At the I <3 StarCraft event in South Korea, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime unveiled StarCraft: Remastered, a modern day re-skinning of the highly-influential RTS that became an instant classic upon release. The remaster will include both the original game and its expansion, Brood War.
The remaster will support 4K resolution as well as revamped audio. Make no mistake, though, StarCraft: Remastered promises to be as authentic to the original as possible.
Speaking with Team Liquid, Blizzard stated that the silhouettes and animations will mirror the original. While some units will appear slightly different than before, pixel models will remain faithful to the vision of the original development team. For instance, instead of completely redesigning units with an abundance of flat pixels, Blizzard went through and filled in those dull spaces as needed.
As far as how the remaster will play, it will still run in 2D using the original game engine as its foundation. The field of view will remain the same, and users can seamlessly switch between 4:3 aspect ratio and widescreen HD with a simple keystroke. By the sounds of it, those who played and loved the original will feel right at home with the remaster.
When the game launches, it will appear alongside modern Blizzard titles like Overwatch and Hearthstone in the recently rebranded Blizzard App client, making the game easily accessible.
Users who prefer the original matchmaking system will still be able to use custom game lobbies and set match details with an opponent before going into battle. Blizzard acknowledged that there was a need for a more streamlined process, and has implemented easier means for finding a match. Blizzard promised to provide more information about the online features in the next few weeks.
The remaster has been in development for 18 months. Last year, rumors of its existence began circulating, but Blizzard kept quiet about it until this weekend.
StarCraft: Remastered arrives this summer for PC and Mac. A price has not been set at this time. To gear up for the remaster, StarCraft: Brood War will become permanently free to download and play starting with version 1.18, which is expected to drop within the week.
