Compelling prequel story and cutscenes
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“Phenominal Game! I was sucked into the storyline.”
Steam review · 32.4 h played ↗
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Mostly Positive · 79%Mostly Positive · 79%Blackbird Interactive2016RTS · Strategy · Action
$49.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago · Lowest we’ve seen since Oct 21, 2026: $4.99
The verdict
An atmospheric, great-looking ground-based Homeworld prequel with a strong story, music and persistent fleet, but short and thin on content. Skip it if forced Epic services or fixed keybinds bother you.
Great for
Homeworld fans and campaign-focused RTS players who want atmosphere, story and music, ideally bought on sale
Main risk
Forced Epic Online Services/always-online requirement plus a short, repetitive campaign at a high price
What players love
Superb atmosphere, music and audio
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“The ambient unit chatter is still some of the best in the genre.”
Steam review · 10.6 h played ↗
Stunning visuals and unit physics
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“Wonderful Physics of the units on the sand duns”
Steam review · 16.4 h played ↗
Great on sale, campaign is good
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews
“amazing campaign, the game is worth it for the single-player alone”
Steam review · 10.6 h played ↗
Fleet persistence between missions
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“My favorite part of this entire franchise is that you keep your units from one mission to the next.”
Steam review · 59.2 h played ↗
Terrain-driven tactical gameplay
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews
“Using sand dunes for line-of-sight and height advantages adds a layer of strategy that feels fresh, even for RTS veterans.”
Steam review · 10.6 h played ↗
What players complain about
Forced Epic Online Services, always online
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews
“you are entirely unable to play the SINGLEPLAYER CAMPAIGN offline, no wifi, no game.”
Steam review · 2.2 h played ↗
Game-breaking bugs and crashes
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“a few hours into playing this game, I encountered a game-breaking bug that prevented me from progressing past Mission 4”
Steam review · 16 h played ↗
Short, repetitive campaign, little content
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“I completed the 13 mission campaign in under 10 hours of playtime.”
Steam review · 10.6 h played ↗
Poor, non-rebindable controls and camera
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“The controls on this game suck and cannot be remapped.”
Steam review · 21 h played ↗
Infinite enemy waves and weak AI
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews
“Adding 50x the amount of enemies is not a valid way to increase the difficulty”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗
Unskippable cutscenes interrupt play
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews
“There's a million ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cutscenes within the missions - in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ RTS game.”
Steam review · 4.4 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable8 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 7/8/10
ProcessorIntel Core i3-2100 (3.1 GHz) / AMD A10 5800k (3.8 GHz)
Memory3 GB RAM
GraphicsGeForce GT 440 (1024 MB) / Radeon HD 4890 (1024 MB)
Storage8 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7/8/10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel Core i7-950 (3.0 GHz) / AMD FX-4300 (3.8 GHz)
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsGeForce GTX 770 (2048 MB) / Radeon HD 7770 (1024 MB)
Storage12 GB available space
OSWindows 7/8/10
ProcessorIntel Core i3-2100 (3.1 GHz) / AMD A10 5800k (3.8 GHz)
Memory3 GB RAM
GraphicsGeForce GT 440 (1024 MB) / Radeon HD 4890 (1024 MB)
Storage8 GB available space
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