SimulationStrategy
Homeworld 3
The first 2 hours are a test
Gets good by 2h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Fully opens up by 3h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 32% of players who started
Started playing 86% of owners
Steam reviews 41% positive of 8,784
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours most reviews are negative (73%); after 7h it's 1 in 2 (59%).
- Fully opens up by hour 3.
- The opening is criticised more than in 97% of games we track.
- 32% of players who start reach the ending.
- Most players drop off before “We Are Away” (Put the Khar-Kushan through its paces): only 82% of starters get there.
- 86% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 8,857 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 11.1h for positive, 8.7h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (86.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- We Are Away Put the Khar-Kushan through its paces. Most players quit here 82% −18
- A Helluva Ship Integrated the production facility in the Mothership. 80% −2
- Warriors Of The Fringe Defeat the Kalan Raider Carrier. 74% −6
- One Step Too Close Encounter a new, mysterious enemy force. 72% −2
- A Dark Cloud Gathers Uncover the enemy’s identity. 63% −8
- Chapel Perilous Survived the asteroid storm. 60% −3
- Prepare To Shipbreak Ward off all enemy attacks during core repairs. 54% −6
- Open The Way Successfully disable the Citadel. 51% −4
- As They Have Hunted Us Defeat the Warsage. 43% −8
- Into the Glacier Navigated through the icy crevasse. 39% −3
- The Sajuuk-Khar Reunite with the Khar-Sajuuk. 38% −1
- The Time Of Prophecy Witness the enemy using a Hyperspace Tunnel. 36% −3
- This War Is Over Defeat the Incarnate Titan. 32% −4
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (35)
story milestone ending side
- If You’ll Be My Bodyguard Order a ship to guard another ship. 100%
- The Unbound Research your first ship upgrade. 99%
- Stay in formation! Set a command group to assume a new formation. 97%
- We Are Away Put the Khar-Kushan through its paces. 82%
- A Helluva Ship Integrated the production facility in the Mothership. 80%
- Fix-it Frigate Fully repair 50 ships using Support Frigates. 77%
- Bug Swatter Eliminate 200 total enemy strikecraft in the campaign. 74%
- Warriors Of The Fringe Defeat the Kalan Raider Carrier. 74%
- One Step Too Close Encounter a new, mysterious enemy force. 72%
- Hostile Takeover Capture an enemy ship. 71%
- A Dark Cloud Gathers Uncover the enemy’s identity. 63%
- Chapel Perilous Survived the asteroid storm. 60%
- That Was One in a Million! Land the final shot to destroy a Capital ship with a Fleet Bomber ship. 59%
- Grand Armada Build a grand total of 500 ships. 57%
- Prepare To Shipbreak Ward off all enemy attacks during core repairs. 54%
- Kablammo Blow up 5 ships with one explosion. 54%
- Untouchable Complete 5 missions without the Mothership being hit by enemy fire. 54%
- Open The Way Successfully disable the Citadel. 51%
- As They Have Hunted Us Defeat the Warsage. 43%
- Big Game Hunter Eliminate 50 total enemy capital ships. 42%
- The Great Cannon Unlock the Mothership’s Fusion Missile. 41%
- Into the Glacier Navigated through the icy crevasse. 39%
- The Sajuuk-Khar Reunite with the Khar-Sajuuk. 38%
- The Time Of Prophecy Witness the enemy using a Hyperspace Tunnel. 36%
- Ghosts Of The Desert Successfully enter the ice shelf without the Mothership ever being detected. 35%
- This War Is Over Defeat the Incarnate Titan. 32%
- A Path Across the Galaxy In Campaign, have a (non-mothership) ship built in Facility 315 survive all the way through until the end of the campaign. 31%
- That Belongs in a Museum! Collect an artifact during a War Games session. 31%
- Captain Complete the campaign on Easy difficulty. 28%
- Admiral Complete the campaign on Medium difficulty. 24%
- Shall We Play a Game? Successfully complete a War Games session for the first time. 16%
- Destruct Sequence Alpha-One Scuttle one of your own ships. 15%
- Not Today, Singularity! Win a Skirmish match consisting of at least 3 enemy AI opponents. 9.7%
- Nothing Short Of Miraculous Completely eliminate the Incarnate Reinforcement Fleet. 5.3%
- Navigator Complete the campaign on Hard difficulty. 3.4%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.