If it wasn’t obvious enough already, the 2020s is the decade of remakes and remasters, with some of the biggest AAA studios picking the latter. Blizzard Entertainment is one of those. Now, according to some rather excited leaks, Blizzard is poised to introduce Warcraft 2: Remastered or a remaster sometime in November 2024.
Here’s the leak from the eagle-eyed dataminers:
Again, it’s a leak. You might have to wait until November 13, 2024, for the 30th Anniversary Event for Warcraft for an official announcement. Try as I might, however, I find it hard to be excited about the prospect of a Warcraft 2: Remastered compared to something like Diablo 2: Resurrected or even Warcraft 3: Reforged (both remasters).
Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness (1995) and its expansion Beyond the Dark Portal didn’t exactly age well to stick to its mechanics, unlike Diablo 2 or Warcraft 3; now those two are known for being genre flagships. Warcraft 2, on the other hand, has gameplay too similar to 1992’s Dune II RTS from Westwood Studios.
Luckily I’ve retained vivid memories of playing Warcraft 2 several years after its 1995 release back when I was in Kindergarten (a story for another time). Warcraft 2 only had two factions– Alliance and Horde. Two main warring factions might work for an MMORPG like World of Warcraft, but it’s painfully limited for an RTS.
Warfract 2: Remastered is poised to be an outdated RTS that’s about to be released in 2024 in a dying or niche genre. MOBA’s and Warcraft’s shift to MMORPGs have simply overshadowed the RTS genre.
Warcraft 2 Needs More than New Visuals
Heck, even the original Age of Empires had more factions than Warcraft 2. Blizzard possibly remastering an old game with a mere two factions and near-symmetrical combat (apart from character models) is hard to find appealing. We’re not even talking about possible pricing here.
Moreover, Warcraft at this point has had too much retroactive lore development and we know that Night Elves/Sentinels, Undead/Scourge, and many other races and factions exist in its in-game universe. Warcraft 2 deserves better than a new coat of paint. It deserves more mechanics, more faction asymmetry, or even just one additional playable faction.
Even a simple new interpretation like just one faction would make a world of difference. Starcraft aged well simply by adding one additional faction to the fray, something Starcraft 2 retained (and insisted upon).
Otherwise, you might as well just play the Warcraft 2 mod for Warcraft 3: Reforged. Scratch that– you might as well just play Warcraft 3: Reforged. It’s got the Horde and Alliance factions anyway and with better faction asymmetry.
If anything, the only appeal of paying for and playing Warcraft 2: Remastered is the remastered Blizzard cinematics and storytelling. Someone will probably upload it on YouTube right away.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, we must remember that Warcraft 2: Remastered is just a leak at this point. My fingers remain crossed that Blizzard will unveil a better treatment for Warcraft 2 than a mere remaster.
