Just weeks after unveiling the multiplayer portion of Homefront, its near-future first-person shooter that depicts America under Korean occupation, THQ invited us to the opening of its new Montreal studio to finally test out the single-player campaign. But Homefront isn’t being developed in Montreal; rather, it’s the work of New York-based Kaos Studios, whose previous effort — 2008’s Frontlines: Fuel of War — spawned some interesting ideas, but ultimately didn’t stand out amidst increasingly tough competition in the first-person shooter genre.
What may help Homefront avoid that same conundrum when it ships next spring is a deeply developed backstory, which spotlights the American civilian resistance to Korean occupation. Lead single-player level designer Rex Dickson says the team spent considerable time detailing the numerous fictional events that lead to the in-game narrative: from the rise of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s successor following his death, the immense expansion of a unified Korea into other parts of Asia and beyond, and ultimately the launch of a EMP assault over North America in 2025 — resulting in the invasion and subsequent occupation of the United States.
