A great caravan crosses the endless deserts of Kharak, a dying planet that is home to two great military powers: The Coalition and the Gaalsien. Against the horizon, the carrier could be mistaken for an aircraft carrier on the oceans of Earth, but this is Kharak, and that is a sea of sand. So begins the upcoming real-time strategy game Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.
Homeworld and Homeworld 2 were beloved RTS games that have maintained a dedicated, though sometimes small, fan base through the years. They were unique takes on the classic RTS formula, putting your units into space and including three-dimensional movement. Combining this with a hard sci-fi art design resulted in a wonderful new style of RTS. Unfortunately, it went dormant for over a decade. Now, with the Homeworld IP in the hands of new owners, the series finally gets a new title: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.
Deserts of Kharak is a prequel to the original Homeworld games. It tells the story before the mothership was built, when the people were seeking for salvation on a dying planet. A desperate expedition is sent out to recover the Primary Anomaly, which they hope will save them. The game, then, gives a feel of a Battlestar Galactica story; one last fleet of (land) ships, one final chance to save our people.
I really love the way this game looks. The mix of the rugged industrial motifs of the ships traveling through the desert and the naval iconography of the aircraft carrier on wheels (which is an idea I just love!) works supremely well. I specifically adore the fact that the UI is modeled to look exactly like what you would imagine the characters in the game would be looking at on their computer screens. Art and design on this game is top notch and make this game stand out from other RTSs, while still hearkening back to what made the art of the original Homeworld games special. Not only this, but the game is high-quality 3d animation. Every unit has physics and interacts with the terrain. A light vehicle, for example, might get airborne for a few seconds after going over a dune, and tires will visibly jostle when a unit encounter uneven ground. This is way more attention to detail than most RTS games give.
I also very much like the combat. The two factions in the game are similar enough that you can pick up the other pretty quickly if you’ve learned one, but also different in very cool ways. The Coalition is great at defending particular locations; they can build turrets and must build stationary logistics modules to increase their fleet. The Gaalsien, in contrast, are all about mobility and covering the map. They can produce units from multiple locations simultaneously and their units generally are quicker and more mobile. They also do not need static logistics beacons because they upgrade their fleet capacity as research on the carrier.
One interesting difference between Kharak and many other RTSes is that there is no mini-map. Instead, hitting the space bar shifts the view into a strategic view of the battlefield. It is easy to read and understand the units on the map from their unique symbols, and this view works just as well as a mini-map, while avoiding using the screen space all the time. It might not fit every RTS, for example those more diverse types of units might not work because too many discrete symbols would need to created; but it definitely fits Kharak.
The only major flaw I have identified so far is that the AI in skirmish seems a bit too easy to beat. It tends to suicide large numbers of light vehicles to waste all its resources. I’m sure, though, that this is an area where we will see some patching in the future. Also, once the game is released, I’ll probably only play skirmish mode in multiplayer.
Overall I would definitely recommend Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak for anyone who loves Homeworld or strategy games. It offers enough tactical nuance to be interesting, especially in multiplayer, while not being too obscure to pick up quickly. Playing the previous games is not required, as this is an accessible title for newcomers to the series.
Early access review code provided by Gearbox and Blackbird through Evolve PR.
For more information, check out my YouTube series on the game: