You just need to learn how to drive the Kapisi - a giant production facility that also doubles as a self-sufficient aircraft carrier and battle fortress - and how to strategize your units. But this mostly serves as a link rather than an important plot point you don't need to know future events to understand the story beats. For example, main character Rachel S'jet is an ancestor to Karan S'jet, who leads Homeworld 1 and 2. The game is filled with Easter eggs and references that connect the two sides together. Thanks to a streamlined story and a beautiful, hand-drawn style that emphasizes the emptiness of sand and dust, I never felt at a loss as someone who never played much of the original Homeworld games.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a prequel, but also exists as a stand-alone title. Luckily for fans and the uninitiated, the game that would eventually become Deserts of Kharak bridges that gap in time. Besides a re-release of the first two games, there hasn't been much anchoring the franchise in the public consciousness. The history of the Homeworld name is complicated, with the licensing changing hands multiple times before landing with Gearbox in 2013. Turtling up, a standard in many RTS games, is a no-go here as the focus is on mobility and envelopment.But the drastic change in this setting makes sense, not only in terms of the narrative, but also as a way to reboot a franchise whose first installment dates back to 1999 and has been stagnant for years. The scattered resources necessitate moving your position to protect your salvagers. You change from desperately trying to hide and protect your carrier to using her as the centrepiece of your last push to crush the enemy.
Missiles and autocannon fire will devastate attackers while return fire glances off your armour. Your carrier is a killing machine by the late game in single and multiplayer. The change is so gradual that it takes a while to realise it’s happening at all. You’ll curse it more than once as it lumbers along while your agile light vehicles zoom ahead. It's slow, weak, and it’s an instant game over if it’s destroyed. A monstrous landcrawler, it starts off as more of a burden than a blessing. This makes for some tough strategic decisions as you have to decide whether it’s worth splitting your forces to outflank an enemy versus remaining together and trying to bulldoze through their front line. Light vehicles will scale dunes with ease while cruisers will navigate around them.Įndgame as two carriers draw close. Mobility is affected by a unit’s size and larger vehicles won’t be able to traverse some terrain. This gorgeous terrain isn’t just for show either. It provides a surprisingly varied environment from wide-open dune seas to claustrophobic canyons. As the game’s title would suggest, the desert is your battleground. It’s difficult to go too deep into the story without spoilers so the remainder of this article will focus on Deserts of Kharak’s unique gameplay. The Coalition represents the last hope for the planet but is opposed at every turn by the Gaalsien, religious fanatics who wage a crusade of destruction against their sworn enemies. The player takes control of a Coalition expedition venturing southward into the deep desert. Their sole hope rests on the discovery of a mysterious artifact hidden in the sands. A dying world, the deserts continue to spread, year after year, with most of the population concentrated on the poles. The latest entry in the franchise, 2016’s Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, is a prequel to the original games, set on the planet of Kharak. It was a standout release, critically acclaimed for its immersive story and innovative gameplay.
#Homeworld deserts of kharak series#
T he Homeworld series remains a defining classic of the RTS genre.