Is ‘War Games’ the secret weapon in Homeworld 3?

Skirmish mode was the one feature that kept me returning to Homeworld time and time again. When I was in college, setting up a fast (“quick”) duel against the CPU would frequently cost me a whole weekend. A new option dubbed War Games, a multiplayer cooperative game inspired by roguelikes, is coming to Homeworld 3’s second sequel.

In a series of randomized challenges, it pits one, two, or three players against the opposition; you can only advance if you can survive. I’ve been playing an early version of the mode over the past few days, and it’s impressive enough, especially considering how much “roguelike” and “multiplayer co-op” turn me off.

(Image Credit: Blackbird Interactive / Gearbox )

Each campaign has a predetermined fleet that you can choose from early on. As you gain experience points, more options become available. After that, you must complete three missions, each in a different setting, until you eliminate the adversary’s carrier. These tasks include rescuing captured citizens, striking enemy fortifications, and escorting friendly transports from one side of the map to the other. You must manage resources, which are more limited than in previous Homeworld games, while balancing your demands for attack and defense against the need to study ship upgrades.

Players will gather artifacts throughout each campaign, which are arbitrary boosts for your ships. These come with a boost, such as speedier ships or more potent weaponry, but at the expense of defensive stats or the responsiveness of each vehicle. You have the choice to stay behind after completing your mission to maintain your fleet and stock up on supplies.

However, doing so puts you at risk of being soon overpowered by the adversary, whose attacks become more intense the longer you survive. A large hyperspace leap button will appear over your screen as soon as the tasks are completed, urging you to flee as quickly as possible.

War Games can be played alone, although I don’t advise it. With others, it’s far more enjoyable and places more of a focus on teamwork and coordination. This is one of the rare situations, as a traditional multiplayer game hater, where I’d want to play with pals. Not to mention that playing War Games is the kind of activity where splitting the mental load feels extremely fantastic.

(Image Credit: Blackbird Interactive / Gearbox )

Although it’s unclear to what extent the gameplay of War Games will be representative of Homeworld 3, it’s difficult to resist the urge to do so. The variations here are more than a bit startling if you have decades of muscle memory, at least initially. It does gain from almost two decades of advancements, with stunning graphics that lean even more heavily into the ’70s sci-fi look the games have always hinted at.

The fight in Homeworld 3 has evolved in certain ways, taking place within the wreckage of alien megastructures rather than in the open sky. Here is where I really struggled: The richness of these stunning backdrops makes it challenging to distinguish the pinpricks of your spacecraft.

The War Games announcement is only one of several that will be made in the lead-up to the release of Homeworld 3 to create excitement. (On the Epic Games Store, the series’ precursor Deserts of Kharak is presently free.) The scenario, which is set a generation after the events of Homeworld 2, has been sketched out in the most recent story teaser. Opening the hyperspace gates ushered in a brave new era of riches and peace, but not everyone was content with the current situation.

The Pride of Higara and Karan S’Jet investigated a number of missing ships and anomalies, but the ship never made it back. A new enemy, the Incarnate, interrupts Imogen S’Jet’s shakedown tour as she prepares to be placed as the new Fleet Command aboard a new mothership after a number of years.

The narrative of Homeworld 3 is expanding to examine how all of this affects folks below the very top. We will, according to Blackbird Interactive, get our first look inside the mothership and learn how these missions affect the people dispatched to battle them. A new character named Isaac Paktu is an experienced war commander who will be in charge of missions. His and Imogen’s backstories will be developed in short stories that will be posted on the Homeworld website. Giving the characters on the front lines more depth should help raise the stakes, given the very sterile manner in which Fleet Command used to inform you of a lost unit.

Regarding War Games, you might anticipate that a small but incredibly devoted segment of the fandom will take to its mix of cooperation and punishment.