So Yeah…This Homeworld Thing…

Preface: Thanks to our talk on Friday, I think it opened up a lot of space in my brain for new stuff, and also helped give me some confidence in my own opinion. ;) With that said, here we go! ;)

So over the weekend, the big news was that now, on Steam, you can not only pre-order the Homeworld Remastered series — which includes both classic and remastered versions of the original and sequel (and still no Cataclysm) — but along with that, a release date of February 25th was announced. I know this because I had several wonderful friends tell me over the weekend. ;) I know a lot of people are excited about this upcoming re-release, but interestingly enough, I’m not one of them. Why is this, you ask?

Because…I never really liked Homeworld very much…

I know, it’s weird, and I’m baffled by it too. When it came out, I was sent a review copy, and it arrived a day early from release at a nearby FedEx depot. I drove miles, in the evening, in the sleety rain (this is when I still lived in PA) to get my copy, as I was so god damned excited to receive it. The previews looked amazing, the graphics looks phenomenal, the story sounded fantastic (if a bit derivative) and the music apparently was phenomenal (and ended up being, to me, the game’s best trait). I rushed home as quickly as I could, installed the game, played a few missions and then thought to myself.

“This is it? Seriously?”

I mean sure, it’s pretty, it has full 3D and yadda yadda, but unlike so many other folks, it just never lit my world on fire. I played through much of the game, but barely remember it. I remember spending time on it, but not whether I enjoyed it. I do recall putting the game down and moving to other things fairly quickly though. I just…didn’t see what was so special about it. It was indeed pretty, and it was in fully 3D. It had a decent story and its gameplay was alright, sure, but I didn’t get what the big deal was. It’s also because of my lukewarm feelings toward the original game that I never played Cataclysm or the sequel.

Sadly the review from back in the day is long since lost (or maybe I never actually wrote it, I can’t remember), but because the games are coming out in remastered editions next month, this gives me a chance to revisit them. It also means I’ve moved up Cataclysm to be next month’s Game of the Month, to coincide with the releases of the remastered versions. Who knows, maybe all this Homeworld love will bring me around.

So does this cost me space game fan points? Maybe, but honestly, I don’t care too much. When I’d rather play a game of Conquest: Frontier Wars (which I feel is a far, FAR superior RTS to Homeworld…yeah, I said it) than Homeworld, I can tell my feelings on the matter are clear. The only thing I truly miss is being able to share in the joy and anticipation that many of you have for this upcoming re-release (I still love you guys though! Hugs!!!).

So I’m thrilled for all of y’all that are giddy in anticipation of these re-releases next month. Any collective happiness over a space game just fills my heart with joy. I just don’t think I can join in the celebration with y’all this time around. ;) It’s not that I don’t want to…I’m just not feeling it like many of y’all are.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: Devin Passage of Martian Arctic Games has some excellent thoughts on where this disconnect might lie.