What you need to know
- A co-op demo for upcoming space strategy title Homeworld 3 was available earlier this year.
- Blackbird Interactive and Gearbox Software have shared some upcoming changes being made to the game in response to player feedback.
- Highlights include HUD scaling options, fully rebind-able keyboard controls, and increased health for every ship in the game to make combat last a bit longer.
- Following multiple delays, Homeworld is currently slated to launch on May 13, with three day early access for anyone buying the deluxe edition.
Players can expect some changes coming for Gearbox and Blackbird Interactive's upcoming space strategy title.
A blog post on Wednesday outlined changes the teams have made to Homeworld 3 in response to player feedback from the now-ended War Games demo. The changes specifically address issues raised around controls, heads-up display (HUD) issues, the length of combat encounters, movement, and War Games mission variety.
Highlights for what's changing in Homeworld 3
The first big change is the addition of fully rebindable keyboard controls, meaning players are no longer just choosing between the classic or modern control schemes. A large number of default hotkeys and controls have also been adjusted, with faster movement speed without requiring player input.
Some more changes address the speed of combat and in general, the team indicates fights will take longer to resolve now, with every single ship getting a 30% health increase. Support ships will also now repair allied vessels by default instead of having to be told to do so. Several bugs have been fixed as related to the Attack Move function, and this should now work as intended.
HUD issues have also been improved, with a new feature allowing players to scale the HUD size to their preference, with the HUD smaller than before by default. A scaling feature for ships that was bugged in the War Games demo has also been fixed, meaning ships will appear as the correct size without awkward situations where one scales at a distance and the others don't.
Finally, the War Games mode itself is seeing some changes, with increased mission objective variety that'll make for less repetition when playing. To prevent players from getting in a situation where they are stuck and unable to progress, Resource Controllers are now free to produce in War Games, though they'll also take longer to build in order to keep things balanced.
Analysis: Some good changes ahead of launch
Everything here seems like a positive change based on player feedback. In particular, I can personally attest to how needed the alterations for War Games were, as I had an otherwise-stellar run end on the last mission because of a misclick with my Resource Controllers at a time I was low on supplies.
Homeworld 3 has been delayed multiple times, but I'm excited about where things are headed going. The game is currently set to launch on May 13, 2024 for Windows PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, so fingers crossed that this date is the one that finally sticks.
