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Homefront Sequel Basically Throws Out Original's Playbook

"There's a reason we don't call it Homefront 2."

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According to Homefront: The Revolution narrative designer CJ Kershner, "Everything is new for Homefront: The Revolution." He tells MCV: "It's a new team, new publisher, new style of gameplay, new backstory..."

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The 2011 original Homefront was published by THQ, but when the publisher went bankrupt, Crysis developer Crytek stepped in to buy the franchise for $544,000. However, Crytek later sold the game to Deep Silver, which put its new Dambuster Studios to work on The Revolution.

The Revolution does maintain the core concept of Homefront--that of an occupied American facing enemy Korean forces--but the sequel has expanded out that idea "by 360 degrees," Kershner said.

"Dambuster is making its own unique mark on the name of Homefront, so anything that you remember or know about the first game: forget it now," he said. "It's not a continuation of that story or that style of gameplay. There's a reason we don't call it Homefront 2."

As for why Dambuster is keeping the Homefront name, Kershner--who also worked on the first game--said, "There's power in that core premise of being a guerrilla fighter and fighting in your own neighborhoods against a technologically and numerically superior military force. The premise is strong and the execution on the first game leveraged the story and the idea, but not the actual mechanics of what that would involve."

The original Homefront shipped more than 2.6 million copies, so the franchise also clearly has some built-in brand recognition. Then-publisher THQ said in 2011 that it was "very pleased" with sales on this level. However, its developer--Kaos Studios--would later close its doors entirely.

The Revolution is set in a United States (Philadelphia, specifically) that has been occupied by North Korean military forces for four years. Players will lead a resistance movement utilizing guerrilla warfare tactics to battle the "superior" North Korean army. The game boasts a single-player campaign, as well as a four-player online co-op mode. The original Homefront had a traditional multiplayer mode, but it's unclear if The Revolution will retain this feature.

Originally slated to launch in 2015, The Revolution was later delayed to 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. "We are giving the team every opportunity to turn Homefront: The Revolution into a best-selling title, and have set a 2016 release date to provide them the time they need to achieve this," Deep Silver chief executive Klemens Kundratitz said about the delay.

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