Original game still remains a gold standard in the RTS space, especially with the campaign full of memorable characters that had yet to become caricatures of themselves. Solid 30 mission campaign telling a big story (and leading into another...) with some very unique gameplay across the three playable races. If I had any criticism about it, it'd be the difficulty spiking somewhat in the second half of the Protoss missions but that might be, in part, due to my never fully grasping how the Protoss play.

I was surprised how much I ended up getting into this. I'd never given the first a fair shake so started here and just delighted in how obtuse and almost antagonistic the game could be as it wasn't prone to holding your hand throughout. It encouraged exploration of which I had an amazing time with. The lack of fast travel never bothered me either as nearly every vocation was so incredibly fun to play I was looking for any and every excuse to get back out into the field.

I'd never played anything quite like this and the idea that I have both an older game just like it plus whatever future DLC this one has yet to offer has me incredibly excited. It's definitely not for everybody but it sure felt tailormade just for me.