Starcraft Is Now Free With Free DLC And Graphical Upgrades Access

It was 19 years ago that Blizzard released the real-time strategy game that defined a generation and has successfully resisted the decimation of an entire class of video games. Months following the announcements of the upcoming graphical upgrades that will make the original Starcraft a smoother, prettier version, the game was just made free to download.

Getting to play the original Starcraft is basically experiencing a piece of history from the time when the video game industry was still struggling to get out from under the classification of a niche market in the 90s. It’s available to players with Windows or Mac computers since the offer is only available to PC gamers, The Verge reports.

For those who want to get the game for free, they would need to visit the game’s official website and download it from there. The site also goes through some of the changes that players can expect once the graphical upgrade comes out.

“We’ve remastered our units, buildings, and environments, improved game audio, and broadened our supported resolutions,” Blizzard writes. “Illustrated interludes bring the struggles and victories of heroes like Artanis, Fenix, Tassadar, Raynor and Kerrigan to life like never before. Most importantly, the strategy gameplay that StarCraft perfected years ago remains unchanged.”

Since the update won’t be coming out until this summer, players who will download the game right now should expect some rather outdated graphical qualities. The same goes for some of the audio features. On that note, the gameplay is still as solid as it was when the game first launched, which should go a long way towards covering for some of its flaws.

The game will come with the Brood War expansion and will also have online multiplayer access, if anyone is wondering, IGN reports. Thanks to this announcement, it’s likely that a lot of people will be signing up to destroy each other’s bases as well, so there’s plenty to look forward to here.