According to Shacknews.com, Blizzard’s upcoming Starcraft II will be a trilogy. The first game is set to be titled “Terrans: Wings of Liberty”, the second, “Zerg: Heart of the Swarm,” and the third “Protoss: Legacy of the Void.”
The first game has the real meat, as the second and third “will be like expansion packs, but we really want them to feel like standalone products,” as per Blizzard’s Rob Pardo. Each game will have 26-30 missions, which compares favorably to the original Starcraft’s 30.
Each campaign is slated to have “RPG elements”, whatever that means in today’s gaming world. Most disturbing, each race will have units specific not just to their race, but to their game. These units will not be available for multiplayer.
Blizz says they had to split this up to get the game out on time and as a quality product. I think this is the hand of Activision. Blizzard has never seemed to mind long dev times before. I, for one, don’t like the idea of paying anywhere from $90 to $150 on a game I’ve waited years to play, but if I’m actually getting three games’ worth of content, it might be reasonable. Anyone else think Blizz is loading up lore for World of Starcraft?
Late note – Rob Pardo tells us that SC2 is on the three year “plan” (don’t hold them to this). Thus, if we see Starcraft II: Terran Pajama Party in 2009, you won’t see Protoss Pretty Ponies until at least 2011.
Playing With My Weiner 