Homeworld 3 In The Works?

[Andy Chalk]

Homeworld 3 In The Works?

Fans of the space opera RTS Relic Entertainment [http://www.relic.com/games/homeworld/] is "definitely looking" at making Homeworld 3.

Speculation about a new Relic-developed addition to the series began in earnest when Eurogamer [http://www.thq.com/]. "We'll see what happens in the future."

"There's always that chance" that Relic could do a new Homeworld title, he said, letting slip that the studio was "very, very" excited to show it off to the world - a strong implication that work has actually already begun.

But Chris Degnan, designer on the Company of Heroes [http://www.companyofheroesgame.com/] expansion Tales of Valor, was less forthcoming when hit with a similar sneaky approach. Asked how things were coming along, he replied, "As it always has - behind closed doors. Blacked off. Homeworld 3, obviously, I'm not at liberty to tell you anything about. So, good try!"

The original Homeworld was a major success, with stunning graphics, a magnificently atmospheric soundtrack, an engrossing story and, of course, solid RTS gameplay. The game was given Game of the Year nods by Homeworld 2 [http://www.ign.com/], which came out in 2003.

Whether or not Relic is currently at work on a new Homeworld, it's obvious the team has a lot of affection for the game. "Homeworld's always been dear to our heart," Ebbert said. "It's what put us on the map, it was our first product, and I think it will always have a special place in our hearts."


Permalink

 

[unangbangkay]

Whee! Time to see more long vapor trails in space! I hope they don't include Homeworld 2's despicable dynamic difficulty, though. Mission 4 nearly killed me.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Brilliant.

What do you think the chances of them largely ignoring improving graphics in order to give us much more epic scale things to do?
Didn't think so either.

 

[Lord Harrab]

Whee! Time to see more long vapor trails in space! I hope they don't include Homeworld 2's despicable dynamic difficulty, though. Mission 4 nearly killed me.

same, was that the one with the hyper space inhibitors and the space station?

 

[Amnestic]

Fingers crossed this won't suck. I quite enjoyed Homeworld 2, hopefully the third installment will continue to impress.

 

[Kiefer13]

I have only two words I can possibly say. HELL. YES!

 

[Baby Tea]

AWESOME! I love the 'Homeworld' series! Flight groups...attacks from all angles...great balance...great graphics. Oh man, I hope it comes to the console...some how...I hope...maybe...damn. Looks like I'll need a new PC for this.

 

[WNxSajuukCor]

/faint

I would love to see a Homeworld 3 I still hop on 1 and 2 every now and again to see the pretty ion cannons blow the crap out of stuff lol.

 

[donbueck]

/gasp

Relic has been hitting all home runs with their RTS games. Homeworld 3 would be icing on my cake.

 

[unangbangkay]

Whee! Time to see more long vapor trails in space! I hope they don't include Homeworld 2's despicable dynamic difficulty, though. Mission 4 nearly killed me.

same, was that the one with the hyper space inhibitors and the space station?

Naw, I think that was in Homeworld 1. HW2's 4th mission (before the patch) had such ridiculous difficulty adjustment that while testing it out with a cheat-spawned fleet, the first enemies I encountered was a wall formation of TWELVE battlecruisers!

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Awwww, gawd.

I have issues with Homeworld. I love 'em, they're both great games.

But I suck.

I mean, really really suck.

Need a new line for each sentence suck.

 

[unangbangkay]

I'm interested but not overly optimistic. Homeworld 1 and 2 were both a great idea, done to complexly. A better interface, some simplification, and maybe a bit more in the way of space city construction, and this could work out well. Personally, a Freelancer style game in the Homeworld 'verse would be more appealing though.

That's crazy talk! Homeworld was - and still is one of the best 3D RTS interfaces around, and the base-building aspect, or rather the lack thereof, was a major draw.

As for a spaceflight Homeworld game, I don't know... One of the best things about Homeworld was a truly epic story. It wasn't really complex, but the narration, sound and everything really conveyed the idea of a legendary journey. I don't know how that would play out in a single-person fighter craft or what-have-you.

And god forbid that this become another "true" space-trader games like X, EVE, or even Freelancer to an extent. We've enough of those.

 

[Zer_]

I'm interested but not overly optimistic. Homeworld 1 and 2 were both a great idea, done to complexly. A better interface, some simplification, and maybe a bit more in the way of space city construction, and this could work out well. Personally, a Freelancer style game in the Homeworld 'verse would be more appealing though.

That's crazy talk! Homeworld was - and still is one of the best 3D RTS interfaces around, and the base-building aspect, or rather the lack thereof, was a major draw.

As for a spaceflight Homeworld game, I don't know... One of the best things about Homeworld was a truly epic story. It wasn't really complex, but the narration, sound and everything really conveyed the idea of a legendary journey. I don't know how that would play out in a single-person fighter craft or what-have-you.

And god forbid that this become another "true" space-trader games like X, EVE, or even Freelancer to an extent. We've enough of those.

And Homeworld's original manual had such historical detail, it could have passed as a separate book.

As for Homeworld 3, I eagerly await the sequel. I've always saw Homeworld as one of my favorite games ever made, and Homeworld 2 is not far behind. Let us hope they give us something really good in their 3rd installment of this masterpiece.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I loved the original Homeworld, but I thought Homeworld 2 was shit. I'll admit to being biased against the sequel on general principle - how do you follow up a story as epic as the rebirth and homecoming of a banished people? - but I gave it a shot anyway, hoping they'd manage to capture at least a little of the magic that made the first game so great. Wow. Talk about missing the mark. I took it back to EB for a refund two days later and ate a huge loss on it, just to get it out of the house.

But I maintain a certain degree of optimism for Homeworld 3. At the very least I'm willing to give it a chance, and if they manage to pull it off, I'm in. (Note to Relic: "If they manage to pull it off" means a demo will be necessary. Something worthwhile, please.)

 

[Chaos Marine]

I just came in my pants.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Well, that's... enthusiastic.

I tried the Homeworld 2 demo again a couple nights ago, and to be honest it left me torn. The gameplay has held up pretty well as far as standard RTSs go, but the reason Homeworld succeeded so brilliantly is that it wasn't a standard RTS. It was a good RTS (exploitable enemy AI aside) wrapped in an amazingly artistic package: The graphics, the music, the story, the cutscenes, all the supporting elements combined to make a very good RTS into one of the best games I've ever played. (And I'm not an RTS fan by any stretch.)

But it's lightning in a bottle. How do you duplicate that kind of magic? Just duplicating the game won't do it - the opening sequence of Homeworld 2 is virtually identical to that of the original, yet where the flight from Kharak in the original was absolute goddamned art, in Homeworld 2 it was just beating a level. It's no exaggeration at all to say that I have a more intense memory of that battle and escape in the first game than I do of the opening battle in the sequel that I played, like, two days ago.

So as happy as I am about the idea of Homeworld 3, and as much as I hope that it's as good as (or, dare to dream, better than) the original, I'm not holding out much hope. It may turn out to be a great game, but unless it's a great experience, it's not going to satisfy.

 

[Zer_]

To make Homeworld 3 great they'd have to think of one really great feature that would compliment Homeworld and add that in while retaining what they had in Homeworld 2 and giving us some of what we lost in Homeworld 1.

Personally I think an online Metaverse type feature would kick ass. Being able to conquer a galaxy as the Hiigarans with other players would be nice. They could have 3 factions fighting for galactic power. Might not be storyline canon, but it would be a sweet feature.