Setting and backstory Homefront: The Revolution is not a continuation of the original
Homefront, but rather a re-imagining of the premise. The story takes place in an
alternate history setting in which the
digital revolution of the 1970s took place in
North Korea's "Silicon River" (
Ryesong River) rather than the "
Silicon Valley" of
Northern California. In 1977, North Korea's
communist government falls out of favor after a series of devastating floods and
Kim Il Sung resigns from office and is replaced with a more moderate Premier, Lee Dong-won. As a result, the now
capitalist nation of North Korea has become the most powerful and influential nation on Earth, controlled by the APEX Corporation and led by a
Steve Jobs-like figure named Joe Tae-Se. The
United States, meanwhile, after years of multiple conflicts in the
Middle East under Presidents
George W. Bush and
John McCain, is a
pariah state amongst the international community as well as suffering from massive war debt from purchasing weapons technology from APEX and is in severe economic conditions. In 2025, the United States' economy collapses, forcing the US to default on their debt to North Korea. Joe Tae-Se's son, APEX CEO and North Korean Premier John Tae-Se, with the approval of the international community,
uses this as a pretext to invade and occupy the country, using a backdoor installed in all APEX technology to shut down the United States military. Although initially presented as an international
humanitarian effort to restore stability to the United States after the economic collapse, the Koreans proceed to strip mine the country for its natural resources to repay the debt, and brutalize the populace in response to a national resistance movement against the occupation. The game takes place in
Philadelphia in 2029, four years into the occupation. The new Philadelphia is a heavily policed and oppressed environment, with civilians living in fear as the
Korean People's Army patrol multiple districts in the city, aided by American collaborators led by Mayor Simpson.
Story The game follows Ethan Brady, a new Resistance member whose cell is expecting a visit from Benjamin Walker, "The Voice of Freedom" and leader of the national resistance against the KPA occupation. Brady's cell is attacked in a KPA raid, and every member of the cell except for Brady are tortured to death by the KPA. Walker arrives, saving Brady and killing the KPA, but is wounded in the fight. Brady leaves to make contact with another Resistance cell, but while he's gone the KPA raid Walker's safehouse and capture him. Brady attempts to rendezvous with the new cell, but is mistaken for a Korean spy, beaten unconscious, and nearly tortured by the Resistance, being saved at the last moment when his identity is established. Brady joins the new Resistance cell led by Jack Parrish, whose field commander is volatile, ruthless former criminal Dana Moore. Two other key figures in the cell are Dr. Sam Burnett, a pacifist medical doctor who believes in
nonviolent resistance but works with the Resistance anyway in order to treat the victims of the KPA's brutality, and James Crawford, a Resistance spy operating within the KPA ranks as an American collaborator. The Resistance's primary focus is finding Ben Walker and rescuing him. Brady is sent to work for Ned Sharpe, the Resistance's armorer. However, the armory is raided by KPA forces, during which Ned is killed and the Resistance's weapons stockpile destroyed by a Goliath robot. Brady succeeds in destroying the Goliath and stealing its robot brain, and Parrish comes up with a plan to reprogram the brain and use it to take control of a Goliath, with which the Resistance can break into
Independence Hall where Walker is being put on trial by the KPA. Resistance technician Heather Cortez successfully reprograms the robot brain, while Parrish and Brady steal a Goliath from the KPA. However, the Goliath is sabotaged by a mole within the Resistance, ruining the plan to break into Independence Hall. Crawford comes up with an alternate plan, in which he will pretend to capture Brady so he will be taken inside Independence Hall for the trial, at which point Brady can break free with Crawford's help and disable the Hall's defenses from inside. The plan seems to work, and the Resistance storms into Independence Hall, only to discover there is no trial occurring and the courtroom is actually a sealed trap. Mayor Simpson appears on a video projector to show that Crawford has betrayed the Resistance, and also that the KPA have mentally broken Ben Walker, who gives a national speech calling for the Resistance to surrender. The Resistance manages to escape the trap thanks to Heather storming the Hall with the repaired Goliath, but in the resulting fight Heather is killed and the Goliath is destroyed. The KPA proceeds to launch retaliatory strikes against all Resistance outposts in Philadelphia, resulting in the Resistance's near collapse. Although initially heavily demoralized, Parrish and Moore come up with a final last-ditch plan to storm City Hall and capture Mayor Simpson so he can be forced to read a message denouncing the KPA occupation on national TV, just like Walker was forced to denounce the Resistance. Moore sends Brady to release the criminals and killers from the KPA's prison zone to help provide the firepower needed to storm City Hall. The attack on City Hall succeeds, however Mayor Simpson refuses to read the message given to him, stating that the KPA will kill everyone in Philadelphia with
nerve gas if they feel they are losing control of the city, claiming that they have secretly already done so with
Boston and
Pittsburgh. Moore loses control and executes Simpson on live TV in retaliation for Simpson's sexual abuse of her while she was his prisoner. In desperation, Parrish gives a speech urging the American people to rise up against the KPA. Despite lacking Ben Walker's eloquence, Parrish's heartfelt speech succeeds in spurring the people of Philadelphia to rebel. Parrish, Moore, and Brady celebrate their success, but are interrupted by a disgusted Dr. Burnett, who informs them that the KPA are gassing the city, just as Mayor Simpson warned would happen. Feeling that violence has only provoked mass murder, Burnett abandons the Resistance and goes to try to help evacuate the city. Parrish, Moore, and Brady attempt to use the Resistance's captured Surface-to-Air missile launchers to shoot down the airships deploying the nerve gas, only to find that the airships are protected by a swarm of automated
drones. Parrish and Brady go to confront Crawford, hoping he knows how to shut down the drone defenses. A frightened Crawford claims the KPA discovered his status as a
double agent and forced him to betray the Resistance, and tells Parrish how to shut down the drones in exchange for protection. A disgusted Parrish instead abandons Crawford, leaving it up to Brady to decide whether to spare the traitor or execute him. With only a few minutes left until the airships gas the city, Parrish, Moore, and Brady storm Independence Hall where the drone control station is located, only to be stopped by a Goliath. Parrish is shot several times, while Moore grabs an explosive pack and sacrifices herself in order to suicide bomb the Goliath and destroy it. An injured Brady makes a final push to the drone control station, but is overpowered and nearly choked unconscious by a KPA officer before he can deactivate the drones. However, Parrish overcomes his injuries long enough to arrive to kill the KPA officer and save Brady, who sends the signal to shut down the drones. This allows the Resistance to shoot down the KPA airships before they can gas most of the city. Brady helps support the wounded Parrish as the two of them walk outside to watch the airships being shot down, with Parrish declaring that the revolution has begun.
DLC The game's storyline is continued in its 3 DLC campaigns,
The Voice of Freedom,
Aftermath, and
Beyond the Walls.
The Voice of Freedom is a prelude to the main game, showing Ben Walker's infiltration into Philadelphia, during which he fights through KPA forces as well a local gang of criminals, eventually arriving at the safehouse to save Ethan Brady from the KPA. In
Aftermath, which takes place after the end of the main game, Ethan Brady is sent by Jack Parrish to assassinate Ben Walker in order to stop the demoralizing effect of his pro-KPA propaganda broadcasts. Brady decides to try and rescue Walker instead, still feeling indebted to Walker for saving his life. Brady discovers that Walker only cooperated with the KPA after weeks of torture and the KPA executing civilians whenever he refused to obey them. Upon learning this, Parrish decides that Brady is correct in wanting to rescue Walker instead of killing him. Brady manages to break into the KPA prison facility where Walker is being held, and the two of them fight their way out of the prison and escape in a KPA helicopter being piloted by Cook, the Resistance's gunsmith. In the game's final DLC,
Beyond the Walls, after weeks of fighting, the national Resistance movement has ultimately been crushed by the KPA, with the Philadelphia Resistance being the last Resistance cell remaining. Parrish and Brady receive a garbled transmission from a
NATO agent moments before the KPA launches a final assault on their headquarters, forcing the remains of the Resistance to flee in disarray. Brady goes into the countryside to meet the NATO agent, who turns out to be Lisa Burnel, a British engineer who tells him that NATO is planning a full-scale assault against the KPA in America in response to the KPA's invasion of Europe. Burnel's mission is to launch a nuclear warhead into space from a nearby decommissioned
missile silo so the
EMP blast will take out the KPA's APEX satellite network, in order to reduce the KPA's combat efficiency. Brady accompanies Burnel to the silo, and with assistance from the remains of the Resistance manages to hold off a KPA assault long enough for Burnel to prepare and launch the missile. However, a malfunction causes the silo launch doors to jam, forcing Brady to jump into the launch shaft to open them manually. This traps Brady inside the launch shaft, and he tells Burnel to launch the missile anyway even though the ignition blast will kill him. Burnel is initially reluctant to do so, but after KPA soldiers break into the control room and shoot her, she hits the launch button before dying. The KPA soldiers attempt to stop the launch but to no avail. Brady is incinerated by the missile's ignition, and the missile successfully destroys the APEX network, disabling KPA's entire communication, weapon integration and surveillance network. With KPA's military weakened, NATO force begin their campaign against KPA force. Parrish gives a final speech telling the people of America that they at last have a real chance at freedom and to rise up and fight alongside NATO to liberate the nation. ==Development and release==