Forget the box! It’s now free! Finally!
Last month, Blizzard’s game makers announced a remastered, 4K-friendly version of the original StarCraft, which will be launched this summer. That announcement also teased a much faster release of the original StarCraft that would be completely free. After some delay, that free version is finally available for download worldwide. Blizzard has posted links to Mac and Windows builds here.
The late March remaster announcement included the promise of the original, lower-resolution version of the game, complete with all Bread war extension content. The low resolution version would be completely free to download (technically, “free as in beer” – you can grab the compiled game and play it to your heart’s content, but you’re not formally allowed to take the files apart and to use, say, the source code of the game as you wish). However, a beta launch of this new version, numbered 1.18, resulted in crashes and issues for testers, so Blizzard held out until Tuesday for testing and tweaking.
It makes sense that the beta launch of the patch was a bit sluggish, given that the game hadn’t been updated since 2009 and was supposed to run on modern Windows and Mac operating systems. This version could very well get even more patches as it will feature identical gameplay to the summer remaster version. the newer one StarCraft only gets a superficial update in the form of fully redesigned assets; all other parts and mechanics of the game will be so identical that remaster players will be able to compete online against players in the original version.
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That’s a killer update to the Ultralisk.
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Ultra old lisk.
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New Zerg Lurker.
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Lurker from the 90s.
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New Protoss Dragoons.
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Old Dragoons.
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How much better could the Reaver look?
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This much better.
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Terran Firebats used to look like this.
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They will look like this later this summer.
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Nice changes to the Siege Tanks.
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Original Siege Tanks.
Blizzard is celebrating this week’s formal 1.18 launch with galleries and stories from the game’s remastering process. Today’s update includes specific details and before-and-after comparisons of various unit touch-ups; we’ve rounded up some cool ones in the gallery above, but click through to see even more.
If you try to download the original game through the Blizzard app (formerly Battle.net, RIP), you’ll be redirected to a 3.2MB standalone installer with a modernized user interface. Users must agree to an EULA before the installer downloads the full game.
List image by Blizzard