Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
1995 · Strategy · PC/DOS
Overview
Warcraft II expanded the original's real-time strategy formula with naval combat, air units, and a map editor that allowed players to create and share their own scenarios. The game established Blizzard's reputation for polished, accessible real-time strategy and sold over 2 million copies. The map editor spawned a level-design community that influenced the genre for years.
Deep Dive
Warcraft II shipped with a map editor that allowed players to create custom campaigns and multiplayer maps. The editor community produced thousands of custom scenarios and kept the game active long after the base content had been exhausted. Blizzard's decision to include and support the map editor — continuing this policy with Warcraft III and StarCraft — established a modding relationship with their player base that became a competitive advantage.
Developer Story
Warcraft II was developed by Blizzard Entertainment in approximately one year following the original Warcraft's commercial success. The team expanded the game's scope significantly while maintaining the design accessibility that had distinguished the original. The game launched in December 1995.
Did You Know?
- Warcraft II's map editor produced custom scenarios that Blizzard hosted on their official website, with the best user-created content receiving official promotion.
- The game introduced the first major orc-versus-human balance adjustments that Blizzard would iterate on through every subsequent Warcraft and StarCraft release.
- Warcraft II's single-player campaigns told both the human and orcish sides of the war from their respective perspectives — a dual-narrative structure unusual for strategy games of the era.
- The game's voice acting — each unit had several responses to clicking on them — established the convention of unit acknowledgement dialogue that became standard in the genre.
