Homeworld: Cataclysm, developed by Barking Dog Studios (now Rockstar Vancouver), is the first official 'episode' within the Homeworld universe, taking you back to the setting of Homeworld roughly 15 years after the events of the original game ended. Improving upon the Homeworld interface, Cataclysm presents new features such as waypoints and sensor-manager attack commands to add a new dimension to the revolutionary combat and gameplay pioneered in Homeworld.

In the campaign, you begin by Cataclysm commanding a sect - or kiith - that has been marginalized after your people's victorious return to their homeworld of Hiigara. Traveling into uncharted space to repel an attack against another kiith, your fleet happens upon an alien probe that harbors an ancient evil. As events unravel, you will need to survive the onslaught of an enemy with terrifying abilities you can't match, fight off opportunistic Turanic Raiders, and deflect the firepower of Imperial loyalists bent on destroying you and reclaiming Hiigara.

Much as in Homeworld, gameplay revolves around a central command ship, but one that produces an entirely new class of fighting, resourcing and support craft with new technologies and weaponry. The new, robust multiplayer system supports up to eight combatants, each playing one of two very different sides with their own tactical options.