HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK announced for release on 20 January

Homeworld: Shipbreakers is no more. Instead, Blackbird's Homeworld prequel game is now called Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. The game will be published by Gearbox on 20 January.

The new game is set one century before the events of Homeworld, at a time when the kiithid (clans) of Kharak are fighting hostile raiders based in the deep southern deserts. When an orbital satellite discovers an anomaly in the southern hemisphere that hints at a powerful, unknown technology, the kiithid must unite to send forces into the southern hemisphere to seize it...only to run into opposition.

Deserts of Kharak is a ground-based realtime strategy game which chronicles the struggles of a kiithid military expedition led by one Rachel S'jet (likely an ancestor of Karan S'jet, who plays a major role in Homeworld and Homeworld 2) to uncover the secrets locked in the deep desert. If you've played the original games, of course, you'll already know what this is, but Blackbird and Gearbox have thrown in some surprises and complications to the story we thought we knew. Whether they can do so organically or if some hefty retconning will be involved remains to be seen.

The game consists of a 13-mission single-player campaign and online multiplayer.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is available to pre-order on Steam right now, with Homeworld: Remastered owners eligible for a 20% discount.

Gearbox have previously said that if Homeworld: Remastered and Deserts of Kharak did well, they would strongly consider making a space-set Homeworld 3 in the future.