I waited 20 years for this...

[@SidharthSen]

"made by someone who had to google what homeworld is" ... that comment perfectly describes the state of HW3....

[@otterlyunbelievable2495]

Its funny that the developers were lead by key people from Relic Entertainment - the original developers of HW

[@delta-v4x]

The key word "were", before 2023 layoffs.

[@Shadowdrag00n]

Oh my god, yes that is perfectly how you describe the game, they looked at the first and went, yes it needs to look and sound good and went with that, but forgot the most important part, the narrative. It looks good, it sounds good, some of the missions are very good set piece battle, but the narrative and story are just so bland and uninspired. It feels like a studios first time creating a game, not a homeworld story.

[@supermaster2012]

As opposed to... now retired developers? The previous game is 20 years old

[@weiss4855]

The real question is whether that was before or after the recent google AI update- because it feels like after for me.

[@NoobRaven]

You have no idea how much it hurt my younger self to go through this netflix drama level of a story...and after that my carriers have no subsystems, I cannot use carriers to dock ships and jump behind enemy lines to make cool plays. A lot of games are disappointing these days, but this...this one truly hurt...

[@Smaxx]

Oof, that's something I completely forgot about and didn't even try now…

[@NoobRaven]

@@Smaxx You can dock strikecraft in carriers, just have to switch to no auto launch option...but I mean other than a quick repair whats the point? I am a huge fan of Star Lancer, played the shit out of it when I was a kid. I always used to roleplay HM2 with different carriers having their squadrons of fighters and bombers protecting them, jumping from hyperspace into battles and stuff...The thing is HM3 looks awesome, I love the PDC gatling cannons that some ships have, imagine having a deep subsystem option for capital ships where you can build carriers to be production facilities or spec them into being more of a firing platform with even torpedo launchers or something, docking strikecraft and jumping on an unprotected position, launching strikecraft to engage smaller fast movers while carriers move into position to fire. God I'm such a nerd for that stuff, and I cant have it in HM3 because they literally googled homeworld and based a game off of that

[@Smaxx]

@@NoobRaven Haven't found the time to put any amount of time in the game so far (played the tutorial in the beta and tried a few war games matches). If the carrier can't hyperspace jump on its own it's obviously pointless to dock units, unless this might somehow protect them from harm (while the carrier still magically survives).

[@NoobRaven]

@@Smaxx well you said it right there, need to have some magic :)

[@tanatonaut870]

I facepalm 5 times a day, how is it possible, that 20 year old games had deeper and more advanced mechanics and options than most games of today. How come no one still made a better sound design than 1998's Thief ? H3 is another example. who is this game for ?

[@Karackal]

Why are there even faces in the cutscenes? Homeworld, for me, was always about struggling civilizations, not singular people.

[@Wayoutthere]

It's the modern 'one person can change the world' type trope that haunts modern narcissistic media.

[@myvideosetc.8271]

Needs more diversity and representation, faceless cutscenes are not diverse... This videogame does not exist for me.

[@giantfactory]

@@myvideosetc.8271It sounds like there was a definite focus on “the narrative” with their woke lead in charge of narrative design.

[@quantum5661]

none of that is the problem, the problem is that they used this cursed 3d cgi shit instead of the dok 'painterly' style THAT THEY EXPLICITLY PROMISED WOULD BE USED

[@Wayoutthere]

@@quantum5661 the 2D cutscenes made homeworld UNIQUE.

[@janniswildermuth1499]

I've been out of the whole gaming hype-loop for a long time now, but seeing Homeworld fall hurts in a very personal place...

[@coopersly38]

It hurst more when the original writer forgot who karan s'jet is and made her a coward only to insert some unknown wannabe with mommy issue just to be wOkE and "ralatable" to female wOkE dog

[@wlyiu4057]

It's the like coming back to Kushan only to see it destroyed.

[@ILikeTrains324]

Its not totally awful, i enjoyed it for what it was. Yes, its overpriced, and it should have been different, but for what it is its a fun distraction. Maybe not worthy of the homeworld IP. Truthfully, aside from the story (which is comparable in quality to HW2) the game doesn't need much to be on par with the OG's. Just a more in depth tech tree for units, and a bit more unit variety. Of course subsystems would be great to have back too.

[@eto1842]

maybe it is the dawn of RTS, fewer people left that can make a good RTS.

[@doodleesq]

@@ILikeTrains324 I feel the same-overall, it wants bad, but it needed some very minor tweaks to the combat (which they could patch in) to make it more enjoyable. The main issue was with the story arc.

[@Maddock_]

Ended up refunding my collector’s edition. It was the first time I ever bought something like that for myself. They dropped the ball so hard it fell through the Balcora Gate. Kharak burned, for this.

[@ryzathegray2974]

xd sick burns

[@eto1842]

it cost me ~$275 + shipment and handling fee, I still want to see a Homeworld 4 and I really like the franchise, so maybe I'll just keep it.

[@Maddock_]

@@eto1842 that’s fair man, I hope they survive the Embracer plague. My CE was very late in shipping as well, so I ended up needing the money for other things. I would have liked to have the models

[@NickDorrance]

@@eto1842 at least I got a neat desk model out of it😐

[@chrishoppner150]

I too waited 20 years. I too was extremely hyped. I refunded it so damn fast I almost got vertigo.

[@didiwever834]

It won't get better this franchise is now in the Hand of the Rainbow 🌈 gang. It's only downhill from here.

[@marcelleroux9172]

The people who made COD WW2 made this? why was anyone excited?

[@screamingiraffe]

Played 2h 10 mins couldn't refund, ran into the same problem with Cities II, garbage game and "played" a little too much to refund it.

[@JimAsh-co3rp]

​@@didiwever834 I mean the actual game was ok just had no content. Story is the least important part and I had no faith they'd deliver anything good. That and homeworlds story wasn't anything special to begin with.

[@64kram]

Cataclysm doesn't get enough love.

[@OMeffigy]

Warship Kuun-Lan reporting in

[@TheQcjoe47]

Do you know of a way to get it and work on win10 by any chance?

[@newmaxhardic3464]

@@TheQcjoe47 it goes by name "Homeworld: Emergence" on GOG. a bit wonky but works on w10.

[@scalien225]

@@TheQcjoe47 It is on GOG as Homeworld Emergence. Name changed because of Blizzard. It is the original game and works great on my windows 10 machine.

[@CitizenNerd]

@@TheQcjoe47 """How to Run Homeworld Emergence (Cataclysm) on Modern Systems at 1920x1080 Widescreen Resolution"""" here on youtube works grate

[@Buzzdog1971]

How does it feel to have lived long enough to see all your favorite franchises go down in flames?

[@markmonaco70]

Fable, halo

[@JimAsh-co3rp]

​@@markmonaco70Fable has sucked since Fable 2, lol. I mean they made all the game systems irrelevant in the second game. Don't need money to buy anything but houses, gear doesn't actually matter neither do potions etc.

[@jimboniusmaximus6018]

Why is everything we grew up with so disappointing now? Literally, everything. Blizzard Entertainment, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, Total War, and now Homeworld. While we’re at it: Education, Healthcare, the United States, every religion on this planet. There’s no passion or purpose anymore. Just profits and posturing. It just feels like everything sucks and there’s nothing to look forward to anymore. In the 90’s 2000’s we wondered about how amazing games would become in the future, without realizing that it was the peak.

[@dominikb1284]

Man, I can really relate to your comment

[@xbluesaintx]

You've listed things that have all lost their soul. Things that severally lack faithful leadership, self-awareness, and vision. They have been made to serve something contrary to the spirit in which they were created.

[@brandon27025]

*man discovers that the innovation that capitalism promised is just innovation for more profit, not better products*

[@Wolfsheim23]

Also no more club culture, sub cultures, etc. We do have awesome TV that's much improved over the past 10 years. Covid changed so much. It got people used to staying home and getting into pc/console games. Where before it was kinda niche. Today we are overwhelmed with too much content. It's hard to workout which game to even play because we have a huge list of games all the time to choose from and many of them have learning curves to get through before you even know if you like them. Time goes so fast and it's hard to take time with so much content out there everywhere all the time. Growing up is not always great though as it gets harder to appreciate things, we see so much fall by the wasteside while new stuff constantly replaces the old. Things change Fast and not always for the best. It's hard to keep up with things.

[@brandon27025]

*man discovers that capitalist innovation is only towards increasing profit, not increasing product.* - 2024, colourised

[@Rafael-qk9jv]

It so sad that this fumbled. I feel like RTS's are slowly fading away, and it sucks.

[@smithynoir9980]

Nah, this is the time for RTS. I've got some suggestions of new ones coming out or are in development; D.O.R.F, Tempest Rising, Dying Breed and Sanctuary: Shattered Sun, just to name a few upcoming RTS' that are worth getting exciting for :)

[@AEGISDEFENSE]

Wait for Falling Frontier! It’s looking great!

[@Rafael-qk9jv]

@@AEGISDEFENSE I have been, but it’s been a lot of delays

[@OmegaZyion]

@@Rafael-qk9jv If I remember correctly, Falling Frontier is being made by one guy. So delays are to be expected if you don't want a publisher stepping in F-ing up things.

[@Cplcash87]

@@Rafael-qk9jv I'd rather the 1 developer delay it and get it right than release it and it be a homeworld 3

[@omegaprime223]

The worst part is that there are cutscenes still buried file structure that look to be from an ENTIRELY different story, my best guess is that the whole 'Gearbox is hands off' thing was a PR lie and when the corporate overlords realized that they were writing a complex space opera a 'but the people who like fart jokes won't understand' mandate was passed down (because GB wants everything to be Borderlands now days), and now all we have is... whatever HW3 is.

[@Sorain1]

Gearbox deployed a 'narrative design' employee with total say in all decisions. Everything follows from that knowledge.

[@wishiwasaneet26816]

​​@@Sorain1Yes, they had to "align the story" with the needs of "modern audiences".

[@artemisfowl7191]

Story was entirely rewritten from within the last year leading up to release supposedly. But that's on the order of I know a guy who knew a guy

[@udirt]

Well let's see, would not be surprised if in a few years someone leaks a finished HW3 build with the original storyline and style restored. Probably noone can change the whole mechanics as an after hours project but the cutscenes and art might just be possible

[@miniatureben3558]

In the words of Critical Drinker himself: They wanted to spread *"THE MESSAGE"*

[@Pouk3D]

I modded HW2 and HW Remastered. I had a single expectation: after HW3 release, all my work will be irrelevant. I did 'not' expect the HW3 making me strongly pull towards HW2. Every time I play HW3 or watch some content, it just makes me go back to HW2. Tactical jumps. Subsytems. Multiple useful unit types. EMP. Map scale. And let's be honest, a pace I can follow, I'm not 20 anymore, I can't spam and throw away stuff this fast and I certainly can't time every single DPS increase button. I do like the WSAD camera movement, it's intuitive to me, that's how I fly in game engines. That one I miss in HW2. Everything else I miss in HW3 and so I'm more interested in HW2 than I've been in five years.

[@charleshartley9597]

Hey Pouk, I love your work on HW2 mods! I backed the Fig campaign, so imagine my disappointment in reading these comments and watching the review. That money was spent long ago, nothing to refund, so I'll play this and see for myself. But man, I spent sooo much time playing and modding HW2. I just modded stuff for my own games, but kings like you added so much stuff to that game. So after I play HW3 just to say I did, maybe I too need to reinstall HW Remastered and see where that modding community is at. Cheers!

[@Sorain1]

Check in on Era One, it's basically the product of HW 2 modders who said "Fine, we'll make the next Homeworld game ourselves!" after essentially doing a proper HW 3 worth of modding.

[@Pouk3D]

@@Sorain1 You don't even know how bizarre it is to recommend to me a work of an asshole who used to steal my models without credit back in the day. :D Beghins is an unhinged thief.

[@charlesballiet7074]

@@Pouk3D I never understand why modders care I took a lot of ships and remixed them, changed out what turrets did what or went where or swaped out entirely. like at some point I think we can agree each of us just want to explore pushing polygons through space in pretty battles. that said I wish i released my mod because its long gone now on a busted harddrive and I spend hundreads of hours editing those lua files from everything from weapon FX, to game ballance. It was when you could combine mods like better fighters, true scale, pds mod, dust, hw advanced, turanic raders and so many others that the true potential was unlocked

[@Pouk3D]

@@charlesballiet7074 If you work on something with passion and care and someone comes, takes years of your work, releases it as his own claiming "I made this", it's not ok, even worse if he's the bigger player. It's IP. It may make zero sense to you with mods, I can imagine arguments why you wouldn't see it that way. But maybe you can imagine it making sense with KZbin videos, when a bigger channel copies a content of a smaller one without credit. Or a singer releasing someone else's song claiming he wrote it. Or you know, maybe just a colleague getting praise for your idea. Remixes exist and they are a good thing. But instead of mods, picture a thing you specifically do care about and imagine it being more famous under someone else's name as it's author, you just learning about it and never being mentioned.

[@vampirecount3880]

Disappointment of the year by far. But I expected that to be it, it's 2024, AAA titles have been consistently disappointing for at least 4 years now...

[@garyhall2344]

only 4 years? you got lucky

[@Accuaro]

It's the rise of AA and indie games, games that are not beholden to share holders and blackrock money. No story and character corrections from DEI/ESG consultants. Apart from Elden Ring which EA and Ubi devs hated, and Hogwarts Legacy shamed and besmirched from the rainbow community even though it was the best selling game of it's year everything else is kinda bad.

[@vampirecount3880]

@@Accuaro indeed.

[@Dlstufguy2]

They dropped two huge balls here. One was the game should have been better. The other is they launched on mother's day and didn't make a huge deal about it. I'm lost. Mothership. Mother's day. How did they not take advantage of this? 😊

[@dam_ly]

Mother's Day isn't on the same day across the world.

[@Dlstufguy2]

@@dam_ly true, but the US is a big market. The ads almost write themselves for it.

[@brandon27025]

​@Dlstufguy2 it would be confusing to the other 95% of the world's population. You could have localised ads, sure. But it's a bad ad.

[@maddlarkin]

Anyone who trusted any franchise on long hiatus whose revival involves Gearbox clearly is either to young to of been around for or doesn't remember Aliens: Colonial Marines or Duke Nukem writing was on the wall the second they got involved.

[@morbo5135]

Yeah I had a real bad feeling as soon as I learned Gearbox had got involved. Even the Remasters aren't 100% there, and it took them a long while to iron out many of its bugs and balance issues.

[@gae_wead_dad_6914]

@@morbo5135 Nah, the remasters are actually great. To the point that they UNDERADVERTISED the fact that they were actually REMAKES, not "Remasters" The original idea was just to touch up the visuals a bit. But then it went above and beyond. With the current player patch and the latest update - it's an amazing game to play.

[@morbo5135]

@@gae_wead_dad_6914 HW1RM specifically deviates from the original mechanics a bit. To someone new to the series it's fine, but I enjoyed the balance and real ballistics of HW1C which didn't make the transition.

[@UndyingNephalim]

I was going to say, Gearbox has a massive track record of these kinds of screw ups, even Homeworld Remastered on launch. I swear the internet has half the memory of a goldfish with brain damage.

[@DZ-X3]

The remaster project showed the direction that this game would take: the lack of competence there is staggering. For creating a "Homeworld the movie" video including every cutscene and NIS, the remaster would be an improvement. If you want to actually play the game, though, it was completely insufficient. It's really just adding a campaign based on HW1 to the HW2 engine. We knew that HW3 would never have the mechanics that made the original and Cataclysm so unique. But I thought with RobC being involved, they might have a halfway decent campaign. Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

[@OmegaZyion]

Formations actually make combat worse as units will prioritize saying in formation over attacking. So Ion Frigates, Torpedo Frigates, Missile Frigates, Multi-beam Frigates, and Smart Missile Frigates are less effective when in any formation. That also goes for fighter and corvette units that can only attack what's in front of them. It's so bad that it took over 2 minutes for a group of 5 beam fighters in Wargames to kill an enemy probe because only the lead unit was dealing damage as the other fighters forced themselves to not face their target. There was also a funny incident where I had 5 recons and a capture corvette encircling each other indefinitely. The capture corvette moves just fast enough that it prevents the recons from doing an attack run and they end up flying around in circles.

[@George_M_]

Similar was true in Homeworld 2, though not that badly. If you modded the game to make fighters break by 1's to attack, they became radically more effective.

[@charlesballiet7074]

yea compaired to hw2 where the fighters break into pairs and circle a target its so much more static and dumb looking

[@siveonfarcloud4190]

Meanwhile HW1 you had fighters and corvettes, whose sole purpose was having high tracking from multiple angles.

[@ones9308]

"Most of the game is spent fighting with your units trying to stop them from doing stupid things". They were probably inspired with the X series of games with this one.

[@The_Lunch_Man]

This is so damn accurate. I'm playing X4 right now. Half my mods are AI overhauls just to make them work right lol

[@phillippatryndal4255]

Is their Artificial Stupidity system contagious? :P (Has been a while since I last touched X4, but I doubt it's improved THAT much :P :D )

[@The_Lunch_Man]

@@phillippatryndal4255 AI has come a long way, and the mods help it get even further. But sometimes I still have to aggressively micro manage my fleets because the follow AI is still a little scuffed. Sometimes they'll wait until the group leader is almost through the system to finally start following lol So some stuff has changed, but other parts.... Not so much lmao

[@charlesballiet7074]

@@phillippatryndal4255 its more like all the competent AI coders are working for big tech and google to make the big bucks and olny the drop outs go into gaming. This was not the case in the past when gameing was a nerd hobby and all the good coders all played games

[@udirt]

Hehe, I'd been eager for X(3 back then) for years. Got it, sat in my ship looking at things in amazement. Got rammed by an AI pilot that wasn't able to avoid a immobile ship, due to the damaged to the other dhip ggot declared a hostile and shot down. Uninstalled.

[@OmriKipi]

I say that 2024 broke me in a way that every single AAA title is just pure garbage.

[@light3267]

helldivers2 is alot of fun

[@adrianscott4288]

​@light3267 Helldivers 2 isn't really AAA. Which is kind of the point really. AAA games have gone down the toilet while smaller, more independent studios have picked up the slack and have put out some amazing titles lately. EDIT: Okay I stand corrected - maybe it is a AAA game? At least that's what some sources (Arrowhead included) consider it. I guess I'm just surprised to see a AAA game that isn't complete garbage these days...

[@OmriKipi]

@@light3267 HD2 is currently at 66% positive reviews on steam. they also f*cked up because of the mandatory PS account. i don't consider it a AAA title, but still.

[@dervishcandela6696]

​@@adrianscott4288nah arguably HD2 is firmly AA. a relatively small studio, no big expectations on launch, no "small country" budget not independent, of course

[@gae_wead_dad_6914]

@@nickc1425 Dude, the indie game scene is booming, though. Some of the best games to ever come out, like Highfleet, Songs of Syx, From the depths, CDDA (if you like roguelikes) Dwarf fortress, Xenonauts 2, Terra Invicta If you want a good space game with 4x where you fight the aliens as current day earth with ultra realistic space exploration - play Terra Invicta, not this garbage.

[@Kostet91]

Плюс игры один - она красивая. Дальше - мрак, начиная бедным сюжетом и заканчивая тесными картами в открытом, мать его, космосе! Вы помните, какие были враги в предыдущих частях? Тайданская империя, Макаан с ваиграми... ТВАРЬ! Это были серьёзные противники, их боялись и уважали. Катаклизм - это вообще отдельный шедевр, по-моему. Были ещё попутные противники: туранцы и кадеши. У каждого противника было своё музыкальное сопровождение, которое подчёркивало определённые черты именно данного противника! В третьей части смертоносной аномалией, которую все боялись, оказалась обычная обиженная девочка-психичка. Если раньше мы боролись за выживание, то здесь конфликт построен так, будто девочки в пижамах дерутся подушками. Серьёзные вопросы вызывают и сюжет. Где Великий Саджуук, который объединил Троицу? На нём не вписались в поворот? Забыли провести техобслуживание и он сломался? Зачем понадобилось жертвовать легендарной Каран С'Джет, одним из материнских кораблей и оригинальной Троицей, когда можно было не выпендриваться и разнести врага традиционным путём? Хреново, когда разочаровываешься в том, что тебе дорого.

[@Hummingbird_hub]

В одной из катсцен персонаж называет Гаальсиен бездумными фанатиками. После такого не вызывает вопросов полная неосведомленность сценаристов о лоре игры.

[@smiddyman]

How have so many developers seemingly forgotten how to make deep games? Or is it rather they're afraid to? Mass appeal sells games and the masses are dumb, only able to push a simple button right?

[@lawbinson]

It’s more the writers and publishers. The story is absolute trash.

[@jamescross6109]

It's all about sucking as much money as possible out of people. As fast as possible. Then moving on to the next quick money maker before it really sets in with the people

[@nonyabisness6306]

the studio behind it knows how to, but they got saddled with DEI.

[@Ydrakar]

BBI made deserts of kharak, which exuded the feel of homeworld. This was just 8 years ago. Something else caused this.

[@jake7824]

It’s the DoW3 thing all over again, dumbing down the main game so they can milk the multiplayer clicks per second crowd. And just like DoW3 they’ll fail to appeal to them and they’ve alienated the classic HW crowd. So it’ll fail big time and it’ll be a decade before they try anything with the Homeworld name again.

[@CHALKNZ]

Yea I feel the same way. After backing the spiritual successor then hearing that gearbox took over and was going to make HW3 i was so happy. But finishing campaign in one day I was sad. Hope it gets better soon

[@aliboy357]

You can finish the other campaigns in a day as well.

[@partmemjustin]

@@aliboy357 Yes, but it wasn't forced. 🤷‍♂ Meaning you could usually relax after completing objectives, repair, rebuild, and resource. Then click the hyperspace button. Also ships automatically entered `Parade` formation for hyperspace. It wasn't just about the gameplay, HW1 & HW2, and even HWC were about the experience, a very different experience.

[@koenvandiepen7651]

The first mistake there was trusting gearbox

[@phrozac]

Gearbox only published the game. Blackbird Interactive are the devs and have several members from Relic who worked on H1, 2, and Deserts.

[@partmemjustin]

​@@phrozac Yes, we know about GB vs BBI. BBI did the work and GB had the purse-strings. This is not `news`. And I do keep hearing that they had this. I'd like to whom exactly. Because I certainly don't get that feeling. in fact, I get a better feeling from Cataclysm, and it was made by Barking Dog... So.... Irrelevant I guess.

[@chadowen4379]

Gearbox literally hires dying studios to save a buck to mash their games. I was heartbroken when they released Aliens Colonel Marines. Then, when I read they bought the Homeworld franchise, I knew this was going to happen.

[@willm.9687]

Since the people who did BSG Fleet Commander are doing BSG and Expanse mods for Homeworld 3, I'll wait for a sale when either of those mods are out and can let me mess with the roguelike mode. Running a single Battlestar to survive multiple waves with what you have from that one carrier is basically the premise for the first season of the reimagined series and it would make for the closest experience to getting an official BSG RTS. BSGO was really fun, but you couldn't run a fleet like in the shows. Also X4 had a couple mods that add ships from BSG, so there's some options even though they're limited to some extent since you'll be fighting Xenon instead of Cylons and all the capital ships BSGO gave them.

[@kennys9644]

Oh don’t get your hopes up. Screw mods. If the game sucks let it die.

[@sosayweall2509]

Che k out bsg deadlock great game

[@willm.9687]

@@sosayweall2509 But it's turn-based lmao Yeah maybe during a sale lol

[@OmegaZyion]

Considering that Homeworld 3 is an online only title, I wouldn't get your hopes up. Even if those mods do come out, they turn into pumpkins the moment the developers shut down the servers.

[@numberyellow]

@@willm.9687 Literally nothing wrong with that. It's an excellent game.

[@The_Lunch_Man]

This was probably my worst heartbreak in gaming to date. I loved Homeworld since I was a kid, but was too young to get a PC to play, so I watched it on youtube. When I was a teen 8 years ago, I finally got to play and loved it. Even Deserts of Kharak was such a good experience, there was depth, nuance, and great storytelling, so I just don't understand how this game fell so flat. My emotions can't even be described as angry, I'm just.... sad. Kharak didn't burn for this.

[@saosaoldian6742]

In 1999 they had to ship the game on discs and had one shot. Dev higher ups are lazy today and “fix it with updates” is the mantra and it’s BS. I’m like you, I played HW a ton when it launched and this is very disappointing.

[@InvaderCom]

So the same problems that plagued borderlands 3 are present here. Feels like somewhere after borderlands 2 Gearbox fired all their writers, and the replacements have been lackluster to say the least. At least in the case of borderlands 3 the gameplay was incredibly fun. Sad to hear that no attention to unit cohesion and synergy was really put in here.

[@Sorain1]

Funny you say that, given who Gearbox appointed as 'Narrative Director' with total say, who evidentially rewrote most of it.

[@Otazihs]

It's crazy that they kinda dropped the ball on this. After Deserts of Kharak I was hyped for Homeworld 3. I think they did great with Deserts of Kharak and then they pulled this off, I don't understand. I like Homeworld 3 but there are definitely issues with it, specially the story.

[@rescuejake]

The state of HW3 is just another insight into the state of modern game dev.

[@MILSPECMOM]

Massive Homeworld fan and very sad to see what they did to it. :( o7

[@I3ladefist]

After fist 5 mins of the video I got a feeling that it's been made by a mobile-game developer. @5:40 .. it's not about when a game was made (how old is it now) but who made it, and what level of passion the developer put into it's project, including the knowledge of complexity of a battle. I will w8 for a (big) discount! LevelCap, great honest review! I'm also sorry to hear that another big (imo) title dies to nowedays standards in development. Finger crossed for your project!

[@SentMKG]

The bunching of units, uselessness of formations and the LACK of scale makes me believe you are absolutely correct. This is a huge hit for a community like space combat sim or space RTS games.

[@otterlyunbelievable2495]

Blackbird Interactive was the developer of Homeworld 3 - they are not a mobile game company and are founded by key members of the Relic Entertainment team - the original developers, artists and what not on the original Homeworlds

[@coopersly38]

@@otterlyunbelievable2495 yet they succumb to being woke dog and literraly forgot who karan s'jet is by making her run like a coward to give some unknown wanna be with mommy issue screen time, and to ad insult to injury that dog of a "character" archieve the same status as karan s'jet in only 1 game 🤣🤣🤣

[@TRabbit1970]

Sending the right ship for job in Homeworld meant 1) distract the OPFOR with scouts, while 2) your movers swooped in from above and below to capture the enemy’s capital ships.

[@volfegan]

This reminded of how past games could do stuff well, but the new versions of them with better graphics are not. Like on Mechwarrior 3 and 4, where battlemechs could be knockdown by being shot too hard, or they limb when one leg is severyly damaged, but in Mechwarrior 5 some 20 years later, they are immortal stand machines with perfect balance, no matter if shot by nuclear arsenals.

[@Dirt1061]

Lots of delays for this, all for a handful of maps etc. I wish I liked the game more. It feels so close, but they missed the bullseye. Hardpart is the original games and remaster are just more feature rich games. This is not just preference, but these older games have more buttons, longer tech trees, more ship variety, etc. Also this game was fully funded by Gearbox, then they took more money from the community through Fig. So money really should not have been an issue.

[@Battlecry17]

Not to mention, the biggest thing of all, the Remastered and old games had much better controls and responsive UI. HW3 is missing important selection commands, like being able to make a subselection of units from a bandbox selection, making micromanagement especially of strikecraft is a real chore.

[@quitequiet5281]

Ouch... Thanks for the heartbreaking honesty and honest description. The news was bad but the video got you a new subscription and 👍!

[@SeriousBearGaming]

In my opinion,having played the campaign on medium...and after that some skirmish games : Graphics/Art : 9/10 Gameplay : 6/10 Innovation/New Ships : 2/10 Story/Characters : 2/10 Multiplayer/Skirmish : 5/10 Price/Satisfaction : 4/10. Unfortunately ,while it has "some" elements of what made Homeworld , i find it very wanting on many levels..maybe they will patch it but at this state it does not receive a pass in my book.

[@Kazanko28]

If you look at Homeworld Mobile, then back at what we got in HW3, imo it feels like this was developed as an afterthought to the mobile version. Let’s make a mobile game, then while we’re at it, let’s throw together HW3 because that’ll sell like crazy out of the gate because it’s HW3

[@Xayl42]

Then again, the mobile App at least hast Proper carriers and lords of different cool looking ships for every size. This has...3 fighters ONE corvett bunch of frigs ONE cruiser and one ugly and barely working bc. Putting the ionturrets in little holes. What a smart move. So now they cant fire at the same target...clapclap

[@Maddock_]

Guess what, Homeworld mobile just got killed too lmfao

[@charlesballiet7074]

thats exactly my impression HW3 would have been killer for a mobile game but its shure no PC successor

[@EclecticMystic]

Seriously, when I played the mobile beta I thought to myself "damn, I hope that HW3 is better than this....", and now I'm sitting here wondering why we couldn't get something halfways as good as the mobile game.

[@andrewboyer7544]

I preordered this games collectors when it first announced. The originals were in my top favorite games ever. I picked up Stellar Blade on a whim the week before this came out. Imagine my surprise when SB turned out a masterpiece and this was immeasurably disappointing.

[@CalamityStarForce]

The horrendous pathfinding alone let me down enough in the beta to know there was likely even deeper issues if such aspects of the core gameplay weren't even working right that far along... It's really sad to me as another Homeworld fanboy to see this.

[@lxXSuddenDeathXxl]

I just got into the franchise, Homeworld games are GOATED. Unbelievable. It's so sad what the hell happened to Homeworld 3. Heartbreaking that it went nowhere.

[@davidhong9112]

The new navigator's chin says it all. I was dumb enough but the deluxe package. Who would have thought a strategy PC game would have gotten the sweet baby/DEI treatment?

[@johnyap4154]

I'm a huge homeworld fan, but after playing the demo it was clear to me that the game wasn't gonna be good. The controls were the biggest disappointment. Homeworld was so easy to control in 3rd person. But whatever they did made it either buggy or unresponsive, not to mention overall the game seemed simplified. I'm so sad, but I'm glad I held off on buying it.

[@CIinbox]

Manually pressing the button to use the upgrades is the absolute deal breaker for me. I'm not here to do chores!

[@Relt88]

The game you are looking for is X4 foundations.

[@Ziplock9000]

Not the same, but indeed it's very good and deep.

[@Aurumk1]

that game is annoyingly complex. It needs multiplayer as well.

[@paladin0]

A stark reminder to never preorder anything is all this game accomplished.

[@Ownedyou]

Eh, it kinda scratches the itch. But there are a lot of drawbacks. I know that it was Relic's dream to implement megastructures to create a 3D space that isn't empty but they went WAY overboard and now it's a 3D strategy in a plane. They attemtped to recreate some missions from HW1 - Diamond Shoals, but it came out stupid as you can't just fly up and avoid the whole thing for reasons. And the narrative REEKS of Sweet Baby Inc... You are up against Space Hitler on steroids, but end up holding hands... Facepalm.

[@DZ-X3]

To be fair, HW2 felt like an attempt to bring back 2D terrain-based warfare from a more traditional RTS. Camera panning across the plane of the battlefield, instead of the original focus system. After the HW2-based remaster, it's not surprising.

[@Atroposian]

Hurts to see my absolute favorite game series reduced to this.

[@neuroticmuffin8791]

This saddens me. I still have Homeworld 1 and cataclysm on CD. Homeworld 2 on DVD AND the remastered. So good.

[@robinfox4440]

"Imogen seems more like a 20-something who has to repeat mantras to keep cool under stress" LOL if that isn't just a sign that this was written by fans of YA novels with no concept of what made Homeworld so good.

[@usmcpound]

I pre-purchased the fleet command edition and am so happy I returned the game after 2 hours. Totally not worth the money

[@SpaceDad42]

I don’t ever pre-order anymore. They need to earn my money.

[@MrSlvr2000]

Great videos man, i waited so long as well. Beat the story in a weekend and was left disappointed.

[@AllericEnslin]

2:16 Damn Franklin came far

[@JohnHall]

I would have rather seen the Higarens fall from grace. To become the thing that caused them to be exiled originally. To see some arc of history that shows a clue of what came before. Instead, we get a teen drama.

[@shotjon2957]

I hope either modding or just pure hard work from the devs improves the game to make it shine like a homeworld game, I may be a very new fan but I was able to play all previous main line games due to the epic games free release of HW1 and HW2.

[@JD-vj4go]

I haven't played it. As soon as I found out that almost half the campaign length was cut scenes and the game playing itself I decided to pass. I'll probably try it for the roguelite mode when it hits 10.00.

[@vomm]

It's one of those games again where it really hurts to see how much potential is there and completely wasted. But when a game uses Denuvo, you always know right away how convinced the developers must be of their own product.

[@r4plez]

20yrs of waiting, fig backing and many questionnaires filled on how we bakers see homeworld - and than homeworld 3 release... ita was a slap in the face.. fck

[@Jasey357]

Played and finished all of the originals. Story, music and gameplay are awesome. Boy, I have waited for HW3. After the testing and poor attitude of the devs, never have I regretted blacklisting a game this much. Why can't we have nice things these days?

[@tanatonaut870]

Imogen S´Jet. She alone as a reason not to play it is enough. She look like some character from 25 years old CGI PSX videogame cutscene.

[@foxfire1112]

lol bots are out fast. Im so disappointed they fumbled this, I loved homeworld

[@YouTubetail]

Good bro levelcap 👍🏼

[@rickitynick4463]

Bots?

[@foxfire1112]

@@rickitynick4463 The other comments were strange bot comments, I was like the 4th or 5th to comment

[@rickitynick4463]

@@foxfire1112 Oh okay got you, lol, sorry.

[@foxfire1112]

@@rickitynick4463 Nothing to apologize for

[@shoelacedonkey]

Sad really. The worst part for me would be that if this game isn't received well, and it seems like it isn't, it will not get a sequel or any kind of other game in the Homeworld-verse. Homeworld 3 would be a frustratingly futile death for an otherwise excellent game world.

[@bdrkrazykidj2658]

This sounds basically like the mobile version of homeworld portes into a pc game.

[@phrozac]

Also a huge fan. I went to school a few blocks from Relic when Homeworld was being made and applied for a job there. Didn't get it because they had no need for character animators but I played an ungodly amount of H1 and Cataclysm back in the day. Btw, Gearbox are only the publishers. Blackbird Interactive are the devs and are composed of several OG Relic devs who worked on H1 and 2, so I'm sad to see H3 getting the mixed reception it has. Yeah, unit depth has been simplified and the story campaign is actually hurt by featuring personal drama(something the OG games never touched on), but I think there are some big plusses, the roguellite Wargames mode being the biggest and that the game is built with modding in mind. As far as the campaign is concerned, I think you need to play at a higher level of difficulty as the default difficulty is far too easy and braindead. While I think H3's campaign is the worst of the 4 games, I don't think the gameplay is beyond salvaging if the devs are committed to improving it.

[@Stef3m]

I think that Gearbox is also the producer

[@RadiantCalf9353]

Have you’ve been following the development of Falling Frontier, I’m very hopeful for that game

[@cristiancojocaru9821]

When we first got to hear about this a couple of years back, I couldn't stop talking about how excited I was, how this is really just hitting all the right notes and that I'm ready to just immerse myself into the homeworld universe. The first model I ever did in 3D was the bentusi ship from homeworld 1. As we drew closer I started to feel disconnected, something was off and my subconscious was trying to tell me something. After some worrying statements by devs over at gearbox with regards to consumer rights and the gamer community I decided to hold off on buying the game. It seems that was the right choice, it is sad to see that this icon of my early adulthood has been smeared by people who just see another vector to make a quick buck.

[@mercurial6480]

data mined files suggest that they had a proper direction with HW3 until DEI consultants insisted to take a different approach

[@DZ-X3]

I don't even believe that much. HW3 was doomed from the start, it just would've been less bad.

[@uss_04]

Waiting for Homeworld 3 feels like a real generational vibe from a different era of gaming while we were dragged into the modern one.

[@ownzuall]

Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica

[@thomastorodo9968]

Identity theft is not a joke Jim! Millions of families suffer every year.

[@ownzuall]

@@thomastorodo9968 Michael!!!!!

[@luigisaguier8336]

Completely agree! Thankfully the guys over Sins of a Solar Empire 2 completely nailed it! Out last hope for worthy 4X Multiplayer in recent years

[@nate_d376]

Too bad. The first two were gems.

[@JT-dq4gh]

HW 1 and 2 vet here. Thanks for doing this review to save us the heartbreak. Dev these days… are in a sad state.

[@HeathenSWolf]

You know why first missions feel like homeworld? Check Deserts of Kharak - first 2 missions are carbon copy of HW3 in terms of storytelling, mission 4 of HW3 is mission 3 of DoK. So yeah, it feels the same, since it is pretty much the same :D

[@NavySturmGewehr]

I loved the sphere formation. It really slowed down the response of capital ships to their attackers.

[@GunbusterDX]

All thanks to the "Managing Director of Narrative Properties"

[@Smaxx]

For the campaign? Possibly. But that doesn't explain or excuse the gameplay issues like lack of depth, need to micromanage orders, etc.

[@MatJan86]

​@@Smaxx it does. Storyline was just part of the changes. Gearbox propobly flrced them to make a game to appeal to larger audience thus the game is simplified. Don't forget hiring policies that force companies to have hiring quotas to fulfill instead of hiring best for the job.

[@espasmemuscular]

@@MatJan86 Yeah that shit is wild, the woke cancer has spread everywhere, even when it might not be the case you're always left wondering if whatever disaster you're witnessing is the result of some moronic woke initiative., it's a complete breakdown of trust in society. At this point I have negative expectations of any games with larger companies involved.

[@Lordskeep]

Remember in hw1 you actually had to build the research ship and when you got all 6 parts it was so cool to see it start spinning.

[@danilooliveira6580]

I think you are overestimating the complexity of older HW titles, they were always great games but bad RTS. the game was never specially deep. some of the improvements of the remasters were actually improving the combat to give more complexity, like with the stances and formations. though I won't deny that HW3 became even shallower, specially when the game doesn't even have targetable modules to destroy and the uninspired upgrades. but I agree about the cutscenes, the fact that everything was "shadowed" behind a beautiful artwork for the cutscenes instead of clearly animated characters, to the point we hardly even knew if we were dealing with humans because we never saw them clearly (until desert of karak), its what gave the game the beautiful space opera feel that made it so memorable. the moment you have an active protagonist with complex personality and internal struggle, much of it is lost.

[@nonyabisness6306]

what? was the last time you played the originals 10 years ago? formations where in Homeworld 1 ON RELEASE. ships had interesting mechanics in 1 ON RELEASE. not just silly powerup buttons.

[@OmegaZyion]

Complex personality and internal struggle is stretching it when it comes to the Homeworld 3 characters. More like planks of wood with clichés written on them.

[@DZ-X3]

@@nonyabisness6306 I don't believe he's ever played the originals, if he claims the remaster improved stances and formations.

[@nonyabisness6306]

@@DZ-X3 Yeah. remember shield drones? now that's an interesting mechanic. ma favorite formation was claw formation for fighters. it was such fun to try out different things.

[@tanatonaut870]

Compare with Deserts of Kharak: - From Rachel, a stoic and pragmatic scientist trying to save her people, we go to a Gen Z protagonist stricken with anxiety and fears( Sweet Baby inc. influence ) - From the charismatic ( and ADULT ) leader Khagaan Gaalsien, who ( she's right ) is afraid that if the Coalition tries to leave the planet she'll provoke annihilation and also just wants to save her people, we get to The Incarnate Queen. Literally a character from the SW sequels ?

[@nodak81]

Sierra had such good games back in the day. I loved the Homeworld and Ground Control games.

[@markstallings943]

SBI detected. Why anyone would touch this crap is the real mystery

[@Nitryl44]

The best way to sell their ideology is to work on popular franchises. This game will sell because of the name "Homeworld" despite it's quality.

[@acedfox541]

5:30 modern titles not able to replicate game mechanics and depth of older games.. that's pretty much a standard nowadays for most games.. (with just a handful of exceptions.) This aspect alone should IMO be punishable globally. Releasing half-baked products for the full price, should not be a standard in any branch.

[@Hans_auf_Reich]

Sweet Baby Inc detected, Game rejected

[@Beuwen_The_Dragon]

SBI was involved? Sodding hell!…

[@anzelmasmatutis2500]

@@Beuwen_The_Dragon Homeworld 3 was involved with The Centre for Digital Media and Diversity in Games. Mentioned in the ending credits.

[@eto1842]

the script makes sense now,

[@Servellion]

Tia'maa or whatever her name is is a damn cartoon character. Also the Hiigeran Gal'geth battlecruiser is literally bugged. It's turrets don't track properly when firing and the top ion cannon always misses while the top mass driver can't hit anything due to shitty firing arcs because some braindead artist stuffed the turret in a recess in the hull.

[@wizardoflolz5626]

people keep falling to the AAA-DEI propaganda scam.

[@gokudo-cf5pt]

If an RTS require you to micro manage even a singel unit just to do it's job then it's a really big problem. Although AOE4 got problem similer like this at the start, but they fix it by just adding abit of code here and there, making what happent whith the resouse drone in the videos rarely happent

[@commoncents6831]

DEI/ESG strikes again

[@rexcadral3468]

One of the things I really liked about Homeworld was that the storytelling was kind of light & mysterious. Broad strokes, but not full space opera. Seems like they didn't pursue this.

[@gamingavalon8784]

They used A SBI like company as a consultant...so that didnt help either

[@sirfoggy7682]

Not actually being in full command of my fleet... the real fleet command takes command away from you when ever they feel like it. Like forced mission endings, leaving you no time to rebuild your fleet, collect remaining resources, retire (yeah, that's missing, too) captured or ships you have no need for. Finished required research, tons of RUs, click 5x Battle Cruisers, it just zips through the progress bar and produces nothing. Enemy Battle Cruisers hard-coded with no latch points = no capture. etc etc But worst of all is the message which is deeply immoral. That Incarnate Queen is not a bad person, she's just confused, unloved, yadayada. Burning half the galaxy down and killing untold millions is not her fault really. She just needs someone to understand, love and cuddle her, you know. And she goes straight up into the hyperspatial equivalent of heavens! Disgusting!

[@tyandy1424]

Went woke

[@Silencer0151]

You raise a valid point about the campaign. You really don't get to personalize your fleet at all. The missions also tend to feel rushed. For some reason I just felt pressured the whole time.

[@CDCraig99]

Why does everyone forget homeworld cataclysm

[@timdillon3344]

A colossal let down. They didnt just drop the ball, they dug a hole and buried it.

[@thehumus8688]

I hope its moddable, I miss HW2 Complex, and those fun Gundam Mod Dev drop the ball, but HW modding community is always awesome

[@xWatexx]

9 years for me. I am 19 years old. The remastered version came out when I was nearly 11 years old, and that’s when I got into it.

[@reviewchan9806]

The only solution I have figured out to preventing straycraft from committing a suicide dive is to force them into a sphere formation and guard your Capital ships. Bringing back the super broken sphere formation was probably the best thing this game did. You can exploit the fact that the fighters will act like little turrets and shoot constantly.

[@stefanp3158]

True. After playing the demo i was not thrilled and feared, they would not be able to capture the true essence of Homeworld.

[@spektor25]

Omg! I so agree on the mess that happeneds with the units. Specialty ones u getbl towards the end few missions with a large fleet. It's like they just do what they want. U try to point them in a direction and hope they get there and do what u need them to. It was horrible.

[@MrVohveli]

Honestly the campaign just feels like Joyce Lin's clock is ticking and the story reflects her internal landscape.

[@ArchAangel21]

i thought thus was gonna be about going through the balcora gate, nah thats the mobile game story. So it lost me instantly

[@ChristopherPowell-g5y]

They "Rush Woked" one of the rarest and best made gaming franchises that has ever exhisted.

[@xerxes8632]

Sounds a lot like Distant Worlds 2, except in Homeworld 3 your ships will eventually do what you order them to do. As opposed to DW2 where they anything except what you ordered.