Homeworld 3 developers Blackbird Interactive proved both their design chops and their love of the Homeworld franchise by creating Deserts of Kharak in 2016, a game that started out as a cheeky unauthorised take on the Homeworld space strategy formula on dry land and ended up a critically-acclaimed official part of the series with the blessing of new brand IP owner Gearbox. Eight years later, with the even more successful Hardspace: Shipbreaker in the books and a successful crowd-funding campaign, the third mainline Homeworld 3 game is finally here.
Homeworld 3 reviewDeveloper: Blackbird InteractivePublisher: Gearbox SoftwarePlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC(Steam).
Given that long history and a protracted development with several delays, it’s perhaps no surprise that HW3 is a flawed but deeply fascinating game – one that successfully recreates the satisfying 3D ship battlescapes and impeccable space vibes of its genre-defining predecessors, only to be somewhat let down by an inexpertly told story and some mechanical stumblings.
Let’s start with the good stuff: the collection of missions that make up the 10-hour campaign are varied and fun, starting with simple skirmishes amongst basic strikecraft and concluding with massive fleet battles against well-equipped enemies. Along the way, you’ll escape natural phenomena, skulk around searching patrols and navigate within and along massive megalithic structures. Your fleet persists from one mission to the next, so there are clear incentives for keeping your best units alive and capturing the ships of your foes whenever possible. Each unit has an upgradeable ability to make it better in certain scenarios, and tends to excel against one unit type while failing against others, encouraging mixed fleets.
The original Homeworld titles released between 1999 and 2003 offered elegant 3D combat in deep space, with ephemeral nebulae and damaging asteroid fields filling the gaps between swooping enemy fleets, but in Homeworld 3 the action tends to be centred amongst large hyperspace gates and other massive structures, giving you and your enemies cover to conceal and protect your forces. It’s an interesting idea, amusingly backed up in-universe by your Intel officer’s insistence on practicing “modern” close quarter tactics, and does make engagements feel different. You can hide bombers behind a bit of floating debris to give them a clear shot at an enemy capital ship, or rush your fighters through huge tunnels to bypass enemy fortifications, but more often you’re just fighting in cramped quarters, with a massed blob of spacecraft senselessly emitting lasers, rail guns and torpedos in all directions as your frame-rate plummets well below a smooth 60fps.