This game manages to pull of atmosphere in a way that few RTS have ever managed. I'd like to see more ground based Homeworld games. There were clearly more wars prior to the DoK campaign - because why else would there be all these carriers and huge flying wings around?
Oh hell yeah, I want to know how the Gaalsien got pushed to the deserts in the first place, why them and the Sidiim seem to be so eager to wipe each other out, this needs to be explored. The main issue with DoK is that there's just not enough of it, and there's no mod support. Hell just mod or map making support would have extended DoK's lifespan a lot. It's sad to me that really the only thing I ever do with this game is replay the campaign every few years. I'm glad I bought it but still.
Deserts of Kharak could have been the best Homeworld game if it were *bloody finished*! Seriously, it screams "we got it out of the door as quickly as we could" and it's really a miracle that the game's as good as it is. The DLC subfactions do change the gameplay noticeably, but on a higher skill levels. Suppose that's where they're aimed at. Another campaigh would've been bloody nice to have, but alas. Out of smaller (content-wise) RTS, this is certalinly the bestest one. Wish it were a fully fledged game tho.
@@leo6106 It *was* supposed to be a Homeworld prequel, they just didn't have the rights. Then they got the rights but apparently not the funding to realize their initial vision.
@Novem's Natural Roll Agreed, however the use of terrain(which is already a feature in HW3) is a nice addition, and the UI was really clean and practical(again, looks like it's somewhat similar in HW3)
@@leo6106 They were referring to it as "homeworld on surface" even back then. Their whole initial ambition was to make a full-scale Kharak simulator, if you will, just with legally distinct names. Then it so happened that they didn't have to use legally distinct names anymore, but the scale of the project was proven to be unrealistic. And thus we have a first half of a brilliant game. At least the theme of traversing an endless desert on a huge trucks had had some realization.
Actually it's easily my favorite homeworld campaign gameplay wise, I love how the dunes dictate how you fight. Even though homeworld was basically the first truly 3d moving rts I think kharak was the first to really use it in a way outside of a gimmick. And now it looks like homeworld 3 will use 3d cover which I think will make it even better.
@@Zade_95 exactly all that 3d space and nothing to do with it. The campaign had some gimmick missions too but it was more of a cool idea than actually important to gameplay
"basically the first truly 3d moving rts I think kharak was the first to really use it in a way outside of a gimmick" - Total Annihilation would very much like a word.
@@icecoldchilipreppers It comes up on sales if you want to wait, I got mine on bundle when they released the original Homeworld 1 and 2 with the remakes.
DoK might not have the mechanical complexity to achieve longevity, but the carrier-based gameplay is pretty cool. One of my favourite things about this game is the consistent sense of scale and the awesome unit designs. Working on 3D printing my own carriers since, unlike other Homeworld Remastered and Homeworld 3, there were no collectors edition models ever released. Especially liked your idea about different carrier types, it is a shame the DLC factions don't differ enough to properly create novel gameplay.
I literally just finished a current session of a 3rd playthrough of DoK and then i found this video in recommended. This game always pulls me in with superb presentation and atmosphere, and the campaign lets you experience a journey like all other homeworlds, except in the desert. Space felt like an endless desert in homeworlds anyway thanks to the presentation and music. My only gripe i have with this game is the bloody support cruiser are standing in front of armoured formation when its on escort duty and it ends up eating all the rails. And that there were no expansions on the base game, all the dlcs are for the multiplayer.
@@billrich9722 that comment was written around 15min after I finished whispering gallery, called it a day and went to TH-cam for a funny video before going to bed. So it was quite literal.
@@Pancakus I like to assume that, if a person says something, it is meant to be statement of substance. One should not need to add redundant words when the act of proclaiming a thing is should be enough. For example, "The sky is blue." That is a perfectly functional statement. "The sky is literally blue." This adds nothing of substance. "I just got home." "I literally just got home. Nothing is gained by adding the word "Literally". Nothing is lost by removing the word. Let me put this into a practical example; "I started writing this after seeing your reply." Notice how this is a functional statement without using "Literally". It tells you what I want you to know and it does not waste overmuch of your time. Be better than the idiots around you.
The thing Homeworld and Deserts of Kharak are missing IMHO are infantry/boarding party combat. I've always wanted the ability to watch some automated personnel combat in ships/structures you're trying to capture. Or even being able to hide Infantry in the desert to ambush vehicles and hijack them. That would have been awesome.
Played DoK and HW1/HW2 last weekend when I saw the HW3 announcement. Fantastic series, really made me itch for more RTS honestly and made me found your channel, great vids!
Enjoyed it a great deal. Something about the voice acting sticks with me even today. Very natural. When things are calm, the units just kinda chatter back and forth like people doing their job. When things go to shit they sound like people who are struggling to deal with things going to shit. Good RTS all around, but that part really impressed.
OMFG, someone actually made that connection with C&C 4! That's actually been a point I've held on to for a while now: the Carrier gameplay in Deserts of Kharak is essentially how a more "traditional" version of the C&C4 Crawler system should've been implemented, while at the same time the variety in the types of Crawlers is something DoK could've really used more of. One of the things I do like about C&C 4 (that I know is controversial among most) is that each Crawler has distinct unit compositions not found on other Crawlers, for example the Offense Crawler has all the tanks, while the Support Crawler has all the aircraft, thus making the choice of Crawler significant and changes up the gameplay a whole lot. While I do think that C&C 4 did take those differences to the extremes due to the coop focus, a similar attention to class variety could've done wonders for DoK's factions, though hopefully in the direction of say Kane's Wrath or Generals: Zero Hour. I've always had the thought that C&C 4 could've been a great game had they retained a lot more of the traditional RTS formula rather than the complete experimental take they had, and Deserts of Kharak is essentially a peek into what such a type of game could've looked like.
Big fan of your channel mate I have loved RTS since I first booted up a demo disc of Command & Conquer back in 96. It's nice to see my favorite game genre still going strong.
Oh man. You're making me want to play again. I really liked this game, but I mostly fell in love with its beautiful art style. I played this after I played BattleTech and I just loved the style.
I must've been very lucky since I never got the chance to play the original or remastered Homeworld games so playing Desert's of Kharak on its own, it was definitely one of my more favorite RTSs because it felt so unique and interesting, carrying over units and what not.
Yes, Yes, Yes. Homeworld and Deserts of Kharak in particular have such amazing vibes. The music alone makes me go nuts. It's a sadly short but pleasant experience.
It's great. It for some reason has a lot of performance issues on my rig too but I still loved every second of it. It's such an intriguing and exciting journey, even though I feel like the plot dips into a few clichés that feel like padding. It was my dream game for a long time and I do think it lived up to what I expected from a prequel. I still can't fathom how well they kept the feel of a dangerous, potentially one way journey intact with data showing your water supply and the road travelled on the map between missions. It's one of those games where I always want to play one more level. I love how they fleshed out the main antagonists for once and they were clearly more than just big evil empire. The DLC is ass but honestly I expected that from Gearbox. Shame for the codex being paywalled. I'm glad you mentioned the fact that you can miss a ton by starting out with this game and I couldn't agree more. Small details and the overall impact will just hit harder if you start with the first one. I never played the multiplayer but by the looks of it, I feel like you're on point in that sense as well. Overall, I'm immensely happy that you played and enjoyed the campaign. We're basically sharing the same opinion on the game and I'm really glad you covered it for more people to learn about the series, or get to know this installment. Great video as always! I would love to hear your thoughts on the originals as you thoroughly understand how these games work gameplay-wise and I'm really curious about how the difficulty spikes in the remastered versions will aggravate you.
@@InfoGuyGaming That said, It would be interesting to see the reactions of someone who plays DoK first and then experiences the third mission of Homeworld 1.
17:07 - Well, that's fair enough ... I never thought I would HEAR that sentence! Still, it's nice to know that THAT game did, in fact, get some things right...
I recently picked up one of my childhood RTS games again, and found that it held up surprisingly well for being 21 years old. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Conquest: Frontier Wars!
First, Homeworld's original release absolutely supported this prequel. Information about Kharak, its people, their factions, and the historical events that led up to the state of the Hiigara people at the start of Homeworld are all laid out, in surprising detail, in the original Homeworld's manual and made it basically unchanged into this game's story. In fact, the events of this game fall into a space in the larger Kharak history that is vague to the point that, looking back on it now, makes you wonder if this prequel was not always planned. Secondly, according to an interview(that I wish I could still find) with the story lead of Deserts of Kharak, it was always made as a Homeworld prequel. When they got the rights to make it officially in the Homeworld universe, he had to do little more than a find and replace on proper nouns.
A lot of fans really wanted story expansions, as you mentioned. We wanted to learn more about what life was like on the planet, the conflict, and what it was like for the original survivors. So just having Skirmish armies were pretty meh compared to expectations. Still, I've watched some pretty high-level 3v3 games and tournaments that really show off the differences between each faction. Like a losing a whole resourcing patch to a sneaky blast drone or losing an army to a well-timed cruise missile. Shoutout to the channel Dreamlands. But it's also true that multiplayer in general did dry up pretty quickly. I get what you're saying comparing its multiplayer to the variety of later C&C games (I'd also mention the late Dawn of War expansions too), but DoK's style is less "crazy superweapons and giant mechs" and more "grounded future-tech". Like, there's no base-building because most places get overwhelmed by sand before long, so you can really only put down temporary turrets. In fact, my favorite thing about the visuals is that they did manage to include so many kinds of desert and the variety of dust & smoke effects. Like, I get it... it's just more desert, but if you look closely, there's a lot of detail there. The dust & smoke effects remind me of watching footage of the various conflicts in the Middle-East; black smoke and dusty mushroom explosions, tracks kicking up plumes of dust and sand. I should replay the campaign...
I have to say that I pretty deeply disagree when it comes to the idea of carrier classes. I get where you are coming from and it isn't a bad idea in basic concept but a big part of what gives Homeworld (as a franchise) its own strong sense of identity really comes down to the way the developers designed everything around a strong single player experience. Having a class based carrier thing like Command and Conquer 4 wouldn't really fit very well and would add a distinctly "gamey" quality to a otherwise fairly grounded experience. To put it another way. The fact that the carriers in Homeworld are essentially "jacks of all trades" is because it makes sense in the context of the game's lore and backstory. If the player had to choose between different carrier classes at the start of the campaign, it would inevitably beg the question "Why would they set up such a mission without a vehicle that can support it properly?" This is very much one of those cases where something that would work well in multiplayer or even skirmish would actively cut into the single player experience in a negative way.
Yeah I totally get the story elements. Maybe sub classes? Or sub command units? Unit types depending on your doctrine like coh? Lots of options but not sure what's best tbh
@@Zade_95 Well, the big reason why one would want to add class based mechanics into a RTS is to really shift the focus towards some kind of co-op or multiplayer setup where players are encouraged to offset another player's weaknesses. Since Homeworld as a franchise has always skewed really hard towards single player, that wouldn't work so well. As a franchise, Homeworld has always had this interesting feel where the developers kinda avoid a lot of the more "gamey" elements in favor of mechanics and unit balancing that makes sense in the context of the game's world and logic.
@@startrekmike Ideally, singleplayer considerations should be separate from multiplayer, allowing either side to flourish without holding the other back. Some of the better RTS campaigns recognize this, for example Starcraft 2 where the unit balancing is completely different between the campaigns and the MP, and they even have units unique to each mode, such as Science Vessels and Medics being SP only. That's before we go to stuff like Starcraft's Commander Coop that goes absolutely wild on faction asymmetry, and it just works. I think Zade's idea in the video is more along the likes of say selecting a different "type" of carrier you want to use before the battle, rather than the in-and-out in mission switching of C&C 4. Also, it is true that C&C 4's Crawlers are incredibly unique in terms of unit composition and variety, and you can't play one Crawler and its units the same way you would another, which is the thing DoK lacks to a degree.
@@StrikeNoir105E not sure about you but I don’t really want to play a skirmish mode that has units that don’t even appear in the campaign, with homeworld games I feel like it has more of a wargame vibe, where haveing a degree of immersion in the world is definitely part of the fun. That would be shattered I’d they just split there team in half to work on effectively two separate games.
I love this game, to me it integrated the vertical dimension even more than the original games with how important height positioning was. However, it really shows that this game was made basically for the campaign with the other modes being afterthoughts which is honestly pretty similar to the original games as well. I believe giving the cursed game (CNC4) any credit is wrong as the subfaction idea (which is pretty much what the two DLC factions are) is done in the same style as Kane's Wrath with the factions being variations and reskins of a base faction specializing in their own specialty (I love Soban railgun spam and turret throwing). I just wish we could use the other factions in the main campaign after completing it the first time.
Haven't watched the video yet, just wanted to give my own answer. Yes, it's worth it. There's valid criticisms of the game, but what I've found impressive is that they were able to translate the macro dynamics of a three-dimensional space strategy game back to basically two dimensions without loosing much of what made it great.
it was an awesome game, plus the story and the art was great. i just wished it had a pause button for combat when issuing commands, coz it can get a lot hectic (especially the final boss map), and it's quite difficult to multitask multiple squads in separate areas of the map, with how the roshambo unit mechanics work that often requires micromanagement to minimize casualties. so fast reactions/clicks end up higher on the totem pole, with tactics/strategy sitting on the backseat.
DoK is awesome. I got it on sale on GoG and one of the most fun RTS games I've played. It has a cool concept and atmosphere and it allows something I like in RTS games and that is the ability to actually fight long range via artillery. Yea it's not perfect but it seems like an idea what wasn't fully realized and I would absolutely love to play DoK 2, or take that worth and have it be on a planet that has deserts but also other landscapes as well, to add some variety.
Finally beat HW and HW2 (remastered versions) for the first time last year, and jumped straight into Deserts. Loving it so far. All three are so amazing.
I play it almost every year, simply because I like to play all Homeworld games chronologically (so Deserts of Kharak, Homeworld 1, Cataclysm and 2). Still, I think it ist a worthy precuel, and I like its story and the way it uses the lore much more than Homeworld 2, which I regard as the lowest point in the series. I'm not a big fan of base building and always liked the fleet persitance mechanic of Homeworlds, so in that sense (and the fact I'm a huge Homeworld fan) the camapaign ticks most of my requirements and I regard it as one of my favourites. I agree it lacks unit variety, I also think its too short (Homeworld campaigns usually last 15-20h not 8-10). I will also add that the lack of a "end mission" button (present in Homeworld 1 an Cataclysm) is sorely missed, as it detracts from the whole "fleet persistence" that benefits a lot from gathering all the resources in the map (specially the artefacts) and tuning the fleet at the end of the mission. Because of this, most of my mission endings turn into a fight with the mission scripting, as I want to avoid finishing it before I get to do what I want. Homeworld 2 had a similar problem, but at least that one collected all the resources for you at the end of the mission. The best one was in Cataclysm, as there were some situatuions where the game incentivized you to "escape" to the next mission, but never forced you to do so via scripts. I really hope they recover the end mission button for Homeworld 3. I never play skirmish nor multiplayer, so I can't opine on that. I play Homeworlds for the campaigns anyways. Because of this, I hope they learnt their lessons with the DLC of DoK and develop some campaign dlcs-s for Homeworld 3. PD: A big part of the lore this game is based on (and that you can read in the expedition guide) was originally present in the game manual of Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm, which I recommend you to read, as they add some extra information that's missing even in the Expedition Guide (mostly because it takes place after the expedition). In the case of Cataclysm, every single unit has a lore description.
Never played cataclysm but all the others I'd agree. I'm just hoping they get the flight and physics right, it's what pulled me in the original game along with the lore and the soundscape/soundtrack.
@@sloo6425 Then I higly recommend you to try Cataclysm. It uses a slightly upgraded Homeworld 1 engine, so physics are very similar. And its the Homeworld with the most ingame worldbuilding and best use of lore (unlike Homeworld 1, the lore writter was involved with the game from the start). That said, the music isn't that spectacular, but It works great for atmosphere.
DoK is a prime example of a decent game crippled by tying it to established IP. Blackbird where designing it as a stand alone development studio and putting the homeworld name to it instantly changed the expected polish from "spiritual successor" to "Heir to the Dynasty"
Fun fact: those 2 DLC Factions were supposed to have a story DLC but never got done but they kept the story and just put it in the wiki page for the 2 factions
What I think about Deserts of Kharak is that I really need to finish Spellforce 3's main campaign as well as finally playing through Impossible Creatures, WH40k Dawn of War, and Dark Crusade before I even think about touching Deserts of Kharak.
...but they have completely different campaigns though. It would suck to get burnt out on one of those long campaigns with relatively samey missions at points instead of expirenceing a compact and well paced homeworld campaign -just sayin.
@@Geostationary0rbit By "finish" I mean "finish to my satisfaction" rather than "complete". Don't worry, I'm not going to burn out on RTS campaigns. But I do need to play them for at least a few hours each.
Is a "Repolish"-Mod planned? It would be nice to have new maps like Cityruins, or Forge- and Inustrialcomplexes on mars. Some more caiiertypes and new tech changes can be seen on models. Better AI, bit more zoom out, better performance such stuff. The game has it all!
I really wish that modders would get a hold of this game. While I do like the game, every time I play it I can't help but imagine a sequel or remake of Emperor: Battle for Dune using it.
If you don’t like looking at lengthy game guides when playing RTS’s DoK is probably the best introduction to the homeworld gameplay system. and honestly I play a lot of its skirmish mode with my friends because it’s brilliantly engineered to be about 30mins long in games to 2 to 3 players. Unit variety between factions is just enough for you to understand how to respond to that unit without haveing a deep understanding of the faction while still makeing the main factions feel distinct. Also the game is balanced around artefact mode, which helps the simple and streamlined unit composition feel more dynamic and also very tense as the clock begins to run out. This is also why the maps are relatively unobtrusive. If your playing destroy all production units mode you are likely to have a fair amount less fun in my opinion.
Fun fact: you actually can rebind your keys, but you must do that within the game files and individual change each and every command to what you want in a notepad file.
@@Zade_95 it is indeed a bruh moment, for if they added the way to rebind your keys, why did they have to choose such a tedious route. It’s not like an in-game rebind key option is that hard to make.
I just finished the game about an hour ago and got recommended this video... interesting to note. However, I thoroughly recommend the single player. It's a great game and I feel its worth the money I paid for it. I'll be going back to Homeworld and Homeworld II after. All of this stemmed from my interest in Nebulous Fleet Command. But yes, if you're looking for a solid RTS campaign attached to the Homeworld franchise then it will scratch that itch perfectly. Is it the greatest RTS? No. But it is well executed for what it is and the storytelling is superbly crafted.
I'm glad to see Sanctuary on the horizon as a spiritual successor to Supreme Commander, I think you should check it out if you haven't already. Imo I wish Sins of a Solar Empire had a campaign, I want to like it but without a story to sink my teeth into and gradually introduce mechanics, where final missions let you spend a lot of time playing with endgame stuff just is what that game needed, I would definitely like more Sins I just want a campaign if they do it.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak was.. okay. they seriously nailed the aesthetic and the campaign story was pretty good but the gameplay just lacked the depth, mission and unit variety of the previous games. It was a decent game that was worth a single play through but it won't draw me back in again and again like the previous games did. Its a decent game that has the unfortunate fate of having to compare to a masterpiece.
What you don't understand about the additional races DLC having a positive review comes from your aversion to multiplayer, this can go for skirmishes too since the AI can't give you a run for your money like a flesh and blood opponent can. DoK had a pretty good and multiplayer community back in the day (which I believe is still going however small it is) and games where fast enough to not drag out and generally fun due to the simplicity of the units and good level of balance and tactical flexibility. If you Zade or anyone else reading this is interested, a bloke runs a channel by the name of Dreamlands that does Homeworld and DoK multiplayer replays as well as a fantastic walk through of DoK that focuses heavily on the lore and it is fantastic.
Haha I'd believe it tbh. Might be that I need to put on my big boy pants and play pvp once in a while.... I still think skirmish in DoK is overall kind of weak. But for games likecoh3 later this year I'll certainly need to at least try pvp
@@Zade_95 At the end of the day play to your strengths, it is why we watch you after all. I just felt like an explanation was needed to justify DoK skirmishes and race packs.
This game originally was called Shipbreakers and was designed as being multiplayer only with not many ties to Homeworld at all since BBI didn’t own rights to the franchise. Then Gearbox bought the rights and aproached the BBI. Myvguess is that there was simply not enough time to make a better game and what was made still can’t be called a rushed product. It holds up pretty well and the story is nicely fledged out. I don’t think that there was enough time to think of a better multiplayer though.
I recently tried playing the game again after a year long hiatus and I have a bizarre bug. In skirmish mode everything works fine but campaign is busted. All dialogue is not working, units won't talk, mission dialogue bizarrely skips, it's really weird. So I thought "okay steam must have a corrupt download" and I deleted the local files in the folder, then uninstalled the game and re-installed it and it's still bugged. Finally I tried digging through the documents and local folders to see if there was anything else I needed to try deleting but I couldn't find any files for Deserts of Kharak. I've heard of others having similar trouble but I never found a solution that fixed my specific problem. Does anyone have any ideas how to fix it? I still have no idea why Skirmish dialogue works perfectly but Campaign alone is broke. I really like the game and I wanna play it again but it's really lacking without the dialogue and story to the campaign.
If you're going to review original Homeworld games, I recommend that you do Cataclysm as well. It's my favourite of the 3, and unfortunately the only one that didn't get a remaster. Good review btw. You deserve more subs.
In regards to the story, the narrative of Homeworld has never been really character driven, it's about the Kushani people and their journey rather than any one character or group of characters. I mean sure, you might have your given Fleet Command or Fleet Intelligence but they aren't really fleshed out much. The real soul of it's story telling is more about the epic scale of it, the history of it and the subtle moments of terror, confusion and wonder that is often hinted at in the crew dialogue.
This game is annoyingly 2 thread limited. Tested it on fx 8300, phenom ii 955, q 9550 all show two threads max. Any method to make it less cpu demanding or use more threads?
I think this game would have been more successful in the RTS community had the multiplayer been better. Most of us love a great campaign in an RTS; however, its longevity will inherently be based on its multiplayer attraction. Thankfully, this game comes on sale quite often. I'll pick it up for the campaigns then.
I'm honestly think that all Sierra/BBI games are all worth playing in 2022 and beyond - nothing will ever defeat the Homeworld franchise as the RTS master race ❤️
Had the same experience. Campaign is good, game otherwise lacks depth to stay interesting. Would have easily bought more campaign or single player DLC, but no such luck.
I finally played through this game earlier this year after a couple of earlier attempts when I lost interest after the first couple of missions, I found the start of the game to be a bit of drag hence the previous aborted attempts, once it gets going though it's a pretty solid title. It had quite an old school feel to it with a few newer elements thrown in which I appreciated being more of a fan of older RTS games. The only thing that really bugged me was having to manually switch between normal and tactical views, it got quite annoying after a while, I much prefer the approach taken by Supreme Commander where if you zoom the camera out far enough it automatically switches to the tactical view and vice versa.
I wish they had a gameplay option for this because yeah I can imagine this game might attract a fair few supreme commander fans. Still space has to be there for the hard core homeworld fans, it feels like you are activating an advanced sensor or something, and in the original I always imagined it to be the biocomputers view of the battlefield that you are tapping into. I guess there was always a high chance the next game would be in space again so there wouldn’t be a obvious point when scrolling out should change to the overview map, so maybe it makes sense to keep things consistent anyway in that sense.
I'm playing it for the first time right now and am loving it. After this replay HW1 and HW2 to be ready for HW3. The lore in this game series is very well done. It could be a live action series if you could find someone to produce that wouldn't 💩💩💩💩 all over the source material.
The game was very lovely but sadly even there is 2 sides to choose, unit variety was not enough and late/big units were not so good. I guess they could at least add some more cool units.
Really like the game tbh. Could`ve been better, but compared to what? Man did I love sending out planes from the carrier. Homeworld 3 is what I have hopes for, Kharak...... was a story game for me. Should it have had a lower price point? Maybe that would`ve been better. But to be honest, I love story driven RTS games. For me personally it was great. How many times do you come across an antagonist to be actually right in the end?
I haven't played this game but the story being such a draw sounds wild, given that it's a prequel and what happens in the opener of Homeworld 1. It's technically a spoiler but come on, it's the first mission of a '90s game - Kharak gets Kharekt, sterilized of all life, as punishment for your people going into space. With that guaranteed down the timeline story-wise soon after that they must have pulled off a miracle to make whatever you do on the surface before that point not feel basically pointless.
I do agree with your criticisms. Only that I could describe the last mission as... underwealming like seriously underwealming. The mission overall was lacking in difficulty and the boss brought nothing new. When it comes to the skirmish or just online side of the game. I think all of homeworld as a whole needs more work for online gameplay. Homeworld mobile offers an idea. That it being an open world. Imagine kharak (for example) being open world you have your carrier and a couple other units and you Rome the planet collecting resources, visiting bases and cities(imagine them as maps like tiir or epsilon) and of course fighting enemies? That to me could keep people playing for years to come especially if they add mod support, private servers and just adding. The space homeworlds should have no excuse for the last one. They are galaxy sized maps there is plenty to add. Any thoughts?
I just started playing the campaign for the first time this week - after yrs of just AI skirmishes with this and the old HW2 games. Guess I just didn't care enough about the back story, but it's fairly entertaining so far.
I like the campaign, skirmish not so much, as you said it lacks gameplay/unit variety. The additional factions DLC can only be played in skirmish and multiplayer, wich makes it completly uninteresting for me. The biggest problem of this game is a lack of mods, I'm not even sure if it's modable at all. As much as I enjoyed playing the campaign, skrimish and multiplayer bored me out quite fast.
Have you seen Nebulous Fleet Command yet? It is more of a tactical strategy game with no economy and matches based around a point system. Still I think it is a great game wort a look. I know Homeworld 3 is coming but for some reason, I'm not excited for it. I have this nagging feeling it will be a Live Service in which case , I'll go on to Nebulous Fleet Command instead.
TL:DR Homeworld DOK is a single player game with a multiplayer as an afterthought, instead of most which are multiplayer games with the single player as an afterthought..
I am weirdly really excited for HW3 but also very scared that it would be ruined by business greed. I do think I would have liked to see HW from another perspective again like we do with Cataclysm because Somtaaw is one of my favourite Kiith's and make Karen feel kind of hallow at time when you compare the plots. HW2 wasn't bad but lacked memorable moments the first few missions up until you start dancing with the progenitor feels like you are replaying HW1. The remastered looks awesome but I was disappointed, HW2 was fine but HW1's remaster felt like I was playing HW2 but HW1 it was awful and I liked the fact that my strikecraft and corvettes had fuel but luckily their are mods.
This game manages to pull of atmosphere in a way that few RTS have ever managed. I'd like to see more ground based Homeworld games. There were clearly more wars prior to the DoK campaign - because why else would there be all these carriers and huge flying wings around?
they should of released more campaigns as dlc...there were clearly more wars. why else would there be factions. probably over water
Oh hell yeah, I want to know how the Gaalsien got pushed to the deserts in the first place, why them and the Sidiim seem to be so eager to wipe each other out, this needs to be explored. The main issue with DoK is that there's just not enough of it, and there's no mod support. Hell just mod or map making support would have extended DoK's lifespan a lot. It's sad to me that really the only thing I ever do with this game is replay the campaign every few years. I'm glad I bought it but still.
@@TheThingInMySinkthere is an expeditions guide which explains all the history
i really like the radio chatter in the game. they nailed the "bored professionalism" tone
Yes! Me too. I wanted to fit that into the script somehow but it wasn't working. Really liked the talk and banter between all the units
Hopefully we can adjust it in HW3 like we could in the previous games
@@martindejonge695 I hope we can turn the volume up or even give them subtitles above their unit icons. It is hard to hear them when playing.
@@Zade_95 Do you have a draft of that line?
Deserts of Kharak could have been the best Homeworld game if it were *bloody finished*! Seriously, it screams "we got it out of the door as quickly as we could" and it's really a miracle that the game's as good as it is.
The DLC subfactions do change the gameplay noticeably, but on a higher skill levels. Suppose that's where they're aimed at.
Another campaigh would've been bloody nice to have, but alas. Out of smaller (content-wise) RTS, this is certalinly the bestest one. Wish it were a fully fledged game tho.
Mostly because it wasn't supposed to be a Homeworld game in the firt place, still is a good prequel, and I hope some things from it to go on to HW3
@@leo6106 It *was* supposed to be a Homeworld prequel, they just didn't have the rights. Then they got the rights but apparently not the funding to realize their initial vision.
@@qasderfful It was originally a browser/mobile-based MMO, It wasn't even thought that the IP would be sold
@Novem's Natural Roll Agreed, however the use of terrain(which is already a feature in HW3) is a nice addition, and the UI was really clean and practical(again, looks like it's somewhat similar in HW3)
@@leo6106 They were referring to it as "homeworld on surface" even back then. Their whole initial ambition was to make a full-scale Kharak simulator, if you will, just with legally distinct names. Then it so happened that they didn't have to use legally distinct names anymore, but the scale of the project was proven to be unrealistic. And thus we have a first half of a brilliant game. At least the theme of traversing an endless desert on a huge trucks had had some realization.
Actually it's easily my favorite homeworld campaign gameplay wise, I love how the dunes dictate how you fight. Even though homeworld was basically the first truly 3d moving rts I think kharak was the first to really use it in a way outside of a gimmick. And now it looks like homeworld 3 will use 3d cover which I think will make it even better.
Yeah homeworld 3s terrain is looking amazing. Biggest issue I had with hw1/2 was the boringmaps lol
@@Zade_95 exactly all that 3d space and nothing to do with it. The campaign had some gimmick missions too but it was more of a cool idea than actually important to gameplay
“Actually”.
@@irobot661 as much as i agree with this. I just felt Kharak was a bit of a trivial RTS.
"basically the first truly 3d moving rts I think kharak was the first to really use it in a way outside of a gimmick" - Total Annihilation would very much like a word.
I got the entire homeworld series including DOK for 93% off so You god dam right I'm gonna play this in 2022.
This is a fucken steal
Steam? Right now?
@@icecoldchilipreppers sorry man it ended Monday. I think :(
Alright that's ez purchase
@@icecoldchilipreppers It comes up on sales if you want to wait, I got mine on bundle when they released the original Homeworld 1 and 2 with the remakes.
This game is absolutely phenomenal. A definite must play in 2022.
DoK might not have the mechanical complexity to achieve longevity, but the carrier-based gameplay is pretty cool. One of my favourite things about this game is the consistent sense of scale and the awesome unit designs. Working on 3D printing my own carriers since, unlike other Homeworld Remastered and Homeworld 3, there were no collectors edition models ever released.
Especially liked your idea about different carrier types, it is a shame the DLC factions don't differ enough to properly create novel gameplay.
I literally just finished a current session of a 3rd playthrough of DoK and then i found this video in recommended. This game always pulls me in with superb presentation and atmosphere, and the campaign lets you experience a journey like all other homeworlds, except in the desert. Space felt like an endless desert in homeworlds anyway thanks to the presentation and music.
My only gripe i have with this game is the bloody support cruiser are standing in front of armoured formation when its on escort duty and it ends up eating all the rails.
And that there were no expansions on the base game, all the dlcs are for the multiplayer.
“Literally”.
@@billrich9722 that comment was written around 15min after I finished whispering gallery, called it a day and went to TH-cam for a funny video before going to bed. So it was quite literal.
@@Pancakus I like to assume that, if a person says something, it is meant to be statement of substance. One should not need to add redundant words when the act of proclaiming a thing is should be enough.
For example, "The sky is blue." That is a perfectly functional statement.
"The sky is literally blue." This adds nothing of substance.
"I just got home."
"I literally just got home.
Nothing is gained by adding the word "Literally". Nothing is lost by removing the word.
Let me put this into a practical example; "I started writing this after seeing your reply." Notice how this is a functional statement without using "Literally". It tells you what I want you to know and it does not waste overmuch of your time.
Be better than the idiots around you.
The thing Homeworld and Deserts of Kharak are missing IMHO are infantry/boarding party combat. I've always wanted the ability to watch some automated personnel combat in ships/structures you're trying to capture. Or even being able to hide Infantry in the desert to ambush vehicles and hijack them.
That would have been awesome.
Yeah what a cool idea! Would suit the setting too
You typed all of that but couldn’t be bothered to write out “In my opinion”.
It is impressive, in a way.
that could quickly turn into homeworld: deserts of arrakis xD
Played DoK and HW1/HW2 last weekend when I saw the HW3 announcement. Fantastic series, really made me itch for more RTS honestly and made me found your channel, great vids!
Enjoyed it a great deal. Something about the voice acting sticks with me even today. Very natural. When things are calm, the units just kinda chatter back and forth like people doing their job. When things go to shit they sound like people who are struggling to deal with things going to shit. Good RTS all around, but that part really impressed.
OMFG, someone actually made that connection with C&C 4! That's actually been a point I've held on to for a while now: the Carrier gameplay in Deserts of Kharak is essentially how a more "traditional" version of the C&C4 Crawler system should've been implemented, while at the same time the variety in the types of Crawlers is something DoK could've really used more of. One of the things I do like about C&C 4 (that I know is controversial among most) is that each Crawler has distinct unit compositions not found on other Crawlers, for example the Offense Crawler has all the tanks, while the Support Crawler has all the aircraft, thus making the choice of Crawler significant and changes up the gameplay a whole lot. While I do think that C&C 4 did take those differences to the extremes due to the coop focus, a similar attention to class variety could've done wonders for DoK's factions, though hopefully in the direction of say Kane's Wrath or Generals: Zero Hour.
I've always had the thought that C&C 4 could've been a great game had they retained a lot more of the traditional RTS formula rather than the complete experimental take they had, and Deserts of Kharak is essentially a peek into what such a type of game could've looked like.
I love the HW franchise! HW 1 was one of my first RTS games way back when. I would love to hear about BBI getting the IP from Gearbox
Big fan of your channel mate I have loved RTS since I first booted up a demo disc of Command & Conquer back in 96. It's nice to see my favorite game genre still going strong.
Thank you man! Hope to see you around enjoying RTS with the rest of us :P
Oh man. You're making me want to play again. I really liked this game, but I mostly fell in love with its beautiful art style. I played this after I played BattleTech and I just loved the style.
Picked it up on sale a few years back, it was far better than I expected.
Just wanted to pop in and say your channel's super underrated, hope you keep on inclining!
Thank you, I'll do my best!
I must've been very lucky since I never got the chance to play the original or remastered Homeworld games so playing Desert's of Kharak on its own, it was definitely one of my more favorite RTSs because it felt so unique and interesting, carrying over units and what not.
Prequel worldbuilding done right
Truth
Totally, it is also beautiful as well visually and a sonic bliss.
Yes, Yes, Yes.
Homeworld and Deserts of Kharak in particular have such amazing vibes. The music alone makes me go nuts.
It's a sadly short but pleasant experience.
there is active multiplayer community with games daily! Always looking for new players of any skill level.
It's great. It for some reason has a lot of performance issues on my rig too but I still loved every second of it. It's such an intriguing and exciting journey, even though I feel like the plot dips into a few clichés that feel like padding.
It was my dream game for a long time and I do think it lived up to what I expected from a prequel. I still can't fathom how well they kept the feel of a dangerous, potentially one way journey intact with data showing your water supply and the road travelled on the map between missions. It's one of those games where I always want to play one more level. I love how they fleshed out the main antagonists for once and they were clearly more than just big evil empire. The DLC is ass but honestly I expected that from Gearbox. Shame for the codex being paywalled.
I'm glad you mentioned the fact that you can miss a ton by starting out with this game and I couldn't agree more. Small details and the overall impact will just hit harder if you start with the first one.
I never played the multiplayer but by the looks of it, I feel like you're on point in that sense as well.
Overall, I'm immensely happy that you played and enjoyed the campaign. We're basically sharing the same opinion on the game and I'm really glad you covered it for more people to learn about the series, or get to know this installment. Great video as always!
I would love to hear your thoughts on the originals as you thoroughly understand how these games work gameplay-wise and I'm really curious about how the difficulty spikes in the remastered versions will aggravate you.
Yeah storywise you do get more if you play Homeworld 1 & 2 first.
@@InfoGuyGaming also heck yeah. I was pleasantly surprised to see you in there my guy.
@@MelonMan666 😅
@@InfoGuyGaming That said, It would be interesting to see the reactions of someone who plays DoK first and then experiences the third mission of Homeworld 1.
@@igorokinamujika2073 Well the amount of forshadowing in DoK would be paid off pretty well in that mission, I imagion.
17:07 - Well, that's fair enough ... I never thought I would HEAR that sentence! Still, it's nice to know that THAT game did, in fact, get some things right...
I know right.. I shivered just uttering the words
Excellent video. Yes please on dedicated Homeworld 3 video.
Thank you! Say no more
i like this game，but the fact it can't be moded is the killer for me,no game live long and fun without mod
It was modded but only the basic like unit stats and limited map maker only a small team runs it on Homeworld Universe discord.
I recently picked up one of my childhood RTS games again, and found that it held up surprisingly well for being 21 years old. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on Conquest: Frontier Wars!
Loved that game!
One of the most underrated and under talked about RTS games of all time.
One of my all time favorites.
What a strange coincidence. I LITERALLY started this yesterday and I'm loving it so far.
""""coincidence"""
First, Homeworld's original release absolutely supported this prequel. Information about Kharak, its people, their factions, and the historical events that led up to the state of the Hiigara people at the start of Homeworld are all laid out, in surprising detail, in the original Homeworld's manual and made it basically unchanged into this game's story. In fact, the events of this game fall into a space in the larger Kharak history that is vague to the point that, looking back on it now, makes you wonder if this prequel was not always planned. Secondly, according to an interview(that I wish I could still find) with the story lead of Deserts of Kharak, it was always made as a Homeworld prequel. When they got the rights to make it officially in the Homeworld universe, he had to do little more than a find and replace on proper nouns.
A lot of fans really wanted story expansions, as you mentioned. We wanted to learn more about what life was like on the planet, the conflict, and what it was like for the original survivors. So just having Skirmish armies were pretty meh compared to expectations.
Still, I've watched some pretty high-level 3v3 games and tournaments that really show off the differences between each faction. Like a losing a whole resourcing patch to a sneaky blast drone or losing an army to a well-timed cruise missile. Shoutout to the channel Dreamlands. But it's also true that multiplayer in general did dry up pretty quickly.
I get what you're saying comparing its multiplayer to the variety of later C&C games (I'd also mention the late Dawn of War expansions too), but DoK's style is less "crazy superweapons and giant mechs" and more "grounded future-tech". Like, there's no base-building because most places get overwhelmed by sand before long, so you can really only put down temporary turrets.
In fact, my favorite thing about the visuals is that they did manage to include so many kinds of desert and the variety of dust & smoke effects. Like, I get it... it's just more desert, but if you look closely, there's a lot of detail there. The dust & smoke effects remind me of watching footage of the various conflicts in the Middle-East; black smoke and dusty mushroom explosions, tracks kicking up plumes of dust and sand.
I should replay the campaign...
I have to say that I pretty deeply disagree when it comes to the idea of carrier classes. I get where you are coming from and it isn't a bad idea in basic concept but a big part of what gives Homeworld (as a franchise) its own strong sense of identity really comes down to the way the developers designed everything around a strong single player experience. Having a class based carrier thing like Command and Conquer 4 wouldn't really fit very well and would add a distinctly "gamey" quality to a otherwise fairly grounded experience.
To put it another way. The fact that the carriers in Homeworld are essentially "jacks of all trades" is because it makes sense in the context of the game's lore and backstory. If the player had to choose between different carrier classes at the start of the campaign, it would inevitably beg the question "Why would they set up such a mission without a vehicle that can support it properly?" This is very much one of those cases where something that would work well in multiplayer or even skirmish would actively cut into the single player experience in a negative way.
Yeah I totally get the story elements. Maybe sub classes? Or sub command units? Unit types depending on your doctrine like coh? Lots of options but not sure what's best tbh
@@Zade_95 Well, the big reason why one would want to add class based mechanics into a RTS is to really shift the focus towards some kind of co-op or multiplayer setup where players are encouraged to offset another player's weaknesses. Since Homeworld as a franchise has always skewed really hard towards single player, that wouldn't work so well.
As a franchise, Homeworld has always had this interesting feel where the developers kinda avoid a lot of the more "gamey" elements in favor of mechanics and unit balancing that makes sense in the context of the game's world and logic.
@@startrekmike Ideally, singleplayer considerations should be separate from multiplayer, allowing either side to flourish without holding the other back. Some of the better RTS campaigns recognize this, for example Starcraft 2 where the unit balancing is completely different between the campaigns and the MP, and they even have units unique to each mode, such as Science Vessels and Medics being SP only. That's before we go to stuff like Starcraft's Commander Coop that goes absolutely wild on faction asymmetry, and it just works.
I think Zade's idea in the video is more along the likes of say selecting a different "type" of carrier you want to use before the battle, rather than the in-and-out in mission switching of C&C 4. Also, it is true that C&C 4's Crawlers are incredibly unique in terms of unit composition and variety, and you can't play one Crawler and its units the same way you would another, which is the thing DoK lacks to a degree.
@@StrikeNoir105E not sure about you but I don’t really want to play a skirmish mode that has units that don’t even appear in the campaign, with homeworld games I feel like it has more of a wargame vibe, where haveing a degree of immersion in the world is definitely part of the fun. That would be shattered I’d they just split there team in half to work on effectively two separate games.
Holy lack of period.
Heck yeah, I adore this game! I wish there was more included in it by default, but I'm still quite happy with what's made available.
Hell about time! Homeworld is the game that made the most impact on me in the rts space and no pun intended.
I know right 😂 four years in the making
I love this game, to me it integrated the vertical dimension even more than the original games with how important height positioning was. However, it really shows that this game was made basically for the campaign with the other modes being afterthoughts which is honestly pretty similar to the original games as well. I believe giving the cursed game (CNC4) any credit is wrong as the subfaction idea (which is pretty much what the two DLC factions are) is done in the same style as Kane's Wrath with the factions being variations and reskins of a base faction specializing in their own specialty (I love Soban railgun spam and turret throwing). I just wish we could use the other factions in the main campaign after completing it the first time.
Haven't watched the video yet, just wanted to give my own answer. Yes, it's worth it. There's valid criticisms of the game, but what I've found impressive is that they were able to translate the macro dynamics of a three-dimensional space strategy game back to basically two dimensions without loosing much of what made it great.
it was an awesome game, plus the story and the art was great.
i just wished it had a pause button for combat when issuing commands, coz it can get a lot hectic (especially the final boss map), and it's quite difficult to multitask multiple squads in separate areas of the map, with how the roshambo unit mechanics work that often requires micromanagement to minimize casualties.
so fast reactions/clicks end up higher on the totem pole, with tactics/strategy sitting on the backseat.
Oh yes a full homeworld three video would be great.
DoK is awesome. I got it on sale on GoG and one of the most fun RTS games I've played. It has a cool concept and atmosphere and it allows something I like in RTS games and that is the ability to actually fight long range via artillery.
Yea it's not perfect but it seems like an idea what wasn't fully realized and I would absolutely love to play DoK 2, or take that worth and have it be on a planet that has deserts but also other landscapes as well, to add some variety.
Finally beat HW and HW2 (remastered versions) for the first time last year, and jumped straight into Deserts. Loving it so far. All three are so amazing.
I play it almost every year, simply because I like to play all Homeworld games chronologically (so Deserts of Kharak, Homeworld 1, Cataclysm and 2). Still, I think it ist a worthy precuel, and I like its story and the way it uses the lore much more than Homeworld 2, which I regard as the lowest point in the series. I'm not a big fan of base building and always liked the fleet persitance mechanic of Homeworlds, so in that sense (and the fact I'm a huge Homeworld fan) the camapaign ticks most of my requirements and I regard it as one of my favourites.
I agree it lacks unit variety, I also think its too short (Homeworld campaigns usually last 15-20h not 8-10). I will also add that the lack of a "end mission" button (present in Homeworld 1 an Cataclysm) is sorely missed, as it detracts from the whole "fleet persistence" that benefits a lot from gathering all the resources in the map (specially the artefacts) and tuning the fleet at the end of the mission. Because of this, most of my mission endings turn into a fight with the mission scripting, as I want to avoid finishing it before I get to do what I want. Homeworld 2 had a similar problem, but at least that one collected all the resources for you at the end of the mission. The best one was in Cataclysm, as there were some situatuions where the game incentivized you to "escape" to the next mission, but never forced you to do so via scripts. I really hope they recover the end mission button for Homeworld 3.
I never play skirmish nor multiplayer, so I can't opine on that. I play Homeworlds for the campaigns anyways. Because of this, I hope they learnt their lessons with the DLC of DoK and develop some campaign dlcs-s for Homeworld 3.
PD: A big part of the lore this game is based on (and that you can read in the expedition guide) was originally present in the game manual of Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm, which I recommend you to read, as they add some extra information that's missing even in the Expedition Guide (mostly because it takes place after the expedition). In the case of Cataclysm, every single unit has a lore description.
Never played cataclysm but all the others I'd agree. I'm just hoping they get the flight and physics right, it's what pulled me in the original game along with the lore and the soundscape/soundtrack.
@@sloo6425 Then I higly recommend you to try Cataclysm. It uses a slightly upgraded Homeworld 1 engine, so physics are very similar. And its the Homeworld with the most ingame worldbuilding and best use of lore (unlike Homeworld 1, the lore writter was involved with the game from the start). That said, the music isn't that spectacular, but It works great for atmosphere.
You can sorta rebind your controls, actually. You need to find custom.dokhotkeys in your savegame location and edit keys there.
Bruh 😂 it's something at least!
DoK is a prime example of a decent game crippled by tying it to established IP.
Blackbird where designing it as a stand alone development studio and putting the homeworld name to it instantly changed the expected polish from "spiritual successor" to "Heir to the Dynasty"
Yes please on the story behind.
Fun fact: those 2 DLC Factions were supposed to have a story DLC but never got done but they kept the story and just put it in the wiki page for the 2 factions
Hmmm interesting.... I'd believe it tbh
What I think about Deserts of Kharak is that I really need to finish Spellforce 3's main campaign as well as finally playing through Impossible Creatures, WH40k Dawn of War, and Dark Crusade before I even think about touching Deserts of Kharak.
...but they have completely different campaigns though. It would suck to get burnt out on one of those long campaigns with relatively samey missions at points instead of expirenceing a compact and well paced homeworld campaign -just sayin.
@@Geostationary0rbit By "finish" I mean "finish to my satisfaction" rather than "complete". Don't worry, I'm not going to burn out on RTS campaigns. But I do need to play them for at least a few hours each.
C&C...4?! "Horrified rich woman faint"
I loved my playtime with this game ...REALLY needed strong modding support to have legs though.
Yeah kind of agree. Not much reason to replay unless you love the mp
Is a "Repolish"-Mod planned? It would be nice to have new maps like Cityruins, or Forge- and Inustrialcomplexes on mars. Some more caiiertypes and new tech changes can be seen on models. Better AI, bit more zoom out, better performance such stuff. The game has it all!
I really wish that modders would get a hold of this game. While I do like the game, every time I play it I can't help but imagine a sequel or remake of Emperor: Battle for Dune using it.
Absolutely loved this game. I feel sad that it didnt get more attention.
F**k yeah!
If you don’t like looking at lengthy game guides when playing RTS’s DoK is probably the best introduction to the homeworld gameplay system.
and honestly I play a lot of its skirmish mode with my friends because it’s brilliantly engineered to be about 30mins long in games to 2 to 3 players.
Unit variety between factions is just enough for you to understand how to respond to that unit without haveing a deep understanding of the faction while still makeing the main factions feel distinct.
Also the game is balanced around artefact mode, which helps the simple and streamlined unit composition feel more dynamic and also very tense as the clock begins to run out.
This is also why the maps are relatively unobtrusive.
If your playing destroy all production units mode you are likely to have a fair amount less fun in my opinion.
Fun fact: you actually can rebind your keys, but you must do that within the game files and individual change each and every command to what you want in a notepad file.
bruuuuuh
@@Zade_95 it is indeed a bruh moment, for if they added the way to rebind your keys, why did they have to choose such a tedious route. It’s not like an in-game rebind key option is that hard to make.
I just came online to see if jade uploaded anything and can't believe i saw this vid uploaded 19 mins ago
Who is Jade? Lmao
😂
Bro you haven't heard😂😂
A video on homeworld 3 would be fun
on the schedule!
To be honest, I liked their ground take with this entry to the Homeworld Franchise and I won't mind to see more.
I just finished the game about an hour ago and got recommended this video... interesting to note. However, I thoroughly recommend the single player. It's a great game and I feel its worth the money I paid for it. I'll be going back to Homeworld and Homeworld II after. All of this stemmed from my interest in Nebulous Fleet Command. But yes, if you're looking for a solid RTS campaign attached to the Homeworld franchise then it will scratch that itch perfectly. Is it the greatest RTS? No. But it is well executed for what it is and the storytelling is superbly crafted.
I'm glad to see Sanctuary on the horizon as a spiritual successor to Supreme Commander, I think you should check it out if you haven't already.
Imo I wish Sins of a Solar Empire had a campaign, I want to like it but without a story to sink my teeth into and gradually introduce mechanics, where final missions let you spend a lot of time playing with endgame stuff just is what that game needed, I would definitely like more Sins I just want a campaign if they do it.
watch my next video >:)
Its a good game but i feel it could have been amazing. If there were some fixes and tweeks with a few unit overhauls i could see it being spectacular.
I like this game even tho the campaign is a bit short because sometimes a decent linear campaign is all I need or want.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak was.. okay. they seriously nailed the aesthetic and the campaign story was pretty good but the gameplay just lacked the depth, mission and unit variety of the previous games. It was a decent game that was worth a single play through but it won't draw me back in again and again like the previous games did. Its a decent game that has the unfortunate fate of having to compare to a masterpiece.
What you don't understand about the additional races DLC having a positive review comes from your aversion to multiplayer, this can go for skirmishes too since the AI can't give you a run for your money like a flesh and blood opponent can. DoK had a pretty good and multiplayer community back in the day (which I believe is still going however small it is) and games where fast enough to not drag out and generally fun due to the simplicity of the units and good level of balance and tactical flexibility.
If you Zade or anyone else reading this is interested, a bloke runs a channel by the name of Dreamlands that does Homeworld and DoK multiplayer replays as well as a fantastic walk through of DoK that focuses heavily on the lore and it is fantastic.
Haha I'd believe it tbh. Might be that I need to put on my big boy pants and play pvp once in a while.... I still think skirmish in DoK is overall kind of weak. But for games likecoh3 later this year I'll certainly need to at least try pvp
@@Zade_95 At the end of the day play to your strengths, it is why we watch you after all. I just felt like an explanation was needed to justify DoK skirmishes and race packs.
This game originally was called Shipbreakers and was designed as being multiplayer only with not many ties to Homeworld at all since BBI didn’t own rights to the franchise. Then Gearbox bought the rights and aproached the BBI. Myvguess is that there was simply not enough time to make a better game and what was made still can’t be called a rushed product. It holds up pretty well and the story is nicely fledged out. I don’t think that there was enough time to think of a better multiplayer though.
Did you do this review because it was $8 on steam the other day. I bought it and love it so much.
Regrettably no. Full price for me!
I recently tried playing the game again after a year long hiatus and I have a bizarre bug.
In skirmish mode everything works fine but campaign is busted. All dialogue is not working, units won't talk, mission dialogue bizarrely skips, it's really weird.
So I thought "okay steam must have a corrupt download" and I deleted the local files in the folder, then uninstalled the game and re-installed it and it's still bugged.
Finally I tried digging through the documents and local folders to see if there was anything else I needed to try deleting but I couldn't find any files for Deserts of Kharak.
I've heard of others having similar trouble but I never found a solution that fixed my specific problem. Does anyone have any ideas how to fix it? I still have no idea why Skirmish dialogue works perfectly but Campaign alone is broke.
I really like the game and I wanna play it again but it's really lacking without the dialogue and story to the campaign.
If you're going to review original Homeworld games, I recommend that you do Cataclysm as well. It's my favourite of the 3, and unfortunately the only one that didn't get a remaster. Good review btw. You deserve more subs.
Yup, I will be! Haven't fully decided if it's going to be its own video or part of HW1 review. And thank you!
In regards to the story, the narrative of Homeworld has never been really character driven, it's about the Kushani people and their journey rather than any one character or group of characters. I mean sure, you might have your given Fleet Command or Fleet Intelligence but they aren't really fleshed out much. The real soul of it's story telling is more about the epic scale of it, the history of it and the subtle moments of terror, confusion and wonder that is often hinted at in the crew dialogue.
This game is annoyingly 2 thread limited. Tested it on fx 8300, phenom ii 955, q 9550 all show two threads max. Any method to make it less cpu demanding or use more threads?
I think this game would have been more successful in the RTS community had the multiplayer been better. Most of us love a great campaign in an RTS; however, its longevity will inherently be based on its multiplayer attraction. Thankfully, this game comes on sale quite often. I'll pick it up for the campaigns then.
I'm honestly think that all Sierra/BBI games are all worth playing in 2022 and beyond - nothing will ever defeat the Homeworld franchise as the RTS master race ❤️
Loved the game but yeah, wish there was more. I bought it on sale.
Had the same experience. Campaign is good, game otherwise lacks depth to stay interesting. Would have easily bought more campaign or single player DLC, but no such luck.
I'll admit that I have yet to finish Deserts of Kharak, whereas I've clocked Homeworld and specifically Homeworld 2 multiple times.
More Homeworld vid ?
Sure Im down for it ?
The developer took a single sentence in the original intro and make a game out of it: "An expedition was sent."
I finally played through this game earlier this year after a couple of earlier attempts when I lost interest after the first couple of missions, I found the start of the game to be a bit of drag hence the previous aborted attempts, once it gets going though it's a pretty solid title. It had quite an old school feel to it with a few newer elements thrown in which I appreciated being more of a fan of older RTS games.
The only thing that really bugged me was having to manually switch between normal and tactical views, it got quite annoying after a while, I much prefer the approach taken by Supreme Commander where if you zoom the camera out far enough it automatically switches to the tactical view and vice versa.
I wish they had a gameplay option for this because yeah I can imagine this game might attract a fair few supreme commander fans. Still space has to be there for the hard core homeworld fans, it feels like you are activating an advanced sensor or something, and in the original I always imagined it to be the biocomputers view of the battlefield that you are tapping into.
I guess there was always a high chance the next game would be in space again so there wouldn’t be a obvious point when scrolling out should change to the overview map, so maybe it makes sense to keep things consistent anyway in that sense.
any year is a good year to play a homeworld game
I am in mission 4 and found it kind of boring compared to homeworld some day I will finish it, hopefully next missions are better
"A bit more Dune and a bit Spicier"
I see what you did there.... and I approve.
Playing in 2024. Great game and a must play for any RTS genre fan.
I'm playing it for the first time right now and am loving it. After this replay HW1 and HW2 to be ready for HW3.
The lore in this game series is very well done. It could be a live action series if you could find someone to produce that wouldn't 💩💩💩💩 all over the source material.
The game was very lovely but sadly even there is 2 sides to choose, unit variety was not enough and late/big units were not so good. I guess they could at least add some more cool units.
YES!
Really like the game tbh.
Could`ve been better, but compared to what?
Man did I love sending out planes from the carrier.
Homeworld 3 is what I have hopes for, Kharak...... was a story game for me.
Should it have had a lower price point?
Maybe that would`ve been better.
But to be honest, I love story driven RTS games.
For me personally it was great.
How many times do you come across an antagonist to be actually right in the end?
Haha, compared to what is a good point. Homeworld 3 has lots to live up too, but it's looking positive so far!
Yes to homeworld 3 vid
I haven't played this game but the story being such a draw sounds wild, given that it's a prequel and what happens in the opener of Homeworld 1. It's technically a spoiler but come on, it's the first mission of a '90s game - Kharak gets Kharekt, sterilized of all life, as punishment for your people going into space. With that guaranteed down the timeline story-wise soon after that they must have pulled off a miracle to make whatever you do on the surface before that point not feel basically pointless.
Homeworld 3 next pls.
Maybe not next... But soon!!
I bought it when it was on sale.
The simple answer is yes, it is well worth playing, regardless of what year it is.
truth
I do agree with your criticisms. Only that I could describe the last mission as... underwealming like seriously underwealming. The mission overall was lacking in difficulty and the boss brought nothing new.
When it comes to the skirmish or just online side of the game. I think all of homeworld as a whole needs more work for online gameplay.
Homeworld mobile offers an idea. That it being an open world.
Imagine kharak (for example) being open world you have your carrier and a couple other units and you Rome the planet collecting resources, visiting bases and cities(imagine them as maps like tiir or epsilon) and of course fighting enemies? That to me could keep people playing for years to come especially if they add mod support, private servers and just adding. The space homeworlds should have no excuse for the last one. They are galaxy sized maps there is plenty to add.
Any thoughts?
I just started playing the campaign for the first time this week - after yrs of just AI skirmishes with this and the old HW2 games. Guess I just didn't care enough about the back story, but it's fairly entertaining so far.
I love the atmosphere in the game. Not the best RTS but it is ok.
game 9:43?
Tom Clancy's EndWar :)
I like the campaign, skirmish not so much, as you said it lacks gameplay/unit variety. The additional factions DLC can only be played in skirmish and multiplayer, wich makes it completly uninteresting for me.
The biggest problem of this game is a lack of mods, I'm not even sure if it's modable at all.
As much as I enjoyed playing the campaign, skrimish and multiplayer bored me out quite fast.
I am playing it today
There is still a small multiplayer community active.
i love in DOK aircrafts :) look at them i look at HW3 trailer ;)
Me too! Love the design
Have you seen Nebulous Fleet Command yet?
It is more of a tactical strategy game with no economy and matches based around a point system. Still I think it is a great game wort a look.
I know Homeworld 3 is coming but for some reason, I'm not excited for it. I have this nagging feeling it will be a Live Service in which case , I'll go on to Nebulous Fleet Command instead.
I haven't, but I'll look it up!
TL:DR Homeworld DOK is a single player game with a multiplayer as an afterthought, instead of most which are multiplayer games with the single player as an afterthought..
Pog 👌
👋👋
I am weirdly really excited for HW3 but also very scared that it would be ruined by business greed.
I do think I would have liked to see HW from another perspective again like we do with Cataclysm because Somtaaw is one of my favourite Kiith's and make Karen feel kind of hallow at time when you compare the plots.
HW2 wasn't bad but lacked memorable moments the first few missions up until you start dancing with the progenitor feels like you are replaying HW1.
The remastered looks awesome but I was disappointed, HW2 was fine but HW1's remaster felt like I was playing HW2 but HW1 it was awful and I liked the fact that my strikecraft and corvettes had fuel but luckily their are mods.