Video Game / Homefront: The Revolution

Homefront: The Revolution is a Continuity Reboot to the 2011 videogame Homefront. It is 2029, four years into the Korean invasion of the United States, Philadelphia is under occupation by the KPA. The new Philadelphia is a heavily policed and oppressed environment, with civilians living in fear as the KPA patrol multiple districts in the city. In the city, a second rebellion is brewing and the resistance grows stronger. The story follows Ethan Brady, a young resistance members as he and the new resistance attempt to retake Philadelphia.

The Revolution is a retcon of the original Homefront in regarding to the universe's backstory, but follows the same premise. Originally developed by Crytek, the production was affected by financial issues until the game was eventually sold to Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver.

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Homefront: The Revolution provides examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Brady and the Resistance spent half of the main story trying to rescue Ben Walker until they found out that Walker was taken to somewhere else after they fell into a trap and leading to the Resistance almost being crush by the KPA thanks to a traitor. The remaining half of the story is the heroes trying to incite the people of Philadelphia to rebel.
• Alternate History: More so than in Homefront.
  • North Korea survived the Korean War but embraced a progressive/neo-liberal free market economy and underwent a period of economic and technological growth in the 1970's that is not unlike the Japanese economic miracle. Kim Il-sung lost credibility after failing to respond to a series of major floods damaging the country and got replaced by a progressive government. However, North Korea is currently ruled by a corporatocracy.
  • South Korea itself wasn't integrated or annexed unlike Homefront, but became a peaceful ally with North Korea in 1997.
  • The Soviet Union is still alive and kicking in the 21st century after they became the first nation to land on the moon and controlling much of the Middle East's oil reserves.
  • The existence of APEX Corporation, a MegaCorp that became the aforementioned corporatocracy that ruled North Korea, basically negates America's leading computer and network technology, including the existence of Silicon Valley in San Francisco, with Ryesong River's "Silicon River" taking the place instead. Corporations like Google, Apple, and Microsoft also don't exist as well as in this continuity the APEX Corporation took its place instead.
  • The War on Terror went out of hand as the 2003 invasion of Iraq (which the country was militarily supported by the Soviets) brought the U.S. into further interventions in almost the entire Middle East including Iran, Syria, and Egypt. John McCain won the 2008 Presidential Elections and refused to back down America's military commitment in the Middle East.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: After Crawford's treachery was revealed, the KPA launched a series of assaults on Resistance outposts and almost wiping out the Resistance.
  • The Beyond the Walls DLC begins with the Resistance making a fighting retreat from Philadelphia as the KPA attacked their base.
• America Saves the Day: In Beyond the Walls. Like in the original game, NATO finally decide to declare war on North Korea and launch an invasion force to liberate America, though it wouldn't happen without the efforts of the American Resistance to dismantle APEX's network through the use of missiles that the Resistance has to recapture.
• And the Adventure Continues: The war between NATO and KPA has just began by the end of Beyond the Walls.
• Ascended Extra: Benjamin Walker from Homefront: The Voice of Freedom becomes a central figure in the Resistance.
  • Sidney Cook, the lazy quartermaster, becomes Parrish's Number Two in the Aftermath DLC and actively helps Brady in rescuing Ben Walker.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Joe Tae-se sounds odd for a Korean name, and implied that the surname was Tae-se, when Koreans usually have single syllable names and the surname should come first. The practice of combining Western first name with local surname are something that practiced by Hong Kong and Taiwan, particularly movie localizers and publishers, rather than Korean.
• Back from the Brink: The Beyond the Walls DLC begins with the Resistance being utterly routed by the KPA and losing control of Philadelphia. Just as they are planning to make a last stand, the Resistance receive a radio message about NATO planning to attack the KPA.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • The Resistance succeed in liberating Philadelphia and saving it from being gassed by the KPA. But many of your allies are dead (Heather & Dana) or have abandoned you (Sam & Crawford).
  • In the Beyond the Walls DLC, the Resistance are given another chance to liberate America with the help of NATO, who have decided to launch an invasion force against the KPA-occupied America. But Brady dies for allowing this to happen.
• Boss in Mook's Clothing: Goliath automated heavy drones only appear a few times in the entire game, and are by far the toughest enemy units you can encounter.
• Bystander Syndrome: Justified example. The United Nations condemned North Korea's occupation of America, but they cannot intervene because doing so would provoke North Korea to shut down the UN member states' technology, which are APEX-made, much like they did with the United States.
  • Later averted in the Beyond the Walls DLC, where NATO decide to declare war on KPA-occupied America.
• China & Korea Takes Over The World: In this continuity, North Korea and China established a major economic partnership that allowed them to dominate the international market.
• Les Collaborateurs: Mayor Simpson is the most prominent example of Americans that sided with the Koreans. This can be attributed to how the Koreans were offering a tempting opportunity to impoverished and disillusioned Americans.
  • James Crawford, the Resistance mole posing as a collaborator, turns out to be one the entire time.
• Continuity Reboot: Although described by many as a sequel to the original game, the developers have stated that it's actually a reboot.
• Cool Airship: KPA airships patrol Philadelphia's skylines and will trigger waves of ground attackers on you if detected by their spotlights. They are also equipped with enough nerve gas to kill everyone in Philadelphia.
• Crapsack World: More or less than in Homefront. The 2003 invasion of Iraq exacerbated with almost the entire Middle East against the United States. Riyadh was nuked by a smuggled Iranian nuclear bomb, which lead to absolute unrest in the U.S. combined with the subprime mortgage crisis, and forcing the nation to enacting a state of emergency and suspending the 2016 Presidential Elections. North Korea is under the rule of a MegaCorp that produces the world's highest demanding technology, which are chipped and secretly monitored from North Korea, and successfully conquered America by simply turning off the U.S. military's APEX hardware. The United Nations remains helpless as the world is controlled by APEX technology, Russian-owned oil, and Chinese manufacturing.
• Cutscene Incompetence: In the opening scene, Ben Walker, the heroic leader of the Resistance, gets into a one-on-one fight with just one random Korean mook and is quickly overpowered and nearly killed, only surviving because Brady intervenes. This serves to emphasize the fact your enemies are professional soldiers, while you and your allies are not. Though soon afterwards you'll be mowing them down by the dozens just like any other FPS player character.
  • In the game's ending, the exact same thing happens to Brady, who gets overpowered and choked unconscious by a nameless mook. Fortunately, Parrish shows up and saves Brady, in a reversal of the opening scene.
• Cyberpunk: The KPA has futuristic aesthetic as well as gaining control of drones and high tech gadgets.
• Deadly Gas: The KPA release nerve gas on American cities that fell into complete rebellion as a last resort. According to Mayor Simpson, they have done this before on Boston and Pittsburgh. Brady and the Resistance spent the last moments of the game trying to shoot down the KPA Airships that are releasing gas on Philadelphia.
• The Dreaded: The giant airships that patrol certain maps. Sometimes you get a warning on the radio that one is approaching, but other times you're mostly just minding your own business or you're in the middle of a firefight, and the airship's lights happen to catch you, and blasts a loud alarm to alert an endless spawn of KPA troops to your location. You can outrun the searchlight on a bike, but on foot, your best bet is to hide in a covered building until the airship gives up its pursuit and continues its patrol. Unfortunately you can't shoot them down either with anything short of a surface-to-air missile.
• Eagle Land: Deconstructed. The America in the backstory is a warmongering boorish country to the point that the War on Terror became a full-scale war that strained the US economy even further, and the US in the universe isn't even the technological spearhead, but became indebted to KPA/APEX on the technology side a lot to the point that when America failed to pay the debt, the KPA/APEX launched a full-scale invasion unhindered as the tech is controlled by the KPA/APEX who easily turned off America's military hardware. There the KPA/APEX gives the impoverished people aid while massively gassing out dissidents and those who refuse to serve KPA/APEX. The deconstruction shows how the US' boorish acts invite brutal retaliations once the US is on the weak side.
• Easy Evangelism: Brady arrives in a Yellow Zone where the local populace is either all cowed or collaborators. A few dramatic acts of defiance later and sudden the majority of the district are lining up to revolt.
• Elite Mooks:
  • Black-armored KPA Captains can survive nearly twice as much damage as regular enemies, even being able to survive one sniper rifle shot to the torso.
  • Black-armored "Elite Guard" soldiers appear in the Beyond the Wall DLC, and seem to make up a little over half the enemy soldiers you fight in the DLC. They seem similar to KPA Captains, being tougher than regular soldiers, only appearing in greater numbers.
• Embedded Precursor: A hidden arcade machine in the game's last free-roaming area will let you play a fully functional emulation of TimeSplitters 2, although only the prologue and first couple of levels are playable. Dambuster Studios used to be Free Radical Designs, until they crashed financially, were bought out by Crytek, then split off again due to Crytek's own financial issues. May also be a case of Ascended Fanfic, as the groundwork for porting the content from the original TimeSplitters PS2 games to the Cryengine was already being laid by the Timesplitters: Rewind fan project team.
  • The game files actually include the entirety of Timesplitters 2, as the entire story campaign and arcade mode can be unlocked with cheat codes. However, the game is not stable (levels crash when Reaper Timesplitters teleport in) which is probably why only the first two levels were made normally available. A fan made patch makes all unlocks available without having to use the cheat codes and also fixes most of the crashes (except for the Neo Tokyo level), but requires some degree of computer savvy to install it. A later, more extensive mod, Timesplitters 2: Redux, fixes the remaining major bugs and allows the story mode to be played from beginning to end.
• Empire with a Dark Secret: While it isn't a secret that the KPA won't take kindly to Americans who resisted their rule, they have a contingency plan to release nerve gas on American cities that the KPA felt they couldn't control; in which they have secretly done this to Boston and Pittsburgh.
• Expy: The APEX Corporation is basically a Korean MegaCorp version of Apple Inc. Its founder Joe Tae-se is the North Korean analogue of Steve Jobs.
• Faceless Goons: The entirety of the KPA apart from the collaborators.
• Fallen States of America: Although not as bad in the previous game, America fell into poverty and unrest due to bad timing between the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and then President John McCain's unwavering commitment to the troop surge in the Middle East.
• The Farmer and the Viper: The global community, including NATO, permit North Korea to occupy America due to America's diminished legitimacy due to its various international misadventures. In "Beyond the Wall" NATO is then shocked to find out that North Korea is looking for a pretext to occupy Europe as well.
• Fate Worse than Death: It's implied that this is what will happen to Crawford, provided you let him live instead of killing him. Many people don't take kindly to collaborators, and he'll likely be found sooner or later by the Resistance.
• For Want Of A Nail: North Korea lost the Korean War and abandoned its communist ideology which allowed the nation to become a progressive and free marketing society similar to Japan. However, this allowed the country to be dominated by a MegaCorp.
  • Apollo 10 ended in disaster because of shoddy engineering in attempting to play catch up with the Soviets. The results had the U.S. discontinuing its space program and the Soviets landing on the moon first.
  • APEX, the MegaCorp mentioned in the game, hired programmers, including in what would be in Real Life key Microsoft and Apple figures, thus essentially dominating the computer industry. North Korea through APEX also created the Internet rather than the US.
  • John McCain won the 2008 U.S. Presidential Elections. Under his administration, he kept the U.S. military committed in the Middle East despite the massive costs combined with the mortgage crisis, and was responsible for U.S. spending on APEX technologies. The resulting economic meltdown causes McCain to cancel the 2016 Presidential Elections and declare a state of emergency before resigning in disgrace.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: The American Resistance often resort to guerilla warfare and terrorist acts to reach they goal to liberate America (which, according to the backstory, wasn't exactly a saint either), while the KPA/APEX are justified for their invasion of America given that the US is under crushing debt that had yet to be paid. That being said the KPA/APEX will resort to genocide in attempt to repel dissidents and rebels.
• Heavily Armored Mook: Heavy Troopers armed with light machineguns are one of the enemy types you'll be facing. They resist headshots and can soak close to a full mag of assault rifle fire before falling. They can be killed with a few bullets to the power pack on their backs, or by destroying their armored faceplate and shooting them in the face.
• The Hero Dies: Brady is killed in the Beyond the Wall DLC in which he becomes trapped in a launch shaft of a missile silo that is instrumental in allowing NATO forces to battle the KPA and a final chance to liberating America. Because of how utterly important this is, Brady willingly urged for the missile to launch while knowing that he will die from the incineration.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A few.
  • Near the end of the main game Dana Moore suicide bomb a Goliath that is blocking her friends from shutting down the Duster drones.
  • In the backstory of the Beyond The Walls DLC the NATO commando team all died stopping the KPA taking out their engineer before she can complete her mission.
  • At the finale of Beyond The Walls (and thus the finale of the game's story The NATO engineer Lisa, a dozen or so Resistance members and the Brady himself all die making sure the missile launches to take out the APEX network and allow NATO to liberate America.
• Hidden Depths: Parrish repeatedly states that he's no good with words and that's why they need Walker. After Dana kills Simpson he is forced to give an impromptu speech and, while it is a bit awkward in delivery, it ends up being not half bad and is quite inspirational to the people of the city.
• Hide Your Children: It's mentioned that all children have been relocated away from the cities by the KPA to re-education camps in the countryside, ostensibly because the cities are too unstable due to terrorist activity, but it's strongly suggested they're actually being kept as hostages to ensure compliance from the citizenry, if they haven't actually been Released to Elsewhere.
• Homemade Flamethrower: A homebrew flamethrower is one of the available weapons on hand, but the player must first purchase the crossbow. Naturally and fittingly, it inherits the gas pump handle/grip used as the base for the crossbow and other related weaponry. It's gas is carried in a medium-sized horizontal green jerry can with the nozzle/barrel being a whole emptied fire extinguisher.
• Invaded States of America: The United States is completely under the authority of North Korea.
• Ironic Echo: The entire premise of the Beyond the Walls DLC is a reverse of the Greater Korean Republic's EMP attack on the U.S. Now, it is the North Koreans who are on the other end instead.
• MegaCorp: The APEX Corporation. Initially, it was just like Apple Inc. (creating next gen smart phones, computers, and web services) in which it was mainly responsible for North Korea's technological prosperity to the point that it became culturally entwined with the nation. But under the reign of Joe Tae-se's son John, APEX established an arms industry that produces high-tech weapons that are highly demand in the world (and are secretly monitored and capable of being remotely turn off by its creators), and Tae-se became Premier of North Korea.
• The Mole: James Crawford acting out as a collaborator. Ultimately revealed to be a Double Agent working for Mayor Simpson.
• Near-Villain Victory: The KPA occupies the entire United States than in the previous game, even though the Resistance manage to liberate Philadelphia by the end of the main storyline. By the events of the Behind the Walls DLC, the KPA were coming close to wiping out the Resistance until NATO finally decide to intervene.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Parish succeed in convincing the citizens of Philadelphia to rebel, but never intended to have Mayor Simpson publicly killed on television because of Dana's very troubled past with Simpson. Either way, the KPA are not happy and they respond by gassing the entire city; in which this was forewarned by Simpson, who used his authority to ensure Philadelphia wouldn't be gassed.
• One-Man Army: Though you can recruit allies throughout the game, you could just destroy the entire KPA by yourself if you wanted to.
• One Nation Under Copyright: The APEX Corporation rules North Korea and their CEO John Tae-se is the country's Premier.
• Optional Stealth: In some maps, you can rush in guns blazing and complete missions this way. But on other maps, you're encouraged to blend in and take a more stealthy approach. You can still go in guns blazing if you'd really like, but on those maps the KPA will spawn endlessly and you may suffer a Death by a Thousand Cuts due to being attacked constantly. Fortunately for those missions you can often find a hiding spot to duck in/under until the heat dies down.
• Pretext for War: North Korea invaded the United States was because the latter was unable to repay its trillions of dollars in war debt to the former. Furthermore, the North Koreans insisted that the occupation was to help the U.S. recover from its financial ruin to be able to repay its debt. Initially this was true on North Korea's part, but over time the Koreans start to abuse their power and placing America under their control.
• The Quisling: Mayor Simpson, and pretty much every other American working alongside the North Koreans. They are not liked at all by the general populace.
• Random Event: On some maps, a "Flashpoint" may occur. It typically consists of killing some KPA troops that have cornered some resistance members in a weapon stash location, or the KPA attempting to launch some chemical weapons on civilians via rockets. Those events are completely optional, though the game will try to make you feel bad if you ignore them or take too long to finish it by telling you the resistance members were overrun, or that they're going to need a lot of gas masks for the chemicals the KPA launched.
• Rape as Backstory: It's heavily implied that Dana was forced to serve unwillingly as a "comfort woman" for Mayor Simpson and his soldiers, which is why she's carrying around so much murderous rage, particularly towards Simpson.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: James Crawford gives one to Jack Parrish after the latter refused to help a collaborator who sold out on the Resistance.
  "Parrish, fuck you, you think this country belongs to you? We weren't here first, everyone gets replaced. The KPA are stronger than you. [to Brady] Get out. You think you can save America? You're a deluded fantasist."
• Regenerating Health: The last 20% of your health regenerates, but this is only enough to survive about 1 or 2 shots before you die. You're reliant on using health kits to restore the majority of your health, and health kits are harder to obtain and you can carry less of them compared to, say, Far Cry 3 and 4.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: All KPA firearms have built in identification locks that prevents the Resistance from using them.
• Retcon: As aforementioned in the game's alternate history. North Korea is ruled by the APEX Corporation and follows a technocratic ideology rather than Juche ideology. The United States, more or less, suffered the same fate in the original game, but it was the country's unwavering commitment in the War on Terror combined with the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis that caused the U.S. to be economically impoverished and greatly indebted to North Korea for investing trillions of dollars worth of APEX technology. Which in turn gave North Korea's casus belli to invade the U.S. for not paying its dues.
• Save the Villain: After realizing the consequences of killing Simpson, Parrish is more focused on gaining information from Crawford to stop the KPA from gassing the city. However, Parrish leaves Crawford's fate to Brady.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sam Burnett finally cut his ties with the Resistance after their (though unintended) murder of Mayor Simpson caused the KPA to gas Philadelphia.
• Shout-Out: One mission sees Brady helping three good-natured prisoners named Redding (who is Black), Heywood, and Floyd (who are white) (and the latter two a bit of a shoutout-within-a-shoutout as they intern reference one of the primary characters in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Heywood even quips that the trio "crawled through a river of KPA shit and came out clean on the other side," a paraphrasing of a memorable line from the Shawshank.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: After being arrested by the KPA during the prologue, Walker tries to spread his message about the revolution before a KPA officer rifle butt strikes Walker to the ground, and a couple officers beat him up on the ground.
• Silent Protagonist: Ethan Brady, the protagonist of the main campaign, never speaks, even when doing so would seem to be rather important (such as when a Resistance leader is threatening to slice off his penis because she thinks he's a Korean spy). Averted with Ben Walker in The Voice of Freedom DLC; the first few minutes make it seem that he's going to be a silent protagonist for no clear reason, but he starts speaking after the first combat encounter and continues to talk like a normal person for the duration of the DLC.
  • Suddenly Voiced: Averted in the Aftermath DLC as Brady is now fully voiced. Parrish even lampshade this: "I preferred it when you kept your mouth shut."
• Sociopathic Hero: Dana Moore is a volatile, sadistic Psycho Knife Nut who makes Connor from the original Homefront look like Mr. Rogers.
• Super Drowning Skills: Brady dies instantly if he goes into water.
• This Loser Is You: The Korean occupation is a reflection on post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy and the habit of embedding soldiers overseas, and the game explores what it would be like if the situation were reversed.
  Stephen Rhodes: There are definitely parallels there with how America is perceived abroad, and how America perceives itself, and how those things are twisted and changed in our timeline to facilitate this scenario. And it’s really interesting to look at how the American people respond to foreign troopers, foreign involvement, how you can imagine American people reacting in today’s world.
• Title Drop: The narrator ends the opening cutscene with "you...are The Revolution."
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: It seems that almost 1/3rd of the game's side missions are climbing puzzles. Imagine having to do Far Cry radio tower puzzles while dealing with infinite respawning enemies at the same time.
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay:
  • In gameplay, the enemies will adapt based on whatever strategy you use. For example, if you use a sniper rifle, they will call in a counter-sniper team and artillery to flush you out. If you go up-close, they'll call in armored soldiers. That way, the player has to keep changing strategies.
  • In the Beyond the Walls DLC, the Resistance, despite liberating Philadelphia, is still outclassed by the more technologically and numerically superior KPA; in which the Resistance were almost cease to exist after the KPA apparently learned from their lesson in Philadelphia and have been brutally crushing every Resistance-controlled city. The Resistance could only survive when NATO finally goes to war against the KPA.
• Unexplained Recovery: At the end of the game Jack Parrish is riddled with assault rifle bullets, and seemingly dies after some dramatic last words. Minutes later, he's recovered enough to walk a few hundred feet through an active warzone, climb a couple stories of stairs, and save Brady from being choked out by a KPA soldier. He's clearly weakened, but otherwise seems in reasonable health.
  • Except not, in the DLC Parrish is alive, but he is on a wheelchair and his arm is broken.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment: APEX technology is specifically designed this way. This is the very reason why the United States lose is because of its entire military that is heavily dependent on APEX technology in which they are secretly installed with a chip that could be remotely turn off by its creators. When the U.S. refused to follow North Korea's demands, the APEX Corporation began to shut down the entire U.S. military. This leave America totally defenseless as North Korean troops began to land on American soil unimpeded. This is also the reason why America's allies can not help prevent the invasion is because they are also dependent on APEX technology, or else they will suffer the same fate as America.
• Villain with Good Publicity: One of the reasons that the KPA/APEX were able to take control of America is due to gaining the trust of the American people with promise of providing food, medical aid, and jobs.
  • Beyond the Wall DLC averts this with the rest of the NATO without America knowing that the KPA/APEX is up to no good and its trying to contact the American resistance.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • KPA invaded the United States and placing it under occupation is to help the country recover from its crumbling infrastructure and will leave the country after America has sufficiently repay its debt. That's the official explanation, at least. The fact that the KPA have secretly murdered millions of American civilians with nerve gas indicates that, whatever their original motives may or may not have been, at this point it's all about power. A KPA collaborator even compares what the KPA are going to do to Americans to what the Americans did to the Native Americans, though he was making a point about the futility of the Resistance rather than making an official policy statement.
  • Mayor Simpson claims that whatever cruelty and oppression he's committed to snuff out the Resistance, it was all necessary to protect everyone, because the KPA secretly use nerve gas to wipe out any cities they feel they are losing control of.
• Wham Line:
  Mayor Simpson: Yeah? Boston. Pittsburgh. When's the last time you heard anything out of them?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Although a member of the Resistance, Sam Burnett is critical of the Resistance's actions that would only endangered civilians caught in the crossfire or suffering from KPA reprisal. Sam finally reached his breaking point with the Resistance when the KPA decided to release nerve gas on Philadelphia in response to the murder of Mayor Simpson.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Ben Walker is never heard again after the Resistance discovered that he was taken somewhere else and forced to serve as the KPA's propagandist. Later subverted in the Aftermath DLC, which focus on Brady trying to rescue Walker, only to be played straight again when he gets no mention in the Beyond The Wall DLC that closes out the story.
• Wide-Open Sandbox
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Resistance, which opposes the authority represented as KPA-aligned regional leaders, while the KPA themselves serving largely as faceless masked goons.
• Zeppelins from Another World: The KPA has airships in their arsenal monitoring over Philadelphia and other American cities. They're used to gas the population if resistance groups start to gain ground.
• 0% Approval Rating: Mayor Simpson is not liked at all by the citizens of Philadelphia aside from some collaborators. Ironically he's also the reason the KPA hasn't just outright gassed all of Philadelphia, as he's trying to hold the peace and crack down on terrorist attacks by Americans.