14 DAY TRIAL // The Zerg are a faction built around the idea of evolution, a number of individual organisms linked together in a massive hive mind, controlled initially by an Overmind and then by the Queen of Blades, former human Ghost Sarah Kerrigan.
Blizzard talks a lot about evolution when it comes to the Zerg, explaining that they are always seeking to defeat new species in order to get new types of individuals that can be used for specialized civilian and combat tasks.
In Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm (some spoilers follow), the Swarm is rebuilt by Kerrigan and she travels to the original planet of the Zerg in order to explore their past, discover an important new ally and, finally, once more transform herself into a mix of two races.
I never expect video games to be very scientifically rigorous, but Blizzard had done a god job with the integration of extreme Darwinism in the Zerg world view.
In Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, the focus is shifting away from evolution and towards essence, which might just be the most used word in the game’s script, apart from vengeance and Raynor.
Characters seem to talk about essence as an almost mystical distillation of all the characteristics of a species, a way of absorbing their core.
This is at odds with the idea that the Swarm has evolved in order to integrate its various sub-species and develop a way of making them work together well enough to conquer whole worlds and threaten the very existence of the Terrans and the Protoss.
I know that Starcraft 2 is a giant space-based soap in many ways, but the series has always been an entry-level experience for those looking to see what real-time strategy can deliver as a genre and it’s a pity to see Blizzard simplify its ideas and drag it further away from scientific explanations.