Which is also what makes Heroes of the Storm so interesting. In a congested landscape of clones, Blizzard’s upcoming title feels incredibly distinctive. Part of this can be attributed to the roster of playable characters. Every Blizzard aficionado in history has, at one point or another, wondered if Kerrigan could take on Diablo and how a dialogue between Raynor and Uther would resolve. Heroes of the Storm fulfills that curiosity and then some, reimagining inside jokes ( Elite Tauren Chieftain is a real band comprised of Blizzard employees) and non-combat pets as battle-hardened combatants. It’s like fan service turned into a game.

Heroes of the Storm straddles that knife edge between competitive sports and the "one more round" compulsiveness of simpler games, like Angry Birds. There is no earnest requirement for cat-like reflexes or encyclopedic knowledge of team synergies, although both are never bad to possess. No demand to memorize buy orders, or what item suits which character best in what situation. You don’t even need to learn how to deliver the killing blow. Heroes of the Storm jettisons many of the genre’s staples — gold and items being the obvious examples — in favor of a brisker, more arcade-y feel.

Juxtaposed against heavyweight names like League of Legends and Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm can come across as a little rudimentary, perhaps even a tad shallow. Tonally, it’s most reminiscent of Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts, a 2D sci-fi battle arena with the aesthetics of an ‘80s cartoon show. But that’s not a bad thing.

It’s sometimes hard to take Heroes of the Storm seriously. The game, which is currently in closed beta, does things like dress Abathur — the spidery Zerg Evolution Master from the Starcraft universe — in adorable onesies, and turn dwarven heroes into lollipop-wielding lords of confection. The games are short; 10- to 20-minute bursts of frenetic activity, at most, a paltry time span compared to the 40-minute average of a League of Legends or Dota 2 match. The growing stable of maps are also bright, outlandish, and populated by over-the-top narrators.

There is no thematic coherence to the cast either, which might initially come across as jarring if you’re used to the tenuous narratives that string together most of the genre. But this allows the developers the freedom to gleefully introduce ridiculous costumes, and characters that fall way outside of the standard RPG trifecta. (Abathur fights primarily by attaching symbiotes to his teammates while the Lost Vikings, who can be controlled manually, each have an attack corresponding to a different button.)

The other half of that equation is tethered to the game’s approachability: it plays like it’s meant to be fun right out of the box. Dota, and all of its derivatives, are complex beasts filled with esoteric systems. These are games intended to be learned over the course of months and years, rewarding diligence with incremental advances in skill. Great, if you’re willing to put in the time. Less so, if you’re leery of vitriolic communities or spending more than a thousand hours learning the ropes.

Even the greenest newbie can provide value to their team

Certainly, these intricacies exist in Heroes of the Storm, but there’s also a sense that such masteries are optional. You’ll undeniably benefit from committing the nuances to muscle memory, but even the greenest newbie can provide value to their team by breaking treasure chests and ferrying the contents to a ghost pirate. In that respect, Heroes of the Storm comes across as a curious hybrid of Dota and the old Warcraft III custom maps, the latter being unique playing fields that use assets from the main game. These varied from tower defense variations to role-playing games based on the iconic Final Fantasy series.

The inclusion of map objectives is a subtle way of keeping matches snappy. Cursed Hollow, for example, not only requires players to beat a path to the enemy’s stronghold but also to collect Tributes for the menacing Raven Lord. Gather three of these trinkets before your adversaries can, and their defenses will take a massive hit. Similarly, control over places of worship in the Sky Temple will cause laser beams to tear through your opponents’ fortresses, speeding their destruction. Consequently, it’s impossible to turtle — a notoriously ineffective strategy involving heavy defense with little to no offensive play — the way you might in a game of Dota 2 or League of Legends.

Heroes of the Storm differs from the competition in other areas as well. In-match gold and items have been replaced by talents, which can be selected on-the-fly to change your loadout. Many of these adjust how existing skills and attacks function, while others introduce new variations — panda girl Li Li can choose between an area-of-effect heal or a damage-dealing dragon, to give an idea. All of this lends wonderfully to the fast-paced tempo of the game. The only caveat? You need to earn access first.

Similar to League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm features a persistent leveling system of sorts where you can advance both the heroes you’ve purchased and your account itself. Leveling up the former allows you to unlock new tiers in their talent trees, amass gold, and even new cosmetic variations. Leveling up the latter grants you more general advantages: additional slots for daily quests, gold, and more free heroes to try.

All of this feeds elegantly into the cycle of covetousness that Blizzard has installed. You don’t have to finish the daily quests, nor do you have to level individual heroes. But if you do, you earn opportunities to experiment with new ideas, new characters, new looks, new ways to play the game. It’s a formula that Blizzard has been working on for years now — World of Warcraft and Hearthstone both boast similar systems — and it is being used to great effect here.