Starcraft: Remastered lands on macOS August 14 with updated graphics, 4K support

First announced in March, the remake of "StarCraft" covers both the original 19-year-old release and the "Brood War" expansion, putting players in control of armies in the 26th century, with Terrans taking on the insect-like Zerg, the Protoss, and the Xel'Naga. Despite its age, and the later release of "StarCraft 2", the first generation of "StarCraft" continues to be played by a large fanbase, and is also still being played competitively in tournaments.

For the remastered edition, Blizzard has updated the graphical features of the game to take advantage of modern systems, including widescreen UHD support for 4K screens. All units and environments have been refreshed for the release, with the audio also receiving some rework to make the music and sound play at a higher fidelity.

Modern features including cloud saving of campaign progress, replays, and hotkey settings are being introduced, with players also gaining profiles that will track various statistics of their gameplay. For multiplayer gaming, a new matchmaking system and leaderboards are added, but it will also still be fully compatible with the existing version of "StarCraft," allowing players of the remastered version to play with the earlier release, which Blizzard has made available to download for free.

It will also be possible for players to switch between the original "StarCraft" and the remastered version whenever they want, both for nostalgia purposes and to show how far the game has improved.

Preorders for "StarCraft: Remastered" have commenced through Blizzard's online store, priced at $14.99, with those buying it before August 14 receiving three additional building skins for the game, as well as bonuses for "StarCraft 2."