Active development on Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard's MOBA starring heroes and villains from across its iconic game franchises, ended in 2022, but one group of dedicated fans is bringing the game back in a big way.
It's called Resurgence of the Storm, and it's a free mod for Blizzard's own Starcraft 2, albeit one that completely transforms the RTS into something that is near indistinguishable from the official Blizzard-made version of Heroes of the Storm. Unlike Heroes of the Storm, which is still playable but no longer receives new content (but does occasionally receive some minor balance updates and bug fixes), Resurgence of the Storm features never-before-seen heroes, updated talents and abilities for some existing heroes, and even a content roadmap. The mod has been in development for over four years and is now officially available to the public.
The mod currently features 15 heroes to play as, some that will be familiar to Heroes of the Storm players and some that are entirely new. Both of the entirely new heroes currently available hail from Starcraft 2: Selendis, a melee assassin, and Talandar, a tanky bruiser. Of all the game's existing heroes, Arthas has perhaps received the most changes, with a new talent tree, enhanced abilities, and even a new heroic ability. Other characters, including Diablo, Malfurion, and Ragnaros, have also seen some of their talents and abilities tweaked.
"Like many, we miss HotS," one of the mod's creators, SomeoneNew, says in a video overview of the project. "We miss reading patch notes, getting excited for new heroes, reworks, [and] balance changes. So we took it into our own hands."
As SomeoneNew states in the video, Resurgence of the Storm "is not a full replacement of Heroes of the Storm." Heroes of the Storm features a variety of maps and 90 characters to play as, compared to Resurgence of the Storm's 15 currently playable characters and two maps. However, more heroes and maps are in the works for the mod.
"As a Starcraft 2 mod, some things are not possible," SomeoneNew says. "Some models and abilities cannot be replicated or ported over. Most importantly, there are no quick-cast settings. Everyone plays with on-release."
To play Resurgence of the Storm, players will need to install Starcraft 2 (which is free to play) via Battle.net, join the Resurgence of the Storm Discord server, and download the mod. Unfortunately, the mod currently doesn't support matchmaking. Those interested in taking Resurgence of the Storm for a spin will need to look for other players via LFG channel in the mod's official Discord server.