14 DAY TRIAL // After the leak of a teaser trailer and the debut of the first gameplay video, StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, the next chapter in the trilogy of real-time strategy titles from Blizzard has now been detailed by the developer.
Ever since StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty was released last year, fans of the franchise have been eagerly awaiting details about the next installment, Heart of the Swarm, which brings the Zerg faction into focus, after Liberty concentrated on the Terran.
We've already seen a leaked teaser trailer for the story of the upcoming expansion, as well as a video with gameplay from the game.
Now, Blizzard has unleashed a formal website for Heart of the Swarm, filled with details about story or gameplay, as well as videos, screenshots and general information about the new StarCraft 2 chapter.
First up, Heart of the Swarm will arrive as an expansion for Wings of Liberty, meaning it will be priced accordingly, at least judging by Blizzard's description, so plenty of fans might definitely be happy that they won't spend a lot of money on it.
In terms of story, "Heart of the Swarm continues the epic story from Wings of Liberty with an all-new campaign that focuses on Kerrigan, the erstwhile Queen of Blades. New multiplayer content will also be included in the expansion, as well as new features and upgrades to the Battle.net online platform."
Content-wise, Heart of the Swarm arrives with 20 new single-player missions, during which, "players will be able to evolve their swarms with unique, campaign-only units and abilities, and this evolution will happen in an organic manner befitting of the expansion’s Zerg theme."
Heart of the Swarm players are going to be able to customize the powers of both Kerrigan as well as the entire Zerg race, choosing various avenues of experience distribution and customizing the units in order to fit their play stiles.
In terms of improvements for the Battle.net online service, Blizzard promises that the StarCraft Marketplace will be released alongside Heart of the Swarm.
"One primary focus will be on getting the StarCraft Marketplace up and running at some point around the launch of Heart of the Swarm. The maps and mods community in StarCraft II has published tens of thousands of custom maps using the StarCraft II editor.
"Our goal with the new Marketplace design will be in upgrading the custom map UI to better showcase the wide variety of great new maps and mods to players who are looking for fun new gaming experiences. We want players to be able to more easily find, rate, and sort through all the great custom maps that have been created."
Plenty of other details are covered by an extensive FAQ hosted by Blizzard on its website.
In terms of release, the company gave its classic "when it's done" answer, saying that it's too early to talk about a launch date and that, when StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm meets the expectations of players, the game will be released.
Until then, check out the first screenshots of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm below.
