Blizzard's Starcraft: Remastered is about to get one of the greatest visual overhauls ever, as the beloved Carbot animations take over the game in July. If you are a fan of Starcraft, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, or Overwatch, there is a good chance you have seen the many Carbot animations. If not, take a look below.
The people over at Carbot Animations have been making these great videos for years now, and are on their seventh and final season for StarCrafts.
The project is an official collaboration with Blizzard, and is called the "Carbot's StarCrafts Graphics Pack", named after the long-running series on YouTube. Unlike a fan-made mod, this is a complete overhaul from beginning to end. Players can experience the entirety of Starcraft: Remastered with the graphics pack, including gameplay, mission briefings, and menus.
When speaking of the collaboration, one interesting point is that by using the Carbot StarCrafts graphics pack, the game suddenly becomes entirely appropriate for younger players.
The once terrifying Zerg appears almost as though it needs a long cuddle and a nap, rather than seek to murder all of humanity.
"The cool thing too is it’s especially good for kids," Carbot says in the preview video. "It’s super kid-friendly now. It’s also a really good time to go back and play the campaign, because now you get to play with hilarious graphics and the mission briefings … it’s hard to take seriously because they look like a bunch of goofballs."
Now, as StarCraft: Remastered was released in August 2017, players likely may have forgotten that the game even exists, since we do not often get any updates from Blizzard. Now would be a great time to pick it up, or in July once the graphics pack becomes available. The game is a full graphical overhaul of the 1998 original and its expansion, Brood War. It also features widescreen high-definition visuals, up to 4K resolution, along with improved music and sound. Other new features include matchmaking, leaderboards, cloud saves for campaign progress, hotkey customization, and game replays.
If you were a fan of the game years ago and are looking to get back into it either casually or to try your hand at the competitive scene once again, consider doing so with the graphics pack.
Would it be possible to have the same treatment done for other Blizzard games? Not likely, since it seems that Starcraft was their largest source of inspiration. But, if one were to imagine, it would likely look something like an episode of DiabLol, done in their same unique style.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the new graphics pack in July of 2019, it is sure to make the old Starcraft experience feel fresh and exciting once again.