StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Goes On Sale Today

By Jane McEntegart
published

It's finally here!

It's been two years and seven months since StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released. That's 959 days since we saw the release of the first new StarCraft game in a decade. Now, just over two and a half years later, we're celebrating the launch of the second title in the StarCraft II trilogy.

 

Dubbed StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, the game is an expansion pack for Wings of Liberty and is hitting shelves today. With 20 missions, Heart of the Swarm includes seven new multiplayer units from Wings of Liberty, as well as a continuing campaign focusing on the Zerg.

As an expansion pack, the price for Heart of the Swarm is slightly lower than the price of Wings when it was announced. The Wings of Liberty collectors edition was priced at $99 at time of launch whereas the Heart of the Swarm Collector's Edition price is set at $79.99. The regular, non-Collector's Edition price is $39.99. The Collector's Edition includes a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray and DVD two disc making-of, the soundtrack, and a 144-page art book.

Just in case it wasn't clear, Heart of the Swarm does require Wings of Liberty to play. GameStop currently has WoL on sale for twenty bucks. Blizzard has not yet discussed a release schedule for Legacy of the Void, the second StarCraft II expansion.

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Jane McEntegart
35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • samuelspark
    It's finally here!
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    Mighty expensive for a DLC. I'll skip until the price is a bit more reasonable, say under $10.
    Reply
  • samuelspark
    ddpruittMighty expensive for a DLC. I'll skip until the price is a bit more reasonable, say under $10.
    It's not a DLC... It's an expansion.
    Reply
  • mobrocket
    how well does this and starcraft 2 play on linux?
    using either wine or something else
    Reply
  • gm0n3y
    For an expansion, it is a little pricey, but not too bad. After playing the first one a lot when it came out, I probably will not be buying this. SC2 was fun for a little while, but quickly showed its flaws. Add on some of the draconian, gamer unfriendly moves that Blizzard has made in the past couple of years and I am definitely staying away. The single player campaign in SC2:WOL was boring anyway, so this expansion probably won't be worth $40 even if I did want it.
    Reply
  • revered
    I'd like to get this considering I enjoyed the campaign experience of Wings of Liberty so much. However, I'm not allowing myself to buy another Activision-Blizzard product until well into its life to determine the quality and reception. Their recent work warrants extra caution.

    They really did put enough content into Wings of Liberty to justify being called a full game, it is just a very disappointing design concept to not include campaigns for two of your three races in the first game; to expect your gamers to wait to play a story experience for the other other two in 'expansions.' I disagree with that route.
    Reply
  • catfishtx
    I know a lot of folks hate Blizzard, but I will be stopping by and buying it tonight. I love the Starcraft franchise and will support it.
    Reply
  • childofthekorn
    $40 dollars, not bad, but for an expansion pack? Is anyone else tired of paying higher prices for games based on the same engines with little tweaks done? Although this one specifically does have a minor price reduction, most games on the market reuse the same engine and offer very little in terms. Especially seeing how slowly mainstream games have been reducing in price.
    Reply
  • Chairman Ray
    Blizzard did an amazing job with HotS and I recommend everyone should get it. The campaign was well done, and the multiplayer was done extremely well. Blizzard worked with the community and professional players through a long period of beta testing to bring the best multiplayer experience possible.
    Reply
  • childofthekorn
    catfishtxI know a lot of folks hate Blizzard, but I will be stopping by and buying it tonight. I love the Starcraft franchise and will support it.
    I loved the starcraft series. However to play devil's advocate, most of the original members of blizzard have gone away. Although this is a normal experience that the gaming industry will see, you also see that blizzard has been shifting its resources to provide the least amount of work with the highest return (IE: "Copy/Paste" game creation). I'd highly urge others in order to stop allowing themselves be duped into thinking their money is going to quality products when most indie titles have far more re playability.
    Reply