Info about Homeworld 3:

Official game description:
Editions
========
The Homeworld 3: Fleet Command edition includes the Base Game, Year One Pass, Multiplayer Customization Set, & Digital Soundtrack.  
The Year One Pass includes three DLC drops that expand the co-op War Games mode with new playable factions and artifacts.
About the Game
==============
Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale.  
Strategic freedom is yours. Hulking space derelicts called megaliths bring 3D terrain into the classic Homeworld battlespace. Use the crumbling remains of an ancient civilization to funnel foes into a brilliant ambush or hide your fleet from powerful enemies. Fortresses teem with menacing turrets and invite your strike craft into dangerous trench runs deep behind enemy lines. But not everything is in your control. Dangerous space phenomena like particle storms and asteroid fields will test even senior commanders.  
Attack head-on, with a clever flank, or even from above and below your foes. Homeworld 3’s fully simulated ballistics make line of sight and cover critical strategic considerations. Your fleet persists from mission to mission. Scars on your ships linger. Strike craft pilots and capital ship captains pass along critical information through battlefield chatter.  
Homeworld’s timeless art style evolves with modern technology, offering an incredible sense of scale, destruction, and wonder. Strike craft fly in formation between hulking Battlecruisers against a backdrop of stars and nebulae. Iconic ships cast silhouettes over the remains of ancient civilizations. Explosions ripple and erupt across hulls as one fleet stakes its victory over another.  
Homeworld’s game-of-the-year winning story continues. Since the end of Homeworld 2, the galaxy enjoyed an age of abundance thanks to the Hyperspace Gate Network. Cycles of plenty and war have come and gone. Now the gates themselves are catastrophically failing and Karan, who has passed into myth and religious idolatry, is the key to the mystery threatening a galaxy’s future.  
War Games, the all-new three player co-op mode extends your game beyond the campaign. Fusing Homeworld’s RTS gameplay with roguelike inspiration, commanders take on a randomized series of fleet combat challenges. Claim powerful Artifacts that augment your ships with more power, speed, and, of course, weapons. Based on your results, you’ll unlock new fleets to shake up your strategy.  
Your ultimate test of tactical skill comes in battle against human opponents. Sharpen your instincts in AI skirmish matches, before squaring off with human opponents in 1v1, free-for-all, or team battles.  
Mods allow players to craft their own content for Homeworld 3 and share it with players around the world. From rebuilding maps with megaliths, to augmenting ships, the Unreal game editor is at your fingertips. If direct creation isn’t your thing, enjoy the creativity of the community by downloading mods hassle-free through in-game mod.io integration.

Release date: May 13, 2024

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Space Combat, Tactical, Multiplayer, Cooperative Gameplay, Mod Support, Story-driven Gameplay, Ship Customization

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 85; verdict: Predatory Monetization; summary: The reviews indicate significant dissatisfaction with the game's monetization strategies, particularly regarding the high base price, the cost and accessibility of DLCs, and the perceived cash grab nature of the game. Players feel that the game is overpriced and that additional content should have been included in the base game. There are also complaints about the season pass being a waste of money and the developers abandoning the game. These issues have led to a strong negative sentiment among players.
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback for the game reveals several key issues. The control scheme is a significant point of frustration for many users, with complaints about it being confusing and poorly designed. While the game runs well on Linux and Steam Deck with some adjustments, it requires additional configuration, which may not be ideal for all users. The user interface has also been criticized for being less readable and more demanding than previous versions. Overall, while the game has its strengths, these issues highlight areas that need improvement for a better user experience.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $5.00 - $30.00
  - Reasoning: The evidence consistently indicates that users find the game not worth the full price of around $60. Many reviews suggest that the game is only worth purchasing at a significant discount, often mentioning specific lower price points such as $5, $30, or during sales like 50% off or more. The general sentiment is that the game does not provide enough value to justify its full price, leading to a recommended price range that is substantially lower than the current base price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 14.0h
  - Story completion: 10.0h
  - Session length: 2.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct mentions of playtime metrics. The first quote mentions a total playtime of 14 hours for the campaign, including breaks. The second quote suggests that the campaign can be played at a leisurely pace, except for timed missions. The third quote compares the campaign length to previous games, indicating it is shorter. The fourth quote mentions a playtime of 10 hours, including tutorials. These quotes help estimate the typical playtime for game completion, story completion, and session length.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Homeworld 3's fun factor is anchored in its 'War Games' mode and cooperative play, with initial friction due to a lackluster campaign and learning curve. Customization and playing with friends significantly enhance the experience.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: War games mode and cooperative play
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: Lackluster campaign; Initial learning curve; Boring skirmish battles; Tedious cutscenes
  - Unlock drivers: Cooperative play; Roguelite progression in War Games; Customization options
  - Conditions: Playing with friends; Customizing settings; Engaging in War Games mode
- Player Archetypes:
  - Gameplay Enthusiast (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of gameplay mechanics
    - Playstyle: Focuses on balanced and enjoyable gameplay, appreciates updates and cooperative missions.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: veteran; fan of the series
    - Reference games: Homeworld 1; Homeworld 2
  - Disappointed Franchise Fan (no buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and love for the series
    - Playstyle: Compares new releases to previous titles, values story and campaign depth.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: no buy
    - Labels: franchise fan; veteran
    - Reference games: Homeworld 1; Homeworld 2
  - Artistic and Thoughtful Player (buy)
    - Motivation: Appreciation for artistic and creative aspects
    - Playstyle: Focuses on the creative and artistic elements, uses games for personal growth.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: artistic player; thoughtful player
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent graphics and visuals (weight 0.31): The game is praised for its stunning visuals, beautiful units, and high-quality graphics. Players appreciate the visual improvements over previous games and the overall aesthetic appeal.
- Faithful successor to Homeworld (weight 0.14): The game retains the feel and style of the Homeworld series, offering a solid successor to previous games. Players appreciate the familiar gameplay and the next-gen improvements.
- Enjoyable gameplay experience (weight 0.11): Players find the game enjoyable and fun to play. It offers a solid and playable experience that is worth a playthrough.
- Engaging and well-designed story (weight 0.11): The story is praised for being interesting, well-designed, and entertaining. Players enjoy the storyline and its presentation.
- Variety in mission design (weight 0.09): The game offers a variety of missions, each with unique and fun designs. Players appreciate the solid mission variety and the creativity in mission design.
- Good music and soundtrack (weight 0.08): The music is described as good, fantastic, and on theme. Players appreciate the overall quality of the soundtrack and its contribution to the game's atmosphere.
- Well-done cutscenes (weight 0.05): The cutscenes are praised for being fully rendered and well done. Players appreciate the good camera work and the overall quality of the cinematics.
- Enjoyable singleplayer campaign (weight 0.05): Players enjoyed the singleplayer campaign, finding it immersive and not disappointing. The campaign is highlighted as a strong point of the game.
- Superb voice acting (weight 0.04): The voice acting is praised for being superb and well done. Players appreciate the professional and realistic performances.
- Easy-to-learn controls (weight 0.04): The controls are described as standard, easy to learn, and offering high freedom. Players appreciate the ease of picking up and playing the game.
- Cool and well-done ship models (weight 0.04): The ship models are praised for being cool and well done. Players appreciate the visual appeal and the overall quality of the ship designs.
- Good value at discounted price (weight 0.04): The game is considered worth the price at a discount. Players recommend getting it on a solid discount for the best value.
- Nice Wargames mode (weight 0.04): The Wargames mode is praised for being a nice addition to the game. Players enjoy the AI battles and the overall experience of this new game mode.
- Variety of specialized ships (weight 0.04): The game offers a variety of ships, each with unique and specialized designs. Players appreciate the balanced fleet and the overall variety in ship models.

Common complaints:
- Weak and poorly written story (weight 0.21): The story is widely criticized for being poorly written, incoherent, and underwhelming. Players find it forgettable and lacking in depth.
- Poor gameplay mechanics (weight 0.17): The gameplay is criticized for being unpolished, simplistic, and lacking depth. Players report issues with controls, combat, mission design, and overall game feel, leading to a lackluster experience.
- Short game duration (weight 0.15): Players report that the game is too short, with a brief campaign and limited playtime, leading to a lack of replay value.
- Game abandonment by developers (weight 0.15): Many players feel that the developers have abandoned the game, leaving it unfinished and unsupported. This has led to a lack of updates and unfulfilled promises.
- Cringeworthy and excessive cutscenes (weight 0.13): Cutscenes are described as cringey, poorly done, and overacted. They are also criticized for being too frequent and unskippable, interrupting gameplay.
- Game not worth the price (weight 0.12): Many players feel that the game is overpriced and not worth the full price, given its content and quality.
- Pathfinding and AI issues (weight 0.09): Players report significant problems with pathfinding and AI movement, leading to frustrating and sometimes game-breaking experiences.
- Buggy and poorly optimized (weight 0.07): The game is reported to be incredibly buggy, with constant crashes and game-breaking bugs, leading to a poor overall experience.
- Frustrating map design (weight 0.06): Maps are noted for being too small, claustrophobic, and challenging to navigate, detracting from the space setting.
- Fleet management issues (weight 0.06): Managing and commanding the fleet is reported to be frustrating and cumbersome, adding to the game's difficulties.
- Lack of support and content (weight 0.06): The game is criticized for lacking support, new content, and rich options, leading to a less engaging experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Complex RTS mechanics and gameplay (weight 0.12): The game features advanced and complex real-time strategy mechanics, including unit management, formations, and dynamic maps, offering a more intricate gameplay experience compared to the original.
- Cooperative and multiplayer modes (weight 0.06): The game supports cooperative play and multiplayer modes, offering different playing styles and enhancing replayability.
- Comparisons to previous games (weight 0.06): The game is frequently compared to previous Homeworld games and other titles in the series, with players noting similarities and differences.
- Space-based RTS setting (weight 0.06): The game is set in space, featuring 3D space combat and tactics, fitting within the space strategy and sci-fi genres.
- Strong storytelling and character development (weight 0.06): The game is praised for its well-designed story, coherent storyline, and good character development, contributing to a compelling narrative.
- Interactive 3D environments (weight 0.05): The game features new, interactive 3D environments and a focus on large structures, enhancing the visual and tactical aspects of gameplay.
- Wargames PVE mode (weight 0.05): The game includes a PVE mode called War Games, providing additional content and gameplay variety.
- Diverse ship types and allocation (weight 0.05): The game offers a variety of ships, but there are mentions of a ship limit cap affecting gameplay.
- Detailed gameplay mechanics (weight 0.05): The game includes specific gameplay mechanics and objectives, with comparisons to previous games highlighting improvements and differences.
- Mixed reviews on single-player campaign (weight 0.04): The single-player campaign has its moments but is overall considered weak, with mentions of scenario and campaign gameplay.
- Unit management controls (weight 0.04): The game features controls and mechanics for unit management and selection, which are standard but essential for RTS gameplay.
- Tactical use of terrain (weight 0.04): The game allows for tactical depth using giant objects as terrain, building environments that function as tactical terrain in space.
- Character design and animations (weight 0.04): The game features character design and development, with animations contributing to the overall presentation.
- 3D navigation challenges (weight 0.04): The game includes missions with specific objectives and navigation challenges, although some players note the absence of gravity effects.
- Unit construction and orders (weight 0.04): The game includes mechanics for unit construction and issuing orders, which are crucial for strategic gameplay.
- Graphics and sound design (weight 0.04): The game's graphics are considered fine, with good music and atmosphere contributing to the overall experience.
- Pathfinding in open space (weight 0.04): The game features pathfinding mechanics for ship routing in open space, which can be challenging and impact gameplay.
- Unchanged core mechanics (weight 0.04): The core gameplay mechanics are noted to be fundamentally unchanged from the original games, leading to mixed reviews on gameplay innovation.

Performance notes:
- Performance issues and stuttering (weight 0.11): The game suffers from performance issues including stuttering, lag, and poor optimization, especially noticeable on various hardware configurations.
- Mixed optimization feedback (weight 0.1): Optimization feedback is mixed; some players report good performance on specific setups, while others experience significant issues.
- Frequent crashes reported (weight 0.08): Many players have reported that the game crashes constantly, which significantly disrupts the gameplay experience.
- Visuals and graphics praised (weight 0.05): The game has been praised for its visuals, including intricate ship models and particle effects that enhance the combat experience.
- Technical and server problems (weight 0.05): Players have encountered various technical issues and server problems that hinder the overall gaming experience.
- Ship behavior anomalies (weight 0.04): Ships exhibit unusual behaviors such as stopping mid-fight, getting stuck on structures, and erratic movements, which affect gameplay negatively.
- Pathfinding bugs (weight 0.01): There are notable bugs with pathfinding, which can disrupt gameplay and immersion.
- Long loading times (weight 0.01): Players have reported long loading times, which can be frustrating and detract from the overall experience.
- Memory leak issue (weight 0.01): There is a reported memory leak issue that affects game performance and stability.

Recommendations:
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.15): Many reviewers suggest waiting for a significant discount before purchasing the game, with recommendations ranging from 50% to 90% off.
- Recommended for Homeworld fans (weight 0.13): The game is often recommended for fans of the Homeworld series, suggesting that those who enjoyed previous games will likely appreciate this one as well.
- Try remastered collections first (weight 0.12): Reviewers recommend playing the remastered collections of the previous Homeworld games to set proper expectations and understand the series better.
- Mixed recommendations on purchase (weight 0.08): While some reviewers highly recommend the game, others do not recommend buying it at all, indicating a divide in opinions on its value.
- Worth trying for specific players (weight 0.06): The game is suggested to be worth trying for specific groups such as RTS lovers, fans of 3D space battles, and those interested in multiplayer.
- Previous games preferred (weight 0.05): Some reviewers indicate that previous games in the series, such as Homeworld 1 and 2 or Deserts of Kharak, are better options for new players.
- Potential for future improvements (weight 0.02): There are suggestions that the game could be improved with additional campaigns through DLC or mods, and some reviewers hope for a sequel.
- Not for beginners (weight 0.01): The game is not recommended for beginners, suggesting it might be more suitable for experienced players or fans of the series.

Other player notes:
- Disappointed with Early Access (weight 0.02): Players express regret over purchasing the game in its Early Access state, indicating dissatisfaction with the current state of the game.
- Requests French language support (weight 0.02): There are wishes from players for the addition of French language support, suggesting a demand for more language options.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.41): Players feel let down by various aspects of the game, including the story, character design, and gameplay mechanics. Many expected a game that lived up to the standards set by previous titles in the series, but found it lacking in depth, customization, and overall quality.
- Frustration (weight 0.18): Players are frustrated with several gameplay issues, including poor AI, pathfinding problems, and frequent cutscenes that interrupt gameplay. Additionally, controls and camera issues, as well as game crashes and bugs, contribute to a frustrating experience.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.08): Despite some flaws, players find satisfaction in the game's graphics, campaign, and overall gameplay. The value at a discounted price and the nostalgic elements also contribute to their satisfaction.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.07): Players enjoy the game for its fun gameplay, interesting story, and polished features. The overall experience, including space battles and mechanics, contributes to their enjoyment despite some flaws.
- Anger (weight 0.05): Players are angry about the game's high price, poor quality, and the feeling of being betrayed by the developers. The abandonment of the game and the locking of content behind specific modes also contribute to their anger.
- Joy (weight 0.03): Players find joy in the well-written story, enjoyable characters, and creative mission design. The game's visuals, music, and faithfulness to the Homeworld series also bring them joy.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.02): Players feel nostalgic due to memories of previous games in the series and the game's ability to evoke those memories. The soundtrack and comparisons to earlier titles contribute to this feeling.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Players hope for future improvements, additional content, and potential modding scenes. They also hope that the developers learn from their mistakes and continue the franchise.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Players are confused by certain missions, the negativity surrounding the game, and the lack of strategic elements. Some also do not understand the criticism and hate the game received.
- Disappointed (weight 0.02): Players are disappointed with various aspects of the game, including gameplay mechanics, story, unit interactions, and textures. The game's lack of depth and creativity also contribute to their disappointment.
- Excitement (weight 0.01): Players are excited about the game's atmosphere, soundtrack, and level architecture. The dynamic maps and overall quality of the game also contribute to their excitement.
- Sadness (weight 0.01): Players feel sad due to the game's failure to live up to expectations and the potential lack of future games in the series. The negative reviews and the game's reputation also contribute to their sadness.
- Surprise (weight 0.01): Players are pleasantly surprised by the game despite negative reviews. They find the game better than expected and are surprised by the positive aspects.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Players regret not getting the game sooner or spending a significant amount of money on the collector's edition. They feel they wasted their money on the game.
- Annoyance (weight 0): Players are annoyed by constant speech from a character and the goofy, melodramatic cutscenes. These elements detract from their overall enjoyment of the game.
- Positive (weight 0): Players have a positive experience with the gameplay and narrative. The amazing atmosphere and campaign contribute to their positive feelings.
- Admiration (weight 0): Players admire the game's visuals, combat mechanics, and overall ambition. The graphics and atmosphere of the game are particularly praised.
- Appreciation (weight 0): Players appreciate the developers' work and the modernization of the series. They value the positive aspects such as music, visuals, and gameplay.
- Disapproval (weight 0): Players disapprove of the original pricing and the appearance of the female protagonist. These aspects negatively impact their view of the game.
- Excited (weight 0): Players are excited about the visuals, story, and tactical gameplay. The new mother ship design is particularly praised and adds to their excitement.}