Warcraft III: Reforged is awesome… provided your sole context for engaging with it is Warcraft III: Reforged.
Blizzard’s remaster launched at the tail end of January and has received a relentlessly negative reception from fans in the weeks since launch. Exceptionally, though, in an era of constant, overblown Internet outrage, these angry fans have a point. Whereas controversies over Epic Games Store exclusives and Spider-Man puddle sizes deserve nothing more than an eye roll, the problems with Warcraft III: Reforged really are deep and fundamental.
Many of the complaints have focused on the remaster’s failure to live up to Blizzard’s initial promise of a “complete reimagining.” Blizzard walked this phrasing back prior to release, emphasizing that the team was attempting to hew closer to the source material than they had originally indicated. But, most players didn’t get the memo, and this completely remade cutscene that Blizzard showed off in November of 2018 which previewed a more holistic recreation, remained the expectation for many fans.
Additionally, the remaster introduced some matchmaking problems and other technical issues and removed features like ladders and clans which were present in the original game. Worst of all, though, Reforged replaced the original game. Fans that have loved Warcraft III for 15 years now no longer have access to the version they remember. Instead, they’ve been saddled with an, in many ways, inferior version.
My experience with Warcraft III: Reforged is slightly different. Since launch day I’ve put about 20 hours into its various single-player campaigns. I haven’t messed with multiplayer at all, because I know I’m bad at the game and don’t have any interest in getting destroyed. I may start building and battling against real competitors eventually, but, for now, I’ve been content to make my way through the story.
Basically, what I’m saying is: I am not the target audience for this game. I have no history with Warcraft as a series, other than getting really into Hearthstone for a few months. I have a small amount of experience with real-time strategy games, but have never really clicked with the genre. Before I hopped onto Battle.net and began Arthas’ campaign, I had no skin in this particular game.
And, what I’ve found is a fantastic game. Because, without the expectations that loving Warcraft III impose, Warcraft III: Reforged is an excellent version of Warcraft III. The tutorialization, which takes the form of a prelude to the orc campaign, is strong, and does a solid job of introducing the basics of movement, issuing unit commands and base-building. The mission design, which alternates between typical RTS fare and more RPG-like dungeon crawling, is continually engaging. And the narrative (specifically Arthas’ heel turn) boasts some genuine “oh shit!” moments.
And while the cutscenes and graphics didn’t get the complete visual overhaul that Blizzard had initially indicated, the game does look substantially better. Enemy units, which were blocky and polygonal in the original game, have a more artistic, detailed flair in Reforged. Environments and buildings, too, are significantly more intricate. While cutscenes don’t embrace the cinematic presentation that early looks at the remaster showed, they still look much better than the original.
In short, Warcraft III: Reforged is, perhaps, the opposite of what it should have been: a major disappointment for the series’ most devoted fans, and a fantastic introduction for anyone new to the RTS genre. But, in a time when few games that are bad at launch remain bad forever, I suspect Warcraft III: Reforged will, with enough investment on Blizzard’s part, eventually have something for longtime fans, too.