Almost exactly eight years since Blizzard said it wasn’t planning to remaster Warcraft 1 & 2 because they’re “just not that fun any more”, the studio has announced it’s doing just that – and both spruce-ups are available today as part of Warcraft’s 30th anniversary celebrations.
The original Warcraft helped catapult Blizzard into the big leagues when it launched back in 1994, with Warcraft 2 quickly emerging to sate its growing fanbase the following year. And the studio’s newly announced remasters promise a range of enhancements to the games’ classic real-time strategy action, starting with new hand-drawn visuals – said to capture the originals’ art style – which can be toggled on and off in real-time.
As for Warcraft 1 specifically, Blizzard has added “modern controls”, including right-click move, bounding box select, and a faster game speed. That’s on top of the UI and UX improvements – including tool tips, health bars, mission select screens, and increased unit select – that’ve been implemented across both titles. Additionally, Warcraft 2 Remastered retains the original’s multiplayer, and all legacy custom maps are fully compatible and playable in the new version.
Warcraft 1 Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered are available for PC via Battle.net right now (there’s no word on whether they might eventually show up on other stores), costing $9.99 and $14.99 respectively. Additionally, there’s a Battle Chest bundle, priced at $39.99, featuring the new remasters and Blizzard’s much-maligned Warcraft 3: Reforged.
Despite the latter’s terrible launch reception, Blizzard has continued to improve the title since its arrival in 2020, with today bringing a new 2.0 update for all players. This includes overhauled environments and lighting, a revamped UI, up-rezzed HD versions of all classic Warcraft assets, plus a range of quality of life improvements – in-game hockey customisation and revamped ladder were mentioned – and “much, much more”.