City of Heroes: Homecoming
Homecoming Team (community) · Homecoming (NCSoft licensed)
The beloved superhero MMO, resurrected and officially licensed to its community — free, friendly, and endlessly customizable.
Worth playing in 2026?
Yes — easy to recommendCity of Heroes: Homecoming in 2026 scores 83/100 on the overall lens — updates keep coming, and reviews aggregate to 77/100. It's one of the genre's most casual-friendly games.
Worth it if
- ✓ Superhero character creators
- ✓ Altoholics
- ✓ No-pressure socializers
Skip it if
- ✗ 2004 gameplay pacing
- ✗ small volunteer dev team
- ✗ combat depth is limited
Composed from this page's data — score, update cadence, monetization — not from a reviewer's mood. Same inputs as the tier list.
What it costs to start
Free to start- · Free to download and play — no purchase required
- · Completely free — no cash shop and no subscription, funded by donations
- · All content and character options unlocked from the first login
- · Requires a free Homecoming account and its own launcher; not on Steam
Prices and bundles change — verify on the official site ↗.
Business model
Combat
World design
Platforms
Housing
Update cadence
Steam Deck
Cross-play
Cross-progression
Profile facts verified 2026-07-21 · monetization verified 2026-07-21
Time commitment
Low chore pressure = the game doesn't punish missed days. Editorial assessments · verified 2026-07-21.
Development
Review scores
Population activity
Sourced, dated observations — never an estimate. Different sources measure different things and are never combined.
No verified public player count is available. MMOlist does not estimate MMO populations — an absence of public numbers is not evidence that a game is inactive.
Related context (not a player count)
Data as of 2026-09-12.
Live data refreshed 2026-09-12 · refreshes daily
Gameplay profile
Editorial scales · verified 2026-07-21
Pros & cons
- ✓ Best character creator ever made
- ✓ Completely free, zero monetization
- ✓ Officially licensed community revival
- ✗ 2004 gameplay pacing
- ✗ Small volunteer dev team
- ✗ Combat depth is limited
Best for
- Superhero character creators
- Altoholics
- No-pressure socializers
Notes & links
NCSoft granted a license in 2024, making the revival official.
Sources
Guilds recruiting
No guilds recruiting for City of Heroes: Homecoming yet
Playing with a community? Yours could be the first listing here — an evergreen recruitment page beats weekly forum posts.
List your guildSimilar games
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MMOlist rankings
Frequently asked questions
▸Is City of Heroes: Homecoming free to play?
Yes — free to start. Free to download and play — no purchase required. Completely free — no cash shop and no subscription, funded by donations. All content and character options unlocked from the first login.
▸Is City of Heroes: Homecoming worth playing in 2026?
Yes — easy to recommend. City of Heroes: Homecoming in 2026 scores 83/100 on the overall lens — updates keep coming, and reviews aggregate to 77/100. It's one of the genre's most casual-friendly games.
▸How many people play City of Heroes: Homecoming? Is it dead?
City of Heroes: Homecoming's official servers are online, but no verified total player count is publicly available. MMOlist shows sourced activity observations — such as Steam concurrent players where a source exists — in the Population activity section rather than estimating a total. An absence of public numbers is not evidence that a game is dead.
▸Is City of Heroes: Homecoming pay-to-win?
No — its monetization is widely considered clean, with little to no pay-to-win pressure.
▸What platforms is City of Heroes: Homecoming on?
City of Heroes: Homecoming is available on PC, Mac.
Spotted outdated or wrong info? — corrections ship fast.