The StarCraft II trilogy is finally reaching its culmination with the long-awaited third entry, Legacy of the Void. The real-time strategy juggernaut brings with it a number of exciting new features. Along with new units, a robust story driven campaign, and details on the future of all your favorite StarCraft heroes and villains, Legacy of the Void features two new multiplayer modes.
The first two games centered on the Terrans and Zerg, respectively. For Legacy of the Void, the Protoss take center stage. “This is a distinctly Protoss experience,” says senior story developer James Waugh. “So we asked ourselves, what does that mean? What defines the Protoss and how does that affect gameplay? We’ve got these sort of space samurai, space paladins, that are few in number, fighting an impossible foe. It’s all very anchored in say, the Seven Samurai style. Few warriors standing up against a legion, that’s Protoss philosophy. In the final act here, we see the Protoss attempting to retake their homeworld and remake their culture.”
After Kerrigan and Raynor’s overthrowing of the vicious Arcturus Mengsk in Heart of the Swarm, an evil entity (which we are assuming is Amon, the fallen Xel’Naga that was ultimately responsible for the Zerg) has arisen from the Void threatening all life in the galaxy. With Kerrigan and the Swarm missing in action and Jim Raynor focused on rebuilding the wreckage of the Terran civilization, the task of dealing with this ancient terror lies with the Protoss and their current heroes, Artanis and Zeratul. Under Artanis’s command, the Protoss will attempt to take back their homeworld, Aiur, across 20 campaign missions.
Players have access to Artanis’s amazingly powerful ship as they move from mission to mission, and while the story won’t be “choose your own adventure” style like Wings of Liberty, there will still be a sense of player agency as they make decisions that are reflected in dialogue and other minor story points. “We’ll ind out what the deal is with the Xel’Naga,” Waigh says. “We’ll sort of see all of Zeratul’s prophecies come to bear, with Arcanis as sort of the uniter and Zeratul as this kind of Obi-Wan character.”
While it will be nice to see what happens to our cast of characters, the new multiplayer modes should be the highlight for the long game. The first, called Allied Commanders, allows new players to jump in easily along side more seasoned friends. Each player takes on the role of a commander from their chosen race to take on an A.I.-controlled army. Players unlock new units and abilities as the game goes on with an open-ended progression system.
The second new mode, Archon, is a competitive match where two players share control over a single base and square off against another pair an excellent way to learn the ropes from a veteran player. Players learning the game can pair up with friends and learn the nuances of resource gathering, micromanagement in battle, and forming unit groups by experiencing it themselves. Sure, one player could technically just sit around and watch the other play, but in practice having two minds controlling an army is going to make for interesting play.
This mode could also be attractive to seasoned veterans. You could have one player completely dedicated to scouting while the other focuses on resource collection. The ability to work in tandem on different tasks and then come together to micromange units during a team clash is going to make for some cool situations.
Legacy of the Void isn't coming for a while, but the final chapter of StarCraft II looks like it could be the most exciting of the lot with the focus on new modes, a finale to the story, and some incredible new units.
The first two games centered on the Terrans and Zerg, respectively. For Legacy of the Void, the Protoss take center stage. “This is a distinctly Protoss experience,” says senior story developer James Waugh. “So we asked ourselves, what does that mean? What defines the Protoss and how does that affect gameplay? We’ve got these sort of space samurai, space paladins, that are few in number, fighting an impossible foe. It’s all very anchored in say, the Seven Samurai style. Few warriors standing up against a legion, that’s Protoss philosophy. In the final act here, we see the Protoss attempting to retake their homeworld and remake their culture.”
After Kerrigan and Raynor’s overthrowing of the vicious Arcturus Mengsk in Heart of the Swarm, an evil entity (which we are assuming is Amon, the fallen Xel’Naga that was ultimately responsible for the Zerg) has arisen from the Void threatening all life in the galaxy. With Kerrigan and the Swarm missing in action and Jim Raynor focused on rebuilding the wreckage of the Terran civilization, the task of dealing with this ancient terror lies with the Protoss and their current heroes, Artanis and Zeratul. Under Artanis’s command, the Protoss will attempt to take back their homeworld, Aiur, across 20 campaign missions.
Players have access to Artanis’s amazingly powerful ship as they move from mission to mission, and while the story won’t be “choose your own adventure” style like Wings of Liberty, there will still be a sense of player agency as they make decisions that are reflected in dialogue and other minor story points. “We’ll ind out what the deal is with the Xel’Naga,” Waigh says. “We’ll sort of see all of Zeratul’s prophecies come to bear, with Arcanis as sort of the uniter and Zeratul as this kind of Obi-Wan character.”
While it will be nice to see what happens to our cast of characters, the new multiplayer modes should be the highlight for the long game. The first, called Allied Commanders, allows new players to jump in easily along side more seasoned friends. Each player takes on the role of a commander from their chosen race to take on an A.I.-controlled army. Players unlock new units and abilities as the game goes on with an open-ended progression system.
The second new mode, Archon, is a competitive match where two players share control over a single base and square off against another pair an excellent way to learn the ropes from a veteran player. Players learning the game can pair up with friends and learn the nuances of resource gathering, micromanagement in battle, and forming unit groups by experiencing it themselves. Sure, one player could technically just sit around and watch the other play, but in practice having two minds controlling an army is going to make for interesting play.
This mode could also be attractive to seasoned veterans. You could have one player completely dedicated to scouting while the other focuses on resource collection. The ability to work in tandem on different tasks and then come together to micromange units during a team clash is going to make for some cool situations.
Legacy of the Void isn't coming for a while, but the final chapter of StarCraft II looks like it could be the most exciting of the lot with the focus on new modes, a finale to the story, and some incredible new units.
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