted this when asked why they didn’t make Bad Company 3.