It’s been a little over 2 years since Heart of the Swarm was released telling the story of Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor and their retaliation against the Dominion and Arcturus Mengsk. During Kerrigan’s quest to reclaim her place as the Queen of Blades and rally the Zerg, she learns of their origins and gains new allies among the Primal Zerg and their leader Dehaka. Kerrigan also learns that an ancient Xel’Naga named Amon is responsible for the Zerg-Protoss hybrids and his goals include remaking all of creation in his image.
Legacy of the Void will see Artanis as the protagonist in his journey to rally lost Protoss tribes against the mysterious Amon and ensure the survival of the Protoss race and conclude StarCraft 2’s story. Like Heart of the Swarm, StarCraft 2 will receive several new features, game modes, and units.
There will be two brand new game modes introduced with Legacy of the Void and both of them involved cooperative play. Blizzard has stated in the past they feel as if StarCraft 2 can be intimidating for casual players and they wanted to incorporate more approachable gameplay for non-competitive players. The first game mode representing this is Archon Mode. This mode allows two players to control a single base against two enemies. This will allow for several possibilities as either player can control base operations, scouting, expansion, and army control.
The second mode is Allied Commanders. This new mode brings cooperative objective based missions. You and a friend will be able to unlock new units and abilities to use in increasingly difficult missions like calling down Raynor’s Hyperion, Controlling the Queen of Blades herself, or harnessing the power of the Protoss through the Spear of Adun.
Legacy of the Void will also bring brand new units to master for each race. For the Terran we have the Cyclone and the Liberator. The Cyclone is a mobile assault drone sporting twin Typhoon Missile Pods that can move and fire simultaneously. The Liberator will have area effect air attacks and can transform into a stationary platform for ground attacks.
The new Zerg units are the Ravager and the Lurker. The Ravager is an evolution of the Roach and bring fiery plasma ground attacks that are slow but effective against stationary targets. The Lurker is being brought back from Brood War, as an evolution from the Hyrdralisk, the Lurker brings deadly area ground attacks with insane range.
Last but not least, the Protoss will gain the Adept and the Disruptor. The Adept is a ranged unit whose ranged attack will deal a little over double damage vs light armor. These units can also project an invulnerable and movable image of themselves which they can teleport to after a brief period of time, much like King Leoric’s Wraith Walk in Heroes of the Storm. The Disruptor can charge its core while on the move becoming invulnerable and after a brief period of time will erupt in massive area damage.
In a recent announcement, Blizzard stated that StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void will see a release in 2015. The game is currently in closed beta and players can take part in the three-mission prologue entitled Whispers of Oblivion by pre-ordering Legacy of the Void now.
