Homeworld 3 is still a while away, but remastered versions of the classics are now free-to-keep

Homeworld 3 was originally scheduled for a 2022 release, which got pushed to 2023, and then pushed again into 2024. All up that's a substantial delay, but it has offered ample time to catch up on earlier instalments, at least. Now's an especially good time to do that, because the Homeworld Remastered Collection has just hit the Epic Games Store, and to dramatically sweeten the deal it's free-to-keep for a limited time.

The Homeworld Remastered Collection includes spit-polished versions of the first two Homeworld games, in addition to the original untouched versions. There's also access to the Homeworld Remastered multiplayer beta, and yes, it has crossplay with the Steam version. If you add it to your Epic Games library before August 2, you'll get it free, and keep it forever.

On its release in 2015, our reviewer described Homeworld Remastered as "a worthy upgrade to one of the best strategy games ever". In addition to being a great strategy game, it's also an emotionally charged space opera with a real sense of intergalactic existential dread about it. The aforementioned review noted that the "campaign stands today as the most effective use of the RTS as a storytelling tool".

While Homeworld 3 has been in development for a long time, studio Blackbird Interactive seems to be making pretty good progress. Tyler recently noted the game's very detailed approach to unit barks, for instance, which will work more like sports commentary than the perfunctory grunts you might have grown sick of in, say, Warcraft.

And anyway, all those delays aren't a sign of a tumultuous development, so says Blackbird Interactive (though I guess they would say that). "This work takes time," the studio wrote in May, "especially when we are raising the bar on what players will experience in the Homeworld universe."

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.