Blizzard

Blizzard stealth launched Warcraft Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered on PC

Originally posted on Video Games on SI | Last updated Nov 13, 2024 1:51 PM ET

It’s a good day for fans of classic real-time strategy, as Blizzard Entertainment just announced and then released Warcraft Remastered and Warcraft 2 Remastered for PC during the Warcraft 30th anniversary livestream. That's right, you can grab enhanced versions of two of the most influential strategy games now.

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Blizzard is releasing them individually on Battlenet and didn't say if they plan to launch either or both on Steam and other platforms. Warcraft 1 Remastered costs $9.99, while Warcraft 2 Remastered is going for $14.99. You can also get both of them with Warcraft 3: Reforged - for which Blizzard just pushed a big 2.0 update live - in a Battle Chest Bundle for $39.99.

“These remasters have brand new hand-drawn visuals that capture the original art style from each game, and you’ll be able to swap between the original graphics and the remastered versions in real time,” Brad Chan, Warcraft RTS senior manager, said during the stream.

Warcraft 1 Remastered also features "modern controls," and both games have interface improvements as well.

Early signs of Warcraft 2: Remastered were discovered a week ago, when Battle.net received assets related to the game on the backend, though these were ostensibly connected to a test rather than a full release.

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Originally published in 1995, Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness paved the way for the success of StarCraft in the following years and really marked Blizzard as masters of the RTS genre. The game featured a single-player campaign, multiplayer mode, and map editor to create custom games – and all of these functions are available in Warcraft 2: Remastered.

Fans getting traumatic flashbacks to the release of Warcraft 3: Reforged can calm down – the surprise release is a remaster in the vein of 2017’s StarCraft: Remastered, which was a very faithful and well-received adaptation of the original game.

This article first appeared on Video Games on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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