I actually liked New Vegas’ open world and its a miracle it turned out the way it did, and within the span of a year. Night City too, but CDPR had a long time to get it right and I even waited a year and a half post-release.
All rely heavily on fetch quests as the basis of their game loop, and all of them are flavored fetch quests. I played Generation Zero and got sick of it quick, and it quickly became apparent as I played Rage 2 that this is most of the experience.
I’ve been playing it and I feel like its not quite the 80/100 I expected. Its probably closer to a 70/100 to me. Which isn’t bad, its just not reaching the highs Cataclysm/Emergence did. Its better than HW2, which had a pretty lazy heroes journey bs story. That’s not an accomplishment though.
The megalith combat is really great. Its more interesting than just deep space combat that the franchise is known for. The story teeters between compelling and boring. The ship designs are amazing, and the fact I can see the elements of Sajuuk present in the Incarnate is compelling worldbuilding.
I am outright confused why they are using CGI cutscenes over the drawn cutscenes Homeworld is known for. The combat feels pretty basic, its not as smart as HWR Players Patch. This was a problem with DOK as well. I fear it will share DOK’s other problem: it stops being interesting the moment the campaign ends, and i’ll never touch it again.
Homeworld 3 was never going to move numbers, i’m worried Gearbox set this up to fail. I really think this franchise should branch out beyond RTS and give us games to explore the universe that, at times, feels as huge as its ambitions. I’m reminded of a one-off Kiith from the Cata manual, where they lost everything on Kharak – their family, their other Kiithid; so they stole a freighter and a crusade against the Taiidan Remnant became all they lived for. As the bodies were stacked, their Kiith grew once more. That would be a badass game to play, a space sim like Freelancer where I am taking out the trash.