Homeworld and its sequel have been real-time technique video games that caught within the reminiscence primarily because of the environment they managed to create through dialogue, music decisions and putting ship designs. I had mentally labelled coming sequel Homeworld 3 as “extra of the identical, however higher wanting”, with out pondering far more about it.
A brand new improvement replace from builders Blackbird Interactive does not a lot show me fallacious as go into nice element about what “higher wanting” actually means – whereas additionally making me excited in regards to the new “taste layer” of ship-to-ship communication.
First up, the submit offers this extraordinarily transient glimpse of Homeworld 3’s cinematics, that are pre-rendered for the primary time and have “absolutely 3D modelled characters full with English language lipsyncing.”
It later offers a have a look at biomes, mothership lighting, nebulae, and all of the work that is going into “bringing ‘terrain’ to area fight” in Homeworld 3.
“In Homeworld 3, you will battle your fair proportion of battles in chilly, darkish area,” says the submit. “However [Physical Based Rendering] permits us to create ranges every with their very own distinctive visible id and near-photo realism. You may command fleets in low orbit above planets, or discover historic relics floating simply above a churning sea of clouds. And in every of those environments, the supplies of your ships will react with the sunshine with a degree of realism that, frankly, feels a bit awe-inspiring (sure, I am a tad biased right here).”
All of which appears interesting, but one way or the other it is the radio chatter that almost all excites me. When giving items instructions in Homeworld 3, they will vocally reply in two methods. The primary is through the ship’s commander, who might be “concise, clearly audible from all distance ranges,” and can give the participant suggestions in regards to the state of affairs. That is the “info layer”. Then a second voice will comply with, the ship’s tactical officer, who will supply “contextual conversational chatter” that may solely be heard by gamers in the event you’ve positioned the digital camera inside a sure vary. This “taste layer” is designed to humanise your items.
Notably, items will discuss to one another, to not you as their omniscient chief, and can chatter forwards and backwards about what’s occurring. You’ll be able to come into the center of a dialog as you zoom round a battlefield.
Watching these movies and reading the full developer update makes me realise: perhaps Homeworld 3 might be extra Homeworld however higher wanting, and higher sounding, however holy heck, what a deal with that could possibly be if it is true. Blackbird are aiming to launch it in February 2024.