Homeworld HD renamed to Homeworld Remastered

With THQ's scattering to the four winds, its developer studios going one way and IPs another, it seemed unlikely that we'd ever get another Homeworld sequel or reboot. Fortunately though, despite not having anything to do with the creators, Relic Games – now owned by Sega – Gearbox announced soon after acquiring the Homeworld license that it would release an HD version of the original game and its sequel. Now though, it's rejigging that idea, suggesting that instead, it's much more like a game remastering, since through collaboration with fans and modders, it's hoping to make the new version of Homeworld and Homeworld 2, definitive.

“Previously, we'd been referring to this effort as Homeworld HD but as work progressed it became clear that title didn't properly communicate the scope of the work. This is more than a simple re-release or up-res,” said Gearbox in an announcement. It also debuted HomeworldRemastered.com, which has some early mockups of what the original re-release and HD Remastered editions will look like in boxed form.

Some of the improvements to the game of course include graphical updates, with better rendering technology, high-resolution textures and models, as well as new support for resolutions up to 4K, the game should look better than ever, as should the cut scenes, as those behind the original audio and video has helped recreate their cinematic quality for the remastering.

The developers are also working on a Collector's Edition, which will likely feature a map, art book and game notes, along with a physical model of the Mothership.

However, perhaps the most impactful change on gameplay, will be the combining of both Homeworld and Homeworld 2's multiplayer modes into a single connected hub for gamers to use to battle it out against one another.

“This collection also includes archival versions of Homeworld Classic and Homeworld 2 Classic, preserving the purest form of the original releases with compatibility for modern operating systems,” Gearbox said, promising pre-orders on all leading PC platforms soon.

KitGuru Says: Since I only ever played a bit of Homeworld back in the day, I'm quite excited to be able to get to grips with this classic series in the next few months, without having to go through the headaches of making it work on a modern OS. 

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