On the planet of Char, I guided Kerrigan's squad in a Zerg egg-gathering, army-building competition against a renegade brood mother. The Queen of Blades is yours to control in StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. It was tough to get a sense how differently evolving armies will play out in the grand scheme of things, but it seems like a good way to let players personalize their forces, based on individual play style. The zergling, for example, could either be evolved into a 'Swarming' variety that would hatch in 3's instead of 2's, or into a 'Raptor,' which could leap to close with enemies more quickly. Much testing, balancing, and tweaking is yet to be done, but I was told that ‘evolving’ a unit would ultimately change its strategic impact in meaningful ways. Though a basic zergling was the only unit in the chamber during the demo, it could be upgraded, and even ‘evolved’ using accrued experience. The Zerg also have an 'Evolution Chamber,' which is basically a clever twist on an armory. In practice, having Kerrigan on the battlefield is empowering, and the deft use of her abilities can help bring a swifter end to skirmishes. The 'Corruption' vein was my particular favorite: one of its powers allowed me to instantly kill one foe by having tiny broodlings burst out of it. In the demo, 'Spec Ops' and ‘Corruption’ categories were available for Kerrigan. Presumably, these ability trees (and associated powers) can be unlocked as the campaign progresses, though the total number of categories and abilities has yet to be determined. Prior to each battle, the player will be able to choose a group of special abilities that can be changed on a per-mission basis. To help compliment Kerrigan's more active role in combat, Blizzard is introducing some "light-RPG" elements for the Queen of Blades. Players periodically got to take Raynor out into the battlefield in Wings of Liberty, but Heart of the Swarm promises to thrust Kerrigan into the fray as a playable unit more often. Selecting one of the planets brings up a gorgeous interactive pre-mission prep screen themed around the chosen planet-the functional equivalent of the bridge of Raynor’s starship in Wings of Liberty. Kerrigan is more interested in subjugating entire worlds, making many planetary destinations multi-mission affairs. It’s a bit different than Wings of Liberty, where Raynor would often bounce to a new planet for each mission. Two planets-Char and Kaldir-each had one mission to sample. The chain of command is evident though, with Kerrigan obviously perched at the top. However, based on the contentious and tenuous tenor to the conversations I saw, it seemed that even Kerrigan's closest allies might have their own ulterior motives. The pre-mission banter I experienced did a good job of presenting Kerrigan as the head of the Zerg monarchy.īefore each mission, Kerrigan can chat with two members of her brood hierarchy (Izsha, her advisor, and Abathur, the evolution master). Known as the Queen of Blades, she’s already responsible for billions of deaths. In 'Wings,' players inhabited the role of Terran tough guy and bounty hunter Jim Raynor, but Heart of the Swarm centers on Kerrigan, a formerly human assassin infested by the Zerg against her will. She says 'Die,' and they say, ‘How many of us?’ We want to give you that sense of power.”įollowing the briefing at Blizzard’s offices last week, I dove into a couple of single-player missions from the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm campaign to get a taste of the follow-up to last year’s StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. They will do her every whim, sacrificing themselves, absolutely. controls this huge swarm of monsters-maybe more than one-third the power of the Koprulu sector.
“She has problems Jim Raynor could never even dream of. Kerrigan is "the monster goddess of the Zerg," explained game director Dustin Browder during a pre-demo presentation for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm.