14 DAY TRIAL // Homefront: The Revolution is the direct sequel to the original Homefront launched back in 2011, but it's being built by Crytek and is the first game announced for Linux based on the CryEngine.
The Crytek developers announced that they intended to provide Linux support for their CryEngine a few months ago and now they have made good on their promise. Homefront: The Revolution is the first game to launch on Linux with this amazing engine, marking the expansion of the studio in this new territory.
Homefront: The Revolution continues the story from the first game, but the developers have tried to fix everything that was wrong with that one. The original Homefront was built by Kaos Studios and THQ pumped a lot of money into it. In fact, Homefront is one of the reasons for the downfall of the THQ publisher.
The game was not bad, but the single-player campaign was very short and the multiplayer had to compete with Call of Duty, which was practically impossible at that time. THQ tried to make a second game and made a deal with Crytek, but the publisher went bankrupt and Crytek ended up buying the rights to the IP.
A few years later, Crytek announced that Homefront: The Revolution was coming to Linux, among other platforms. The developers chose to make an open world game and to let players roam and engage in guerrilla wars with the North Korean occupants.
“Four years into the brutal military occupation, America is on its knees. Philadelphia - once the birthplace of Independence - has become a ghetto, where surveillance drones and armoured patrols keep the population at heel, crushing any dissent with savage force.”
“But in the badlands of the Red Zone, in the bombed out streets and abandoned subways, a Resistance is forming. A guerrilla force, determined to fight for their freedoms despite overwhelming odds and ignite the second American Revolution,” say the devs on the official website for Homefront: The Revolution
CryEngine is a technology that will demonstrate that Linux is a viable gaming platform, especially in the hands of Crytek. It will also be interesting to see how they are going to bridge the gap between DirectX and OpenGL.
There are a few technologies that can't be emulated through the OpenGL rendering pipeline, so some sort of compromise might be needed. This is what makes it all that more interesting, not just the fact that this is a triple-A game.
The launch date is 2015, so there is plenty of time to make this a memorable experience for the Linux fans who have been waiting for a big name like Crytek to join the party.