Homeworld 3 is rated 'Strong' after being reviewed by 17 critics, with an overall average score of 80. It's ranked in the top 21% of games and recommended by 73% of critics.
The TLDR of the steam reviews seems to be to just buy and play the old ones. They are less pretty but much better mechanically and story wise. They also lack intrusive Denuvo DRM and data collection policies. I haven’t played the game personally but that seems to be the consensus from the top couple of reviews.
Personally this one will be staying on my wishlist for a few years.
The campaign is a little cutscene-heavy and a little short, but the story isn’t much worse than HW2’s, maybe a little better imo.
Mechanically though, it’s (probably) better than the remasters. Directional damage is still there, homing projectiles are gone, fighters dynamically form squads instead of staying in a big blob or fixed-width squads in 2. I read some of those reviews at most of them don’t appear to have played more than the first 2 missions? Like, there was one lore error in one line of dialogue and people lost their goddamn minds.
I think it was really just a victim of 1) Embracer’s implosion meaning it had to launch now or not at all and 2) people’s expectations being all the way up at 11 since the last game was so long ago. Really, a little bit of story DLC to flesh out the main campaign and there would be no problems.
At least you can already try it, it’s on EA on Epic store, and from what I saw trough streams, it’s already a worthy successor despite not being complete.
It’s the same game fundamentally, but improved and properly modernized in everyway.
The TLDR of the steam reviews seems to be to just buy and play the old ones. They are less pretty but much better mechanically and story wise. They also lack intrusive Denuvo DRM and data collection policies. I haven’t played the game personally but that seems to be the consensus from the top couple of reviews.
Personally this one will be staying on my wishlist for a few years.
Add Homeworld to “game successfully enshitified” ever growing list.
I’m hearing a lot of OG Homeworld fans turned off by this one.
Instead of retaining unique charm, they spent a shitload of money on generic video game story #6 and generic wet-looking cutscene render #4.
Simultaneously, many core gameplay mechanics were dumbed down and made more palatable for the masses.
It’s a tough pivot to make, but what else are fans of the genre gonna play hahahah
The campaign is a little cutscene-heavy and a little short, but the story isn’t much worse than HW2’s, maybe a little better imo.
Mechanically though, it’s (probably) better than the remasters. Directional damage is still there, homing projectiles are gone, fighters dynamically form squads instead of staying in a big blob or fixed-width squads in 2. I read some of those reviews at most of them don’t appear to have played more than the first 2 missions? Like, there was one lore error in one line of dialogue and people lost their goddamn minds.
I think it was really just a victim of 1) Embracer’s implosion meaning it had to launch now or not at all and 2) people’s expectations being all the way up at 11 since the last game was so long ago. Really, a little bit of story DLC to flesh out the main campaign and there would be no problems.
Doubt we’ll see it though.
Thanks for the fair review! It seems it’ll be a good buy in 1 year then, if they don’t close down the studio until then.
Nebulous Fleet Command 🤘
Fuck yeah
Sounds like there’s a gap in the market to me
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 is likely to fill it this summer.
I’m trying so hard not to get hyped after all the disappointments but it’s difficult.
At least you can already try it, it’s on EA on Epic store, and from what I saw trough streams, it’s already a worthy successor despite not being complete.
It’s the same game fundamentally, but improved and properly modernized in everyway.
There’s a replay in Twitch from yesterday here if you want to check : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2148190491
Sins of a Solar Empire 1
And hey, we get to hope Sins 2 remains great.
Sins 2 despite unfinished is already pretty good, and a true successor to Sins 1.