Heroes of the Storm’s latest content drop, Dark Nexus, marks a new type of storytelling for the game. In a recent interview, HotS’ creative content lead, Kevin Johnson, explained why Blizzard are changing the game’s narrative direction.
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Johnson says “when we launched Heroes we did it with battlegrounds and environments that were unique to the game before beginning to bring in other Blizzard titles,” describing that process as something “that has always been central to the game’s DNA.” While those Blizzard universes have been important to the game’s growth, Johnson says “we’d like to see what we can do to get back to our roots and bring some new ideas to the table.”
That doesn’t mean Blizzard’s most iconic characters will leave the game entirely – Johnson made it clear that the narrative change “doesn’t mean we’re walking away entirely from bringing in the recognisable stuff.” New forms of narrative, like the Rise of the Raven Lord comic, “help us build a platform upon which we can set these new ideas.”
The new comic is only the first part of a longer-term narrative arc, and Johnson says that players will “see the majority of our story and character development happening in these comics.” He also mentions, though, that there will be a few more options based on the feedback and reception Blizzard see from the player base going forward.