Homeworld 3 was first announced back in 2019. A lot has happened since then, least of all to this game’s development—like its weird fan investor scheme being lauded then cancelled—but now, in August 2023, we have got our first real look at the game in action.
Almost a year to the date from our first brief look, developers Blackbird Interactive have put together a lengthy gameplay demonstration for GamesCom, and it is exactly the kind of thing I want to be seeing from games that are still in development.
This is actual gameplay! There’s a cursor and a user interface on the screen. It lets us see how the game actually plays. Sure, it may not be final, hands-on gameplay footage that we’re seeing broadcast in real-time from someone playing the game, but for a major show presentation, it’s pretty neat.
It’s the kind of thing Homeworld fans are most interested in, too. We knew the ships looked cool, but how the game played—and how we’d be able to make use of tactics in deep space—is what I want to be seeing, and this video delivers, highlighting stuff like unit formations, the use of cover and even little callbacks to the original games like the ability to steal enemy units and the fuzzy little blue lights of the Resource Collectors.
Plus, you know, the whole just looks really nice. Exactly what you’d want a Homeworld game to look like in modern times. Everything that made the originals such a slick visual experience is there, its now just at higher resolutions and with fancier effects.
Homeworld 3 will be out on PC sometime next year, with publishers Gearbox giving a timeframe of “first half 2023".