What you need to know
- During the Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that they are releasing remastered editions of Warcraft 1 and Warcraft 2 alongside a major 2.0 update for Warcraft 3: Reforged right now.
- The Remastered editions of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness will include redone character art, an updated multiplayer mode for Warcraft 2 Remastered, and quality of life improvements for Warcraft 1 Remastered.
- The 2.0 Update for Warcraft 3: Reforged will include updated, customizable graphics, long-requested multiplayer modes, and more.
Today has been a glorious day for Warcraft fans because Blizzard Entertainment has made a metric ton of exciting announcements for the Warcraft franchise during its Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct livestream. The first and possibly one of the biggest announcements from this event was that Blizzard has officially announced that it will be releasing remastered editions of the original Warcraft and Warcraft 2, along with a monumental 2.0 update patch for Warcraft 3: Reforged RIGHT NOW.
Rumors of a Warcraft 2 Remaster began to stir a week ago. With this announcement, not only do we now have proof Warcraft 2 Remastered is indeed happening, but we're also getting a Warcraft Remastered and a big update for Warcraft 3: Reforged on top of it.
Here's everything you need to know about the re-releases of these classic RTS titles.
Before Warcraft became the genre-defining MMORPG, World of Warcraft, the franchise was originally comprised of a trilogy of real-time strategy games where players would control the Horde or Alliance factions to destroy their enemies in brutal, fast-paced skirmishes.
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In honor of Warcraft's 30th Anniversary, Blizzard has decided to re-release the first games in the series as Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Remastered and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness Remastered. As the titles suggest, these games will feature remastered graphics that replace the old visuals from environments, portraits, and characters with newly redrawn HD textures.
However, these remastered editions have the option to turn the HD graphics back to their original 1990s pixelated graphics if you prefer their retro charm. In addition, both games will receive enhanced resolutions and framerate performances.
On top of HD visuals, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Remastered will receive quality-of-life improvements the original game never had, like being able to drag and select multiple units at once, and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Remastered will receive in-depth online multiplayer modes.
As for the Warcraft 3: Reforged 2.0 update, it is a big one as it brings a gigantic graphical facelift to the game's visuals with more detailed textures for the units and UI portraits. In addition, the update will enhance the game's resolution and framerates.
Moreover, players will be able to customize Warcraft 3: Reforged graphics, thanks to this update. You can choose to use either the new Reforged or classic graphics or mix and match elements of both to suit your personal preference.
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Remastered and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Remastered are now available to purchase on Battle.net for PC. You can purchase them individually or by purchasing the newly released Warcraft Battle Chest bundle, which contains the aforementioned games alongside Warcraft 3: Reforged in one.
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At long last, I can finally experience the origins of the Warcraft universe in one definitive package
Microsoft has been on a warpath in recent years to revitalize the RTS genre with the success of Age of Empires II, Age of Empires IV, and Age of Empires Mythology Retold.
With Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, we're now seeing that effort being applied to some of Blizzard's best PC games. Starcraft 1 and 2 have recently been added to PC Game Pass and now the original Warcraft RTS games have been being remastered and re-released on PC along with a long-updated for Warcraft 3: Reforged.
Personally, I'm very happy to see the original Warcraft RTS games being re-released as I never got the chance to them as I only played Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos as a kid and didn't hear about them until much later during my adult years. So it will be an interesting experience to go back and finally explore some of the earliest parts of Warcraft lore and see how the iconic Horde and Alliance factions came into being.
Also, it's nice to see Blizzard take their time to give Warcraft 3: Reforged the proper respect it deserves by implementing the HD remastered graphics it never got when it first launched in 2020. Now, whether or not the 2.0 update will bring back all the multiplayer modes and Custom Campaign modes that Warcraft 3: Reforged lacked from the original version of Warcraft 3 is another story.
One that we will quickly find out as Warcraft 3: Reforged's 2.0 update has now gone live along with the shadow-launch of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Remastered and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Remastered. You can purchase Warcraft 1 and 2 Remastered individually on PC via Battle.net or by purchasing the newly released Warcraft Battle Chest, which bundles all three games together via Battle.net.
