Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Last updated: January 9, 2026

Overview

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a real-time strategy game that serves as a prequel to the classic Homeworld series, taking place over a century before the original game¹. Developed by Blackbird Interactive, a studio founded by veterans from the original Homeworld and Company of Heroes development teams², the game represents a bold departure from the space-based setting of its predecessors by placing the action on the desert planet Kharak itself³.

Originally conceived as an independent project called Hardware: Shipbreakers, the game was transformed into an official Homeworld title when Gearbox Software acquired the franchise rights during THQ’s bankruptcy auction in 2013⁴. The game successfully translates the core Homeworld experience to ground-based warfare while maintaining the series’ signature emphasis on tactical combat, resource management, and compelling narrative⁵. Released on January 20, 2016, the game was praised for its production values and faithful recreation of the Homeworld atmosphere despite the dramatic change in setting⁶.

Game Info

Developer: Blackbird Interactive² Designer: Aaron Kambeitz, Rob Cunningham, Rory McGuire⁷ Publisher: Gearbox Publishing⁸ Platforms: PC, Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam⁹ Release Year: 2016 Series: Homeworld Sierra Lineage: Legacy Title

Story Summary

The game follows the story of a dying planet where the inhabitants of Kharak are divided into feuding clans or kiith, jockeying for power and control of the planet’s limited resources¹⁰. When an orbital satellite discovers a mysterious anomaly deep in the southern deserts, a military expedition is organized and led by Rachel S’jet, the chief science officer¹¹. The expedition’s mission is to retrieve a lost artifact that is capable of saving the world from further environmental degradation¹².

Rachel S’jet serves as the game’s protagonist, guiding players through the dangerous desert expedition in search of what becomes known as the “primary anomaly”². The narrative explores themes of survival and desperation as the coalition forces venture deep into enemy territory, encountering the hostile Gaalsien faction that seeks to prevent them from reaching their goal¹³. The story connects directly to the broader Homeworld mythology, ultimately leading to the discovery that would inspire the construction of the great mothership featured in the original game¹⁴.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Players view the battlefield from high in the sky, commanding groups of ground units and aircraft in real-time strategic combat¹⁵. The game utilizes a traditional RTS interface where players order units to attack enemies with guns, lasers, and missiles¹⁵. A significant addition in patch 1.3.0 was the implementation of Tactical Pause, allowing players to pause the action during campaign and skirmish modes to issue orders—a feature that had become “quite polarizing in the world of RTS games”¹⁶.

The camera system allows for dynamic battlefield observation, with specific settings that can be adjusted including edge pan speed (defaulting from 50% to 70%) and sensors camera reset functionality⁷. Unit selection and tactical commands follow established RTS conventions, with players able to group units and issue complex movement and attack orders across the desert terrain¹⁷.

Structure and Progression

The campaign features 16 missions with a total length of approximately 15 hours⁷. Unlike traditional RTS games that reset player resources and units between missions, Deserts of Kharak employs a persistent army system where units carry over from mission to mission, requiring careful resource management throughout the campaign¹⁸. This design choice sets the gameplay apart from traditional RTS titles where players can often establish resource dominance to ensure victory¹⁹.

The game features only 7 unit types across 2 factions, emphasizing tactical decision-making over unit variety⁷. Players must balance light units against ranged enemies, armored units against light forces, and railgun units against heavily armored targets¹⁷. The multiplayer component supports 2-6 players online with a unit cap of 125 units⁷.

Puzzles and Mechanics

Resource management forms the core of the strategic experience, with players needing to carefully balance unit production, research, and tactical positioning¹⁹. The desert environment introduces unique tactical considerations, with sand dunes providing cover and elevation advantages that affect combat effectiveness²⁰. The game’s minimalist design philosophy focuses on essential RTS mechanics, “chiseling the genre down to its bare essentials and iterating upon them with tenacious precision”⁵.

Combat emphasizes combined arms tactics between ground vehicles and aircraft, with air sorties playing a crucial role in battlefield control¹⁶. The faction designs showcase an “industrial punk aesthetic at its best,” with each side offering distinct tactical advantages and unit compositions²⁰.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Publication	Score	Notes
PC Gamer	90/100	”A great tactical RTS with all the gorgeous aesthetics and atmosphere of the original series”21
GameSpot	9/10	”Creates believable drama through stellar writing”5
IGN	8.8/10	”A deep, exciting, varied RTS with all the right tools”22
Game Informer	8/10	”Definition of a real-time strategy game for RTS fans”19
CGMagazine	8/10	”Very important breath of life into a dying genre”23
Destructoid	7.5/10	”Certainly feels like home…world”18
Hardcore Gamer	4/5	”Legitimate claim to being part of the legendary franchise”24

Modern Assessment

The game achieved a Metacritic score of 79/100 based on professional reviews²⁵ and maintains a 78% positive rating from Steam users based on over 5,000 reviews⁶. The OpenCritic aggregation shows a 79 Top Critic Average⁸. Critics praised the game’s successful translation of Homeworld’s core mechanics to a ground-based setting, with many noting that it managed to feel authentically Homeworld despite the dramatic change in environment²⁶.

Professional reviewers consistently highlighted the game’s production values, strategic depth, and faithful recreation of the Homeworld atmosphere. However, some criticism focused on the limited unit variety and the absence of certain features like tactical pause at launch⁸. The game has been recognized as “original because of its large-scale, real-time strategy game in a market dominated by single-character battle arenas like League of Legends”²⁰.

Development

Origins

The game’s development began as Hardware: Shipbreakers, an independent project by Blackbird Interactive that was not initially connected to the Homeworld franchise²⁷. The transformation into an official Homeworld title occurred through what Rob Cunningham described as “divine intervention” rather than “brilliant business strategy”—calling it “blind, fantastic luck” when Gearbox and Blackbird came together⁴. Randy Pitchford of Gearbox admitted that “We didn’t have a clear long-range plan when we started” with the Homeworld IP acquisition⁴.

Gearbox acquired the Homeworld intellectual property during THQ’s bankruptcy auction in 2013²⁸. The acquisition allowed Blackbird Interactive to transform their original project into something “far greater than a spiritual successor to Homeworld ever could have hoped to be”². This partnership brought together former Relic Entertainment veterans including Rob Cunningham, composer Paul Ruskay, and designer Aaron Kambeitz²⁸.

Production

The development team at Blackbird Interactive emphasized community engagement throughout production, with project director Rory McGuire stating, “Without our fans, we wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t have this job, we wouldn’t be making this game”²⁹. The studio committed to supporting modding communities, promising “We won’t be putting up any legal or code based blocks for modding. We are in support of modders and people experimenting with our game”²⁹.

The game’s development spanned approximately six years, during which the team faced significant technical and business challenges³⁰. The project represented the first new Homeworld entry “after more than a decade-long hiatus for Homeworld,” making it “an immense honor” for the development team to launch new entries in the franchise¹¹.

Technical Achievements

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak was built using the Unity 5 engine⁷, representing a modern technical foundation for the classic gameplay mechanics. The game requires a minimum of 3 GB RAM and 8 GB storage space, with recommended specifications including 8 GB RAM and 12 GB storage⁹. The technical implementation supports both 32-bit and 64-bit executables and uses Direct3D 9.0c and Direct3D 11 APIs⁷.

The audio design features Paul Ruskay’s musical composition, maintaining the series’ signature atmospheric soundtrack³¹. The complete soundtrack spans 3 hours and 8 minutes across 117 tracks, released in both MP3 and FLAC formats³². The game includes full voice acting with Rachel S’jet serving as the central narrative voice throughout the campaign¹⁸.

Legacy

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak successfully revitalized the Homeworld franchise after its lengthy hiatus, proving that the series’ core mechanics could translate effectively to different environments³³. The game’s development approach—transforming an independent project into an official franchise entry—demonstrated innovative methods for continuing classic gaming properties³⁴. The success of the ground-based prequel helped establish foundation lore for the broader Homeworld universe while maintaining the tactical depth and atmospheric storytelling that defined the original games³⁵.

The game’s emphasis on single-player campaign content and traditional RTS mechanics provided “a very important breath of life into a dying genre” at a time when real-time strategy games had become less common in mainstream gaming²³. Its release preceded and helped establish groundwork for future Homeworld franchise developments, including the eventual Homeworld 3³⁶.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• Steam Store Page
• GOG.com

Official Resources

• Official Game Website
• Homeworld Universe

Series Continuity

• Previous: Homeworld 2 (chronologically later, but released earlier)
• Next: Homeworld 3 (in development)

References

Footnotes

1. Homeworld Fandom Wiki – - Game timeline and setting information ↩

2. Hey Poor Player – - Developer background and Mac release announcement ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. God is a Geek – - Game setting departure from space-based gameplay ↩

4. Games Industry – - THQ bankruptcy auction and IP acquisition details ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. GameSpot Review – - Core gameplay translation analysis ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Steam Store Page – - Release date and basic game information ↩ ↩²

7. MobyGames – - Development credits and designer information ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. GOG.com – - Publisher information and game details ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. PC Gaming Wiki – - Platform support and technical specifications ↩ ↩²

10. [Homeworld Fandom](https://homeworld.fandom.com/wiki/Homeworld_(series) – ) - Game narrative and world background ↩

11. IGN Announcement – - Character and expedition details ↩ ↩²

12. GamePressure – - Main campaign objective description ↩

13. TV Tropes – - Narrative context and faction conflicts ↩

14. Homeworld Fandom – - Series continuity and story connections ↩

15. Common Sense Media – - Gameplay perspective and mechanics description ↩ ↩²

16. Homeworld Archive Fandom – - Tactical pause implementation and controversy ↩ ↩²

17. GamePressure Guide – - Unit selection and tactical controls ↩ ↩²

18. Destructoid Review – - Persistent unit system description ↩ ↩² ↩³

19. Game Informer – - Resource management analysis ↩ ↩² ↩³

20. Daily Bruin – - Desert environment tactical considerations ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. PC Gamer Review – - Professional review score and summary ↩

22. IGN Review – - Comprehensive gameplay evaluation ↩

23. CGMagazine – - Genre revitalization commentary ↩ ↩²

24. Wikipedia – - Hardcore Gamer review score and franchise legitimacy ↩

25. Metacritic – - Professional critic aggregation score ↩

26. PCWorld – - Environment translation success analysis ↩

27. TV Tropes Trivia – - Original development as Hardware: Shipbreakers ↩

28. Wikipedia – - THQ bankruptcy and IP acquisition timeline ↩ ↩²

29. Fists of Heaven – - Developer community engagement philosophy ↩ ↩²

30. Unity Made With – - Development timeline and challenges overview ↩

31. Laced Records Bandcamp – - Composer credit and audio design ↩

32. Apple Music – - Soundtrack length and track count ↩

33. Rock Paper Shotgun – - Franchise revitalization impact ↩

34. Strategy Front Gaming – - Development approach innovation ↩

35. The Wert Zone – - Universe lore foundation establishment ↩

36. Polygon Review – - Future franchise development foundation ↩