During a recent announcement Blizzard unveiled StarCraft: Remastered - a complete overhaul of the original classic that brings with it 4k graphics and 1080p cinematics, tons of quality of life changes such as proper keybinding support, and most importantly of all, the same gameplay quirks fans have come to love about Brood War. This isn't where the good news ends, however, because Blizzard also announced that the original StarCraft: Brood War will soon become completely free to play, no microtransactions or any such nonsense!

In order to ensure a smooth release, but also improve upon Brood War's dated technical side, Blizzard has just released Update 1.18 onto the test servers. It features keybinding and windowed fullscreen support, autosaving, improved anticheat, better online connectivity, and the list goes on. If you're interested in all of the details you will find the full patch notes over at the Blizzard website.

While this isn't related to the update itself, its worth mentioning that StarCraft: Remastered and the free version of Brood War will have cross-play support! In other words, you can play against players on both versions of the game, observe and watch replays of any match, and even play custom games together. As an added little bonus, those playing on the StarCraft: Remastered version will also be able to swap between the two by pressing a single button.

And finally, it is important to note that StarCraft is not yet free, so if you want to test out Update 1.8 you're going to have to do so with an actual copy of the game. As for when exactly it will be free, that I do not know, but I think its safe to assume the free version will arrive alongside the launch of Update 1.8.