What's going on with Homefront: The Revolution?

OnlySP.com

The first Homefront from back in 2011 had an interesting concept behind it, and while it did okay both critically and commercially, flaws in  its design held the game back from taking full advantage of its idea to fight through a damaged, North-Korean-occupied America.

Hard times only seemed to follow the Homefront name since. The game's developer, Kaos Studios, shuttered a few months after its release in March. Then THQ, the title's publisher, closed in 2013 after years of financial struggles.

THQ always had plans for a sequel, though, ones that date back way before the first game came out and stood despite the publisher's uncertain future. And through a new development studio in Crytek UK, and publisher Deep Silver, who acquired the rights after THQ's closure, the sequel was kept alive.


The game was revealed in early June as Homefront: The Revolution, with the first look at gameplay following up a week later at E3.

The Revolution was set to break away from the short, linear campaign present in the first game, to allow players to lead a resistance through an open-world Philadelphia, a setting I totally approve of.

Honestly, what else would you have thought with the name Broad St. Gamer? (PixShark.com)

Plus, at least from what's been shown so far, the game has some gorgeous graphics, and gameplay that will let players take their own approach to a given situation. Both of those are important factors that go into making a good game, perhaps higher up on the priority list than the setting.

But man, is the fact that a game is taking place in Philadelphia cool. The thing is, I really want to know how expansive, and how authentic the in-game world is to my home city - or at least as authentic as it can be in a ravaged and oppressed state. Also, can I ambush bad guys inside the Gallery?

The problem is, news on the game's progress went kind of silent after E3. There was the story back in late July on Crytek's own financial issues, and Deep Silver's buyout of the game as a result, along with the development team's switch from Crytek over to Deep Silver's own in-house studio.

But that was it post-E3, with the only recent bit of information being a confirmation that the game is still happening.

The game is still listed on Amazon for pre-order, with a placeholder date for the end of 2015. I know it's still early into the year, but if Homefront was still on track for a 2015 release, you'd think there would be at least some buzz surrounding it right now.

I guess I'll just get to planning a defense of the sports complex until the next wave of info hits.