It's no secret that StarCraft is an incredibly important RTS sci-fi series. The original was the best selling PC game in 1998 world-wide and is also considered the blueprint for the RTS genre. Its gameplay and strategy elements have been the subject of academic papers and military strategy drills. Fans have a huge amount of respect for what StarCraft accomplished, cementing the game's legacy as nothing short of iconic.
StarCraft II managed to somehow improve immensely over the genre-defining StarCraft. Improvements to gameplay and writing lead the sequel to have rave reviews. The remaster of the original title certainly helped bring the series back to the forefront of people's minds, though many were disappointed that many of the engine enhancements introduced in StarCraft II were lacking.
That's where modders come into play. A group of StarCraft fans has come together to recreate the original game's campaign in StarCraft II. Called StarCraft: Mass Recall, the mod boasts that 68 maps from the original game have been recreated faithfully in StarCraft II's engine. The mod has been a huge labor of love, with development having originally started back in 2011, way before any plans of a StarCraft remaster were considered by the eSports-focused Blizzard.
Mass Recall is notable for more than just the insane amount of dedication and work that the team behind it has put into the project. Up until the remaster's release, this was the only way that fans of StarCraft could experience the game's original campaign with modern-day graphics. Due to StarCraft II's base game having a free-to-play option, the entire original campaign can actually be played for free.
Mass Recall is more than just some maps. The mod's goal is to bring the entire StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War campaigns over to StarCraft II whilst still maintaining their original gameplay. In a way, this could be considered somewhat of a total-conversion mod due to how it recreates the original StarCraft's gameplay with only a few balancing changes to tweak the experience to perfection. The mod also allows players to use units added in the Brood War expansion in the original StarCraft campaign, bringing a new experience to the fans who have already played the original StarCraft's campaign to death.
Modders bring an incredibly unique perspective to the games they create content for, as many times than not, they're some of the most die-hard fans of a game. Mass Recall is a huge love-letter to the legacy that the original StarCraft created and the memories that people hold dear. Not only is StarCraft often cited as a defining game for the RTS genre, but it's also a game that stuck with people for very good reasons.
Of course, the original StarCraft and Brood War were released for free in 2017, but there's still plenty of reasons to choose the fan mod over the original game. As it stands, the mod really is just a straight upgrade from the original title that runs in a much more modern engine. Plus, there's actually a fair amount of extra content included in the mod, such as levels from the game's demo and fully recreated cut content.
StarCraft is a game that has persisted over the years due to sheer love from its fan-base. The fact that there are three different ways that someone can experience StarCraft really is a testament to the game's legacy. StarCraft: Mass Recall is still being updated to this day, with the most recent patch including a bunch of improvements and bug-fixes, just in time for the mod's anniversary.