Before World of Warcraft, there was Warcraft 3. The game was Blizzard’s magnum opus RTS game before Starcraft 2 took the world by storm. Warcraft 3 is a legend in its own right, and if any game deserves to be remastered in HD graphics, it’s this game. Well, I’ve got good news: Warcraft is being remastered as Warcraft 3: Reforged —and by the original team, no less.
Warcraft 3: Reforged is, as the name suggests, a huge HD remaster of the game with 4K graphics. The flat, polygonal character models will be replaced with crisp new ones that feature World of Warcraft’s signature cartoonishly realistic art style. Moreover, this game will feature remixed cinematics that give the game’s story scenes new life, but the game will maintain the original’s voice recordings because you can’t improve on perfection.
While World of Warcraft has years upon years of content and story, Warcraft 3 set the building blocks for the game. From Thrall to Arthas, most of WoW’s major players were introduced in Warcraft 3, but apparently a sizable portion of of WoW’s playerbase never got to experience Warcraft 3. Blizzard made a fun jab at these players in a past April Fool’s joke, but like the Pandaren, Blizzard’s tomfoolery has come full circle as the company is re-releasing Warcraft 3 for a new generation of gamers.
Warcraft 3: Reforged isn’t going to be just its own game, though. The game will be able to read all of the existing content and translate it into the new game. If you have somehow kept your old custom maps, you will be able to play them in Warcraft 3: Reforged. More importantly, skilled gamers will be able to create custom assets for their own mods and custom games.
Blizzard promises Warcraft 3: Reforged will include remastered missions and rebalanced gameplay mechanics to complement the new graphics, and while the game won’t be available until 2019, we can pre-purchase the game. To tide players over until the game is released, pre-orders will come with a bunch of extras for various other Blizzard titles, including a World of Warcraft mount based on the undead siege weapon, the Meat Wagon, and Warcraft 3’s iconic heroes for Heroes of the Storm. If you buy Warcraft 3: Reforged, you will receive both the Warcraft 3 base game and the expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. While Blizzard hasn’t ruled out the possibility of brand new missions in Reforged, the developers won’t consider them until after the game has been finished.
You can check out more on Warcraft 3: Reforged on the official site. The game will release in 2019.
