Warcraft 2: Tides Of Darkness Remastered apparently leaks ahead of the RTS series’ 30th anniversary direct next week

We’re still a week away from Blizzard’s Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct next Wednesday the 13th of November, but art from an apparent remaster of 1995 real time strategy game Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness has leaked online, via Xibbly user Stiven. It’s a thin one, as far as leaks go, but does show what looks to be cover, logo art, and a Battle.net icon. Thanks for the spot, Percy Coswald Gamer.

If you’ve got as fond memories of Warcraft 2 as I have, you may have managed to scry a flitting, copium-infused omen from Blizzard’s announcement of the event, which mentioned the first Warcraft game, Orcs And Humans. Still, this is a pleasant surprise, if one tainted by the memory of how they’ve handled the series in the recent past with Warcraft 3: Reforged, which removed many features such as offline multiplayer lobbies that players had come to expect. Whether they’ll repeat the same mistake remains to be seen, although I wouldn’t bet against them snatching defeat from the jaws of an easy win.

If you missed Warcraft II the first time around, that Tides Of Darkness subheader was a reference to the naval units added. In practise, this just means clicking units around some blue stuff rather than some snow, but it did feel evocative at the time, and the naval transport units added a new dimension to maps. Also, dragons!

As for what else to expect for the anniversary direct, Blizzard have promised “something for everyone” at the event, which streams at 6pm GMT/1pm ET/10am PT. This promise is, of course, a lie, because there won’t be any Rock n’ Roll Racing news. The stream itself will be followed by a musical event celebrating 20 years of music. If you fancy a real time portal/reminder of how utterly head-spinning it’s been to watch games get prettier in real time, I leave you with this cutscene from the original Warcraft 2:

This was the height of cinematics at the time. And it still is.