Yet, it’s undeniable that the competitive Brood War scene has aged significantly, with most of the top players being progamers with nearly a decade of playing experience. There’s nothing that points to an imminent collapse for BW it’s actually experiencing a mini-revival at the moment. StarCraft: Remastered will try to accommodate both newcomers and returning veterans with modern matchmaking and a proper ladder system.Īttracting new players is crucial for sustaining Brood War in the long term, and in a best-case scenario, even helping it grow. Without alienating its hardcore players, it makes StarCraft more accessible to newcomers who are intrigued by its long-standing reputation as both a brutally challenging game, and as the originator of modern esports. Lowering the barrier to entry in the most direct sense-by letting people actually play the game without jumping through hoops-could be the single best thing that’s happened to StarCraft in over a decade. My friend insisted it was the only way we could play a decent match. Just to play some casual games, we had to go through the cumbersome process of configuring third-party programs, connecting to a private server, and repeatedly making game lobbies until opponents finally joined.
I remember visiting Korea a few years ago and going to a PC Bang (net cafe) with an old friend to relive the good ol’ days of playing 2v2 in middle school. Right now, Brood War is incredibly hard to approach for both new players and veterans trying to get back into the game. Ironically, these were features that I had no way to test or preview: automated matchmaking and a revamped competitive ladder.
While most of SC:R is devoted to keeping things the same, there are some significant changes that may have a greater effect than any theoretical change to balance. Reducing Dragoons into a puddle of blue goop is exactly as satisfying as it was nineteen years ago. Its immutability had long since become a core part of its identity. Without any significant changes or intercession from Blizzard, Brood War had already sustained a hardcore fanbase and esports scene for nearly 20 years.
From professional gamers to lower-level players who just refused to tire of BW, the message was clear: don’t touch the gameplay.
Stilwell explained how early on in development Blizzard collected opinions from the community (focused on Korea, where BW is most popular) on what direction a potential update might go. But as I wondered what a more modernized version of SC:R would be like, I understood that Blizzard had little choice but to make SC:R a historic preservation project.
It felt odd playing a game where maintaining the status quo was the primary goal, especially in the current gaming environment where it’s demanded that competitive multiplayer games constantly iterate and change. During many of my games, I completely forgot that I was playing a different version of StarCraft. Once games started to heat up, the similarities to BW made it too easy for me to become immersed in the fast-paced play that I was so familiar with. I had trouble noticing the gorgeous HD graphics beyond the opening phases of a game. Together, SC:R’s graphics and gameplay offer an experience that’s virtually indistinguishable from BW (a few input kinks for higher-level players remain to be worked out). Even a seemingly basic feature like custom hotkeys had to be implemented carefully in StarCraft, where tradition reigns supreme.