Sure, conquering space bugs is fun and all, but none of it would exist if Blizzard hadn't first honed its strategy skills on a certain beloved fantasy franchise. Warcraft III released a little over a decade ago, and it remains a major influence to balancing, unit design, and story. That's why the Warcraft: A New Dawn total conversion excites us: it aspires to let us relive the entire Warcraft III experience with Starcraft II's updated visuals. Time for a little less Zerg and a little more zug-zug.

It's a work in progress, the few images and videos for A New Dawn show an intense dedication to recreating Warcraft III's memorable matchups of Horde against Alliance. Staple features such as day/night cycles (and associated visibility effects), weather, hero units, and gold-granting creep creatures are in the works. For the latter, modding group Wrekin Krew Studios plans two new creep types, Wanderers and Camps, to put up a challenging fight when encountered and drop powerful items when defeated.

The next step for Wreckin Krew is a working demo by spring, with maps using assets stitched together from Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. For now, take a look at some pre-alpha footage showing an Orc encampment apparently completely fine with a few Protoss buildings in its midst. How about that Blademaster, eh?