Deserts of Kharak is this week’s Epic Games freebie, as Homeworld 3 gets new story trailer

Epic’s latest freebie is Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak.

Published by Gearbox and developed by Blackbird Interactive, this real-time strategy title serves as a prequel to earlier Homeworld games.

“Assemble your fleet and lead them to victory on the shifting sands of Kharak in this compelling strategy game,” Epic implores.

Those keen have until 31 August to snap up Deserts of Kharak for free on the Epic Game Store. After this time, it will be replaced by Cave Story+.

We were rather taken with Deserts of Kharak on its release back in 2016, with Eurogamer contributor Paul Dean calling it a “worthy successor to the Homeworld classics”.

Said Paul: “Deserts of Kharak will gift you gripes as uncomfortable and familiar as sand in your socks, but there are no scorpions waiting in your shoe here. Blackbird Interactive has made a good game.”

As for future series instalments, Homeworld 3 is currently in development, with a release set for February of next year.

Gearbox shared a new trailer for the upcoming release earlier this week, offering us a peep at the story waiting to be told.

“Today, the galaxy is burning,” its narration begins, before we are swiftly launched into a series of frenzied but rather beautiful space battles. You can have a little watch in the video below.

Our Bertie had a little shot at Homeworld 3 last year, when he also sat down to chat with Blackbird founder Rob Cunningham. You can have a read of his impressions (he called it “a space RTS for the James Webb era”) here.