Info about Homeworld Remastered Collection:

Official game description:
**The Homeworld Remastered Collection includes**:  
*   Homeworld Remastered Edition  
*   Homeworld 2 Remastered Edition  
*   Homeworld Remastered Steam Multiplayer
**As a bonus, you will also receive free access to:**  
*   Homeworld Classic  
*   Homeworld 2 Classic
Experience the epic space strategy games that redefined the RTS genre. Control your fleet and build an armada across more than 30 single-player missions. Choose unit types, fleet formations and flight tactics for each strategic situation. Utilize advanced research to construct ships ranging from light fighters to huge carriers and everything in between.  
The Homeworld games have been painstakingly re-mastered with key members of the original development team and taking critical influence and assistance from the passionate fan community. The Homeworld Remastered Collection introduces Relic's acclaimed space strategy games Homeworld and Homeworld 2 to modern players and operating systems using the newest sophisticated graphics rendering technology, plus a fully remastered score and new, high fidelity voice recordings by the original actors.  
As a free bonus, this collection also includes original, non-remastered versions of Homeworld Classic and Homeworld 2 Classic, preserving the purest form of the original releases with compatibility for modern operating systems.  
Homeworld Remastered Collection also provides access to the Homeworld Remastered Steam Multiplayer. The competitive multiplayer modes for both Homeworld and Homeworld 2 have been combined into one centralized mode that will allow you access to content (races, maps and game modes) and improvements, features and technology from both games, allowing you to play unlimited competitive multiplayer space battles on an epic scale.
Key Features:
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*   Build and battle with more than 100 space ships  
*   Updated high-res textures and models  
*   New graphical effects  
*   Support for HD, UHD, and 4K resolutions  
*   New audio mix using original source effects and music  
*   Cinematic scenes recreated in beautiful high fidelity by original artists  
*   Mod support and mod tools  
*   Bonus archival versions of Homeworld Classic and Homeworld 2 classic, preserving the purest form of the original releases with compatibility for modern operating systems  
*   • Access to Homeworld Remastered Steam Multiplayer: play Homeworld races against Homeworld 2 races with up to eight players on 23 maps, plus brand new game modes

Release date: Feb 25, 2015

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Space Combat, Fleet Management, Single-player Campaigns, Multiplayer, Mod Support, Resource Management, Research and Technology

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 5; verdict: Works Well; summary: The game runs excellent on Linux using Proton with no reported issues, supports mods, and works on Steam Deck. All feedback is positive.
- Steam Deck: score 80; verdict: Troubled: Crashes and UI Problems; summary: The game exhibits frequent crashes (every 2 out of 3 sessions) and unreadable UI elements, despite some users reporting successful Proton compatibility. Accessibility options exist but do not fully resolve the readability issues.

- Hardware Profile:
  - Summary: Both Windows hardware cohorts report persistent crashes and stability issues, with all provided snippets being negative.
  - Sample size: 33 (5% coverage)
  - Audience skew: Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
  - Windows <8GB VRAM (negative, 18 reports): A user with 8GB VRAM reports constant crashes despite high frame rates.
  - Windows 12-15GB VRAM (negative, 10 reports): Users with 16GB VRAM report hard crashes and display issues.
  - Caveats: 33 of 616 reviews expose hardware metadata.; Review sample is mostly Windows-based.
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $20.00 - $35.00
  - Reasoning: Multiple reviewers express that the game provides good value at the full price of $34.99 (current base), citing quality, campaign length, and inclusion of both classics. However, others recommend waiting for a sale, suggesting that the full price is higher than ideal for many players. The community fair base price range balances these views: a minimum near sale prices (around $20) that many would accept, and a maximum at the full price ($35) that dedicated fans find justifiable.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 41.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 1.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: Game completion (41h) is directly reported by a Chinese player as total time to finish the entire collection. Story/campaign completion is not clearly reported for the full combined campaign; individual campaigns take 9-13h, but total story length is only estimated, so set to null. Session length is derived from a German player stating typical matches last 20min-2h, with 1h as a reasonable midpoint. No specific endgame playtime hours are mentioned in the evidence, hence null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: Homeworld Remastered Collection offers an immediate sense of epic space warfare for some, but many players report a slow pacing, steep learning curve, and clunky controls that delay or prevent fun until the game's tactics and story are understood.
  - Stance: Clicks after
  - Anchor: Learning the game's tactics
  - Time to anchor: N/A
  - Friction: slow campaign pacing; steep learning curve; clunky controls; tutorial does not teach well; no fast-forward option; tedious resource gathering
  - Unlock drivers: persistent campaign units; story immersion; learning optimal tactics; multiplayer and skirmish modes
  - Conditions: strategy planning; co-op multiplayer; skirmish mode; enjoying the story
- Player Archetypes:
  - Tactical Strategist (buy)
    - Motivation: Engaging in deep tactical and strategic gameplay that requires real thought and adaptation across missions.
    - Playstyle: Carefully manages fleet composition, prioritizes resource efficiency, uses hit-and-run or scouting tactics, and adapts strategies based on mission requirements.
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: RTS veteran; tactical player; strategy enthusiast
    - Reference games: Age of Empires; StarCraft; WarCraft
  - Story-Driven Explorer (buy)
    - Motivation: Experiencing a compelling space opera story with deep lore and emotional impact.
    - Playstyle: Focuses on single-player campaign, takes time to enjoy cutscenes and music, plays at own pace with less emphasis on multiplayer or skirmish.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: story-first gamer; science fiction fan; space opera lover
    - Reference games: Halo; Star Control II; Mass Effect
  - Veteran Critic (deep sale)
    - Motivation: Preserving the original experience and critiquing how the remaster deviates from it.
    - Playstyle: Compares remaster mechanics to original, often plays classic versions instead, scrutinizes changes and bugs.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: deep sale
    - Labels: Homeworld veteran; original purist; old-school player
    - Reference games: Homeworld 1 (original); Homeworld 2 (original)


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:
- Visual remaster is excellent (weight 0.54): Players consistently praise the visual overhaul, noting the upgraded graphics, ship detail, music integration, and widescreen support. The remaster retains the original atmosphere while modernizing the presentation.
- Atmosphere remains captivating (weight 0.29): The game's atmosphere is consistently praised as beautiful, immersive, and nostalgic, with haunting music, alive-feeling nebulae, and a peaceful yet compelling space environment.
- Gameplay remains strong (weight 0.19): Core mechanics like unit design, strategy, and mission structure are praised for being solid and easy to understand, with great gameplay that holds up over time.
- Removed annoyances (weight 0.12): Improvements include better ship pathfinding, removed collision damage, and stripping the fuel mechanic, which reduces frustration and streamlines gameplay.
- Tactical flexibility intact (weight 0.09): Players highlight the ability to kamikaze fighters and capture everything despite nerfs to salvage corvettes, indicating tactical options and emergent strategies are preserved.
- Genre and mod support (weight 0.08): Fans of the space RTS genre enjoy the game's setting and mod support via Steam Workshop, which adds replayability.
- Ship persistence valued (weight 0.05): One user specifically appreciates the conservation of ships across missions, which adds strategic depth and investment in fleet management.
- Faster resource gathering (weight 0.04): Resource gathering is noted as faster than in many other games, improving pacing.
- Great game concept (weight 0.04): The overall concept of the game is appreciated, suggesting core design philosophy resonates.

Common complaints:
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.49): The game suffers from frequent crashes to desktop, including on loading screens and mid-game, with specific access violation errors on modern systems like Windows 11. AMD GPU users report endless crashes within an hour of play.
- Unbalanced adaptive difficulty (weight 0.43): Adaptive or scaling difficulty dynamically increases enemy numbers and creates counter units, punishing good play. This forces players to scuttle their fleet at the end of missions to avoid impossible later missions, ruining fleet preparation.
- Poor controls and UI (weight 0.41): Controls are clunky, unintuitive, and frustrating, especially for 3D navigation and unit selection. Key bindings are cumbersome, and the interface is cluttered, making real-time gameplay difficult.
- Campaign mission bugs (weight 0.41): Missions are plagued with bugs: softlocks, impossible objectives, missing triggers, and bosses that regenerate health. Specific missions like Mission 8 in HW1 are unpassable unless played in a certain way.
- Broken ship docking (weight 0.33): Docking bugs cause ships to circle the mothership without docking, leading to fuel depletion in the classic version. This makes strike craft and corvettes unable to return to base, rendering the game unplayable in classic mode.
- Bugged formation system (weight 0.28): Formation controls are bugged, with formations breaking on engagement or not functioning at all. Sphere formation and others fail to work, which is critical for a formation-based game like Homeworld.
- Weak story and cinematics (weight 0.24): The story and cinematics are weak, with rare dialogues and static screens between missions. The narrator interrupts gameplay with slow dialogue, and the campaign feels cheap and lacking depth.
- Dated and slow gameplay (weight 0.22): The game feels mechanically dated with slow pacing, no fast-forward option, and tedious resource gathering. Battles involve long waiting periods with no speed control, making it boring.
- Performance and pacing issues (weight 0.22): The framerate becomes unplayable every 20-30 minutes, and unit movement is slow, leading to boring waiting periods. Units cluster together and are hard to see, reducing tactical clarity.
- Frustrating enemy mechanics (weight 0.21): Enemy abilities like ship capture auras and invisible traps cause instant losses, requiring babysitting of capital ships. The capture mechanic is unintuitive, and enemy ships can turn your own fleet against you.
- Broken strike craft AI (weight 0.18): Fighters and bombers often fly straight into enemies, and strike craft do not return to base automatically, getting destroyed easily. Their overall effectiveness is reduced in the remaster.
- Shallow combat mechanics (weight 0.17): Combat reduces to sending the entire fleet or poor micro-management, with fighters becoming redundant. The game encourages quantity over quality, removing tactical depth and fun.
- Lack of strategic depth (weight 0.16): The series lacks depth, with research and different ships adding little content. Technology advantages are removed, so pure quantity wins, and early tech strategies lose their advantage.
- Display and resolution bugs (weight 0.14): Display size and fullscreen issues are problematic, with small screens that are irritating. Changing resolution can completely break the game, causing boot failures.
- Removed and broken features (weight 0.12): The mothership lacks a sense of power, and secondary technology trees are removed. The dice-based hit detection system removes physicalized projectiles, and players get lost with unclear unit usefulness.
- Missing fuel system (weight 0.12): The fuel system for fighters is completely removed in the remaster, and the HW2 engine cannot implement it. This removes a strategic element that was present in the original.
- Missing quality-of-life features (weight 0.12): There is no auto-pause during dialogues, penalizing players who read, and commands cannot be given during pause in classic mode. The 3D space adds frustration rather than enhancing the experience.
- Forced manual saving (weight 0.11): The lack of auto-pause and fast-forward options, combined with bug-related losses, forces constant manual saving. This adds to the frustration of an already tedious experience.
- Restrictive ship limits (weight 0.11): The remaster introduces restrictive ship caps in skirmish mode and new limits that gimp strategy. This limits fleet composition and removes fun from preparation.

Gameplay feedback:
- 3D formation control (weight 0.16): Core gameplay involves controlling ship formations in 3D space with height and depth, typical of a 3D RTS.
- HW2 engine limitations (weight 0.16): HW2 engine uses a dice system for hit chance, hard points for repair, and enforces ship caps, limiting design choices like fuel.
- Ship docking mechanics (weight 0.13): Docking ships, especially strike craft and salvage corvettes with the mothership, is a key tactical element.
- Remake on HW2 engine (weight 0.1): The remastered version uses the Homeworld 2 engine to run Homeworld 1, affecting mechanics and balance.
- Enemy ship capture mechanic (weight 0.09): Players can capture enemy ships instead of destroying them, offering alternative tactical options.
- Limited mission count (weight 0.09): Both classic and remastered versions have limited missions—classic has 2, remastered has 3—which may indicate short campaigns.
- Resource gathering importance (weight 0.09): Resource mining and gathering are core mechanics, emphasizing economic management and strategy.
- No fuel mechanic (weight 0.09): Fuel system is absent from the remaster, contrasting with original mechanics that required fuel management.
- Space RTS with story (weight 0.09): The game is a space real-time strategy title with a rich narrative, highlighting its genre and story depth.
- Persistent fleet between missions (weight 0.06): The fleet persists across missions, allowing players to maintain their forces and investments.
- Pause command feature (weight 0.05): Players can issue commands during pause, aiding in complex tactical planning in real-time battles.
- Enemy ship conversion (weight 0.05): The enemy can turn player ships against them, introducing a threat of betrayal or hacking.
- Changed ship stats (weight 0.05): Ship stats differ from the original, affecting balance and unit roles in the remaster.
- Removed secondary tech trees (weight 0.05): Removal of secondary tech trees simplifies progression and reduces strategic depth.
- Strike craft redundancy (weight 0.05): Strike craft have become almost redundant due to balance changes or mechanics, diminishing their role.
- Auto-harvest feature (weight 0.05): Auto-harvest from Homeworld 2 simplifies resource collection, streamlining gameplay.
- Drone frigate inconsistency (weight 0.05): Drone frigates have inconsistent drone launching behavior, possibly a bug or design flaw.
- Ships default to passive (weight 0.05): Newly built ships default to passive mode, requiring manual activation to engage enemies.
- Mission 9 reached (weight 0.04): Players have progressed to mission 9, indicating campaign length or difficulty feedback.

Performance notes:
- Frequent access violation crashes (weight 0.21): The game crashes frequently due to access violations, often happening every 20-30 minutes. Using low graphics settings and windowed mode may help.
- Crashes on AMD graphics cards (weight 0.17): Homeworld 1 Classic and the remastered version crash on AMD/ATI video cards, especially post-2016. Driver and OpenGL updates do not resolve the issue.
- Game fails on Windows 11 (weight 0.15): An access violation error on Windows 11 prevents the game from launching. Multiple attempts to fix it have failed.
- Crashes on loading screens and map 5 (weight 0.13): The game crashes during loading screens and on map 5 of the campaign, with a 'General Failure' error when starting the tutorial or campaign.
- Choppy framerate every 20 minutes (weight 0.1): The framerate drops every 20-30 minutes, leading to choppy gameplay. GPU driver crashes accompany the issue.
- Crashes on unit selection or movement (weight 0.1): Selecting or moving units triggers a hard crash, and the game often fails to display at the correct fullscreen size.
- Stability issues and high RAM usage (weight 0.1): Game instability persists despite driver and OpenGL updates, and RAM usage is high even with large memory pools.
- Crashes despite updated software (weight 0.09): Drivers and DirectX are fully updated, yet the game still crashes to the desktop frequently.
- Keyboard keys randomly stop working (weight 0.05): Keyboard keys randomly stop working during gameplay, making the game unplayable.
- Incompatible with Apple Silicon Macs (weight 0.05): The game does not function on Apple Silicon Macs (M1/M2) due to 64-bit processor incompatibility.
- Remastered version crashes constantly (weight 0.05): The 'Remastered' version of the game crashes frequently, with no specific cause identified.
- Requires driver and OpenGL updates (weight 0.05): Instability requires users to manually update drivers and OpenGL to reduce crashes.
- Display size and fullscreen issues (weight 0.05): The game often fails to display at the correct fullscreen resolution, causing display size issues.

Recommendations:
- Play original version instead (weight 0.24): Multiple reviewers strongly recommend playing the original Homeworld or Homeworld Classic CD version instead of the remaster, citing superior gameplay and experience.
- Avoid buying this game (weight 0.2): Reviewers advise against buying the game in its current state, recommending to wait for fixes or avoid it entirely.
- Broken and unsupported game (weight 0.17): The game is described as broken, buggy, and unsupported, with unresolved bugs and no fixes or support from the developer, making it a risky purchase.
- Only for nostalgic fans (weight 0.16): The remaster is only recommended for hardcore nostalgic fans or those curious about RTS history, but not for general players or strategy depth seekers.
- Buy on GOG not Steam (weight 0.14): Reviewers advise buying the game on GOG or other stores instead of Steam, as those versions reportedly work fine without the bugs present in the Steam release.
- Not for new players (weight 0.13): The game is not recommended unless you are a nostalgic fan of the original; it lacks depth and enjoyment for new players.
- Adaptive difficulty flaw (weight 0.05): The game has an adaptive difficulty flaw that makes it frustrating and not enjoyable, according to one reviewer.
- Play Deserts of Kharak instead (weight 0.04): A single reviewer recommends playing Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak instead of the remastered version.
- Try Beyond All Reason (weight 0.04): One reviewer suggests turning to Beyond All Reason for a balanced RTS experience instead of this remaster.
- See graphics then play original (weight 0.04): A reviewer suggests using the remaster only to see the updated graphics, then play the original for the actual gameplay.
- Install Complex Mod for fun (weight 0.04): One reviewer recommends installing the Complex Mod to enjoy the game, implying the base game is lacking.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.51): Players express extreme frustration due to persistent bugs, crashes, and broken mechanics such as docking, unit selection, and controls that make the game unplayable. The adaptive difficulty punishes good performance, and unresolved issues like constant GPU crashes and patch-induced problems with no fix from developers compound the negative experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.28): Many players are disappointed that the remaster fails to capture the original's charm, with inferior controls, bugs, and loss of tactical depth overshadowing improved visuals. Broken difficulty scaling, lack of modern system compatibility, and the perception of a cash grab over genuine quality further intensify this sentiment.
- Annoyance (weight 0.04): Players are annoyed by constant in-game interruptions from the narrator during battles, clunky controls, and a small display that hinder enjoyment. Frequent bugs prevent progression, making the experience consistently unpleasant.
- Anger (weight 0.04): Anger stems from broken game design, such as counter systems not working as intended and boss mechanics requiring exploits to progress. A lack of developer interest in fixing issues, alongside selling non-functional products on platforms like Steam, fuels this rage.
- Boredom (weight 0.03): Players find the game boring due to shallow mechanics, repetitive gameplay, and slow-paced combat that involves long waiting periods. Excessive hand-holding and lack of depth fail to sustain engagement.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.03): Nostalgia arises from returning to the Homeworld universe, with beautiful graphics matching fond memories of the original game. This positive sentiment is tied to the emotional connection with the franchise's atmosphere.
- Worry (weight 0.01): Worry is driven by fear of permanent consequences from earlier missions, where decisions may irreversibly impact later gameplay. This anxiety about long-term outcomes diminishes the enjoyment of strategic planning.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Enjoyment comes from improved graphics and ship pathing, which enhance the visual and gameplay experience. Players appreciate these upgrades despite other issues.
- Excitement (weight 0.01): Excitement is generated by the remastered graphics and music, which reinvigorate the classic game's presentation. This positive aesthetic update sparks enthusiasm among fans.
- Awe (weight 0.01): Awe is inspired by the visual and audio remastering, which creates a stunning and immersive experience. The upgraded sensory elements evoke wonder and appreciation.
- Resignation (weight 0.01): Resignation sets in after following advice to use small ships but losing progression to enemy capture, leading to uninstallation. This acceptance of defeat comes from repeated broken mechanics preventing success.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is felt for the beautiful and immersive atmosphere, along with magical music that captivates players. This positive emotion is tied to the game's artistic and auditory qualities.}