At the StarCraft 2 WCS championship, Blizzard unveiled the opening cinematic for StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void, along with the release date of the game's final expansion.
The title is currently up for preorders for $40 for the standard edition and $80 for the Collector's Edition, which will provide players with instant access to the beta of StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void through the Battle.net service of Blizzard. The beta preview includes three prologue missions, along with multiplayer matches.
The expansion will focus on the Protoss, with Hierarch Artanis looking to reunite the race's factions and defeat an ancient evil while looking to reclaim Aiur, the Protoss homeworld, from the Zerg. While it is a standalone title, StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void's story completes the expansive story of StarCraft 2, which was started with StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty in July 2010.
The unveiled opening cinematic for the upcoming title continues Blizzard's tradition of creating topnotch cinematics for its games. The cinematic features the Protoss locked in battle with the Zerg as the race tries to reclaim Aiur, with amazing battle sequences worthy of a blockbuster movie.
"I won't ruin the magic, but suffice to say that when the two [redacted] transform into the [redacted] and then fight the big Zerg [redacted], it's probably one of Blizzard's best cinematic moments ever. I've already watched it five times, and it's still not enough," wrote Paul Tassi of Forbes.
In addition to the opening cinematic, Blizzard also announced that StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void will have a release date of Nov. 10, which is a date that has already been marked on calendars by many hardcore gamers. This is because that is the same release date for the highly anticipated Fallout 4, along with Rise of the Tomb Raider. It seems that Blizzard is confident that it can take on these two major titles, though as Tassi noted previously, it seems that the company is not as enthusiastic with StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void compared to its other current offerings such as Hearthstone, Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm.
StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void, as a PC-only game, will not overlap with the console versions of Fallout 4 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, but it is likely that most of the gaming news during that time will focus on Fallout 4. It is as if Blizzard does not care about the title being released without as much fanfare, given the competition on its release date.
