STACK May 2016 Issue 139

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I n many ways, the development cycle
of Homefront: The Revolution mirrors
the tumultuous events of the game
itself: an uncertain future, tectonic shifts, belief
and solidarity. Well, we might be getting slightly
carried away, but there’s no doubt that
Dambuster Studios have truly weathered a
storm getting the game to market.
“The road has been a little bumpy, but it
feels really good to finally have completed
it and to soon get it out there for everyone
to play and enjoy,” says narrative designer,
Stephen Rhodes. “That’s what any developer
really wants; to see their hard work being
enjoyed by gamers. It’s why we do what
we do.”
H:TR has been billed as a reboot rather
than a successor to Homefront, a game
released back in 2011 and lambasted for its
short campaign. Recognising an opportunity
to impress its own vision on the game, the
team at Dambuster rewrote the backstory in
its entirety.
“We knew that everyone was really into
the concept of an occupied America and the
alternate history angle of the narrative. These
are themes that few games have explored;
some have, like the Resistance series, but
it’s still quite an unexplored space,” Rhodes
explains. “Despite these two core
themes being popular, the context
and execution given in the first
Homefront didn’t go down
so well.
“What we did for H:TR was
go right back to these core ideas
and rebuild from there. It doesn’t
share characters or timelines, we
ditched everything and rewrote
the backstory and took our time
creating a world stage where the
USA being occupied by a Korean
military force was plausible.
"The only real similarity that
H:TR shares with the first game
is that one core concept.”
Consulting a wealth of reference material
and experts on “potential scenarios and
concepts like those we depict in the game”
helped Rhodes and his team write the plot, and
the narrative designer cites books like The Man
in the High Castle, 1984, and more recently,
United States of Japan as major influences.
“I think the story we tell is a very human
one and focuses more on the characters
who live in this world, but the broader
narrative strokes definitely take influence
from other works of alternate history
fiction. For me personally, I studied military
history at university so I love the idea of
alternate history, and the chance to help write
a narrative like this was what enticed me onto
the project.”
Homefront: The Revolution started life as a
linear corridor shooter and a direct sequel to
Homefront. Along the way, Dambuster Studio
changed the game to become open world
and even added a co-op mode. Rhodes is
clearly excited about H:TR and he’s eager to
convey that.
“H:TR offers really fun but tactical game
play, a cool story with some interesting twists
and turns, and a fun co-op mode with a year's
worth of free content support.
“We wanted to create a game where the
player feels like the underdog through the
entire experience and really feels like they’re
fighting against a far superior foe, having to
pick their fights carefully and conserve their
resources. This sense of being the underdog
is a strong theme within the game and offers
something that I think is quite unique in
shooters today.
“I think there is a lot packed into our game
and I can’t wait to hear what people think of
this new take on the IP and the direction we
are heading.”
Ignoring the plot of 2011’s Homefront, Dambuster Studios has developed Homefront:The Revolution
as an open world reboot with a new back spoke with narrative designer, Stephen Rhodes.
Xxxxxx
Talking ‘Bout
A Revolution
We wanted to create a game
where the player feels like
the underdog through the
entire experience...
• Homefront:
The Revolution
is out May 20
visit GAMES FEATURE
66 MAY 2016
GAMES
• The country’s missile
program was first developed
with assistance from the
Soviet Union in the ‘70s.
• The Korean
People’s Army is
the largest military
force in the world.
• It has a reserve
force of 8 million.
• North Korea
has compulsory
conscription for all
males.
about the Korean People’s Army you (probably) didn’t know