# Homefront: The Revolution
Developed by Dambuster Studios and released by [Deep Silver](https://www.edgepedia.org/deep-silver) in May 2016, **Homefront: The Revolution** is a first-person shooter available on [Microsoft Windows](https://www.edgepedia.org/microsoft-windows), PlayStation 4, and [Xbox One](https://www.edgepedia.org/xbox-one).[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution) • [2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio) It is the sequel to *Homefront* (2011) and depicts a guerrilla resistance fighting the Korean People's Army (KPA) in an occupied Philadelphia. Unlike its predecessor's competitive multiplayer, it offers a four-player cooperative mode called Resistance Mode.[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Developer / publisher | Dambuster Studios / Deep Silver[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution) |
| Release | May 2016, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC[2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio) |
| Setting | Philadelphia in 2029, four years after the beginning of a KPA occupation of the United States[3](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22035/2/Young_RJ_POLIS_PhD_2018_Redacted.pdf) |
| World structure | The city is divided into green, yellow and red zones with different security levels, connected by a subway system[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) |
| Multiplayer | Four-player cooperative "Resistance Mode", separate from the campaign, with its own characters, progression, classes and perks[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution) |
| Story expansions | The Voice of Freedom, Aftermath, and Beyond the Walls, released within 12 months of launch[2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio) |
| Reception | Metacritic Metascores of 54 (PC, 51 reviews), 49 (Xbox One, 12 reviews) and 48 (PlayStation 4, 44 reviews)[5](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/critic-reviews/) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/?platform=playstation-4) |
## Setting and premise
The game takes place in an alternate timeline in which [North Korea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-korea) became the world's technological pioneer from the 1970s onward, supplying the United States with weapons and military hardware. When the Americans, crippled by debt, miss payments, a built-in kill switch disables the hardware, allowing the North Korean army to invade.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) The game itself begins in 2029, four years after the occupation started, and places the player in a guerrilla resistance movement operating in Philadelphia.[3](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22035/2/Young_RJ_POLIS_PhD_2018_Redacted.pdf) The player is the newest member of the city's resistance branch, whose talismanic leader has just been captured.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/)
## Gameplay
**Zones.** Philadelphia is split into zones traveled between by subway, with a load between each, making the world a set of smaller open zones rather than one seamless map.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) Each zone carries a color rating: green zones are the most affluent areas under the heaviest KPA presence, yellow zones are the slums where most Philadelphians live, and red zones are derelict, off-limits areas in open warfare between the resistance and the KPA.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) • [7](https://www.techadvisor.com/article/717079/homefront-the-revolution-game-review.html) In green and yellow zones the player moves with weapons hidden, avoiding checkpoints and patrols; in yellow zones, capturing territory requires filling a "hearts and minds" meter through tasks such as freeing prisoners, saving civilians, and taking down propaganda trucks.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/)
**Weapons and crafting.** The player scavenges parts from buildings and stashes to create and modify weapons and equipment. KPA weapons are fingerprint-locked, giving the occupying force an advantage and forcing the resistance to rely on older weapons enhanced with homebrew modifications.[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution) • [4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) Weapons can be modified mid-firefight, adding attachments such as a foregrip or sight, or converting a rifle to an LMG and back.[1](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution)
## Resistance Mode
The cooperative multiplayer is completely separate from the story campaign, though it takes place chronologically after the campaign's events.[8](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2016/01/27/interview-stephen-rhodes-on-building-homefront-the-resistances-co-op-multiplayer/) Up to four players take missions in the same open world with clearer objectives than the campaign, choosing civilian professions that grant minor flavor bonuses and progressing through their own skill trees.[8](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2016/01/27/interview-stephen-rhodes-on-building-homefront-the-resistances-co-op-multiplayer/) [Narrative](https://www.edgepedia.org/narrative) designer Stephen Rhodes of Dambuster Studios stated that all multiplayer content would be free, with optional Resistance Crates purchasable with real money acting only as a time saver, since gear remains locked behind character progression.[8](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2016/01/27/interview-stephen-rhodes-on-building-homefront-the-resistances-co-op-multiplayer/) Reviewers found the mode thin at launch: GameSpot counted six missions of 10 to 15 minutes each, with objectives and map layouts unchanged across difficulty levels.[9](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/homefront-the-revolution-review/1900-6416433/) Dambuster released additional Resistance Mode content during the year after launch.[2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio)
## Development
The studio behind the game traces its lineage to Free Radical Design, formed in the late 1990s by ex-Rare developers who had worked on [GoldenEye](https://www.edgepedia.org/goldeneye) 007 and whose debut was [TimeSplitters](https://www.edgepedia.org/timesplitters) for the [PlayStation 2](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-2). In early 2009 the studio was acquired by Crytek and rebranded Crytek UK, contributing multiplayer modes for Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 while a second team began work on Homefront: The Revolution. In 2014 the studio was acquired by Plaion and rebranded Dambuster Studios, releasing the game in May 2016.[2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio) After launch, Dambuster moved to Dead Island 2, released in April 2023.[2](https://www.dambuster.com/studio)
## Reception
Critical reception was poor. On Metacritic the PC version holds a Metascore of 54 from 51 critic reviews (2 positive, 34 mixed, 12 negative), the Xbox One version 49 from 12 reviews, and the [PlayStation 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-4) version 48 from 44 reviews; the aggregated user score on the PlayStation 4 page is 4.4 from 458 ratings.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/critic-reviews/) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/?platform=playstation-4)
**Technical problems** dominated reviews. Stuff.tv's reviewer reported framerate collapses, two-to-three-second lock-ups triggered by closing menus, ending cutscenes, or simply traversing the city, and NPCs walking into walls and blocking progress, concluding that "there's a good game here trying to get out" but it is stuck behind the bugs.[4](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/) GameSpot's review found inconsistent enemy detection, screen freezes on every autosave, audio glitches, and random difficulty spikes across all three platforms, scoring the game 5/10 while crediting its rich, varied campaign and tense combat.[9](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/homefront-the-revolution-review/1900-6416433/) [Ars Technica](https://www.edgepedia.org/ars-technica) called it "a confused mess that tries a handful of interesting ideas but fails to pull those disparate pieces into a coherent whole,"[10](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/homefront-the-revolution-review-blood-spattered-banner/) and PCWorld described "a host of technical problems and general jankery" beneath grandiose ambitions.[11](https://www.pcworld.com/article/414869/homefront-the-revolution-review-a-mess-of-a-game-with-grandiose-ambitions.html) The Guardian noted that in that hardware generation technical weakness was increasingly met with intolerance, and many players would find the game's shoddiness too much of a turn-off.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/24/homefront-the-revolution-review-an-ambitious-but-flawed-shooter)
**Praised elements** included the zone system, the atmosphere of an occupied city, and the weapon customization. GameSpot's review called the substantial story campaign "impressively rich" and the shooting "tense and fun".[9](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/homefront-the-revolution-review/1900-6416433/)
## References
1. [Homefront: The Revolution, Homefront Wiki (Fandom)](https://homefront.fandom.com/wiki/Homefront%3A_The_Revolution)
2. [About, Dambuster Studios](https://www.dambuster.com/studio)
3. [Young, R. J. (2018). PhD thesis, University of Leeds, discussing Homefront: The Revolution](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22035/2/Young_RJ_POLIS_PhD_2018_Redacted.pdf)
4. [Homefront: The Revolution review, Stuff (Tom Parsons, 17 May 2016)](https://www.stuff.tv/review/homefront-the-revolution-review/)
5. [Homefront: The Revolution critic reviews (PC), Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/critic-reviews/)
6. [Homefront: The Revolution (PlayStation 4), Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/homefront-the-revolution/?platform=playstation-4)
7. [Homefront: The Revolution game review, Tech Advisor](https://www.techadvisor.com/article/717079/homefront-the-revolution-game-review.html)
8. [Interview: Stephen Rhodes On Building Homefront: The Resistance's Co-op Multiplayer, TheSixthAxis (27 January 2016)](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2016/01/27/interview-stephen-rhodes-on-building-homefront-the-resistances-co-op-multiplayer/)
9. [Homefront: The Revolution Review, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/homefront-the-revolution-review/1900-6416433/)
10. [Homefront: The Revolution review: Blood-spattered banner, Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/homefront-the-revolution-review-blood-spattered-banner/)
11. [Homefront: The Revolution review: A mess of a game with grandiose ambitions, PCWorld](https://www.pcworld.com/article/414869/homefront-the-revolution-review-a-mess-of-a-game-with-grandiose-ambitions.html)
12. [Homefront: The Revolution review – an ambitious, but flawed shooter, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/24/homefront-the-revolution-review-an-ambitious-but-flawed-shooter)
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*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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