StarCraft II: Shadow of the Xel'Naga is a custom campaign for the award-winning Real-Time-Strategy game StarCraft II, created with the StarCraft II Editor. All 7 maps were released on November 27th, 2015. They are available on the StarCraft II Arcade, free for everyone.
In Shadow of the Xel'Naga the focus lies on variety. Each map is unique and based on a different sub-genre of strategy games. These sub-genres include Tower Defense, MOBA, puzzles and more. Additionally the campaign offers co-operative gameplay. All maps can be played alone or with a friend.
The story is based on the StarCraft novel Shadow of the Xel'Naga, written by Gabriel Mesta. The action revolves around a colony planet called Bhekar Ro, where one of the frequent and very violent storms uncovers an ancient Xel'Naga artifact. This temple calls both, the zerg and the protoss, while the colonists call the Terran Dominion for help. All these events cause a great confrontation on the normally placid world. The story acts as an interquel between StarCraft and Brood War.
Key Features
Highly varied gameplay: Each of the 7 maps is based on a different genre, and the maps themselves offer varied gameplay with multiple types of objectives, units, and abilities
The action revolves around a colony planet called Bhekar Ro, where one of the frequent and very violent storms uncovers an ancient xel'naga artifact. This temple calls both, the zerg and the protoss, while the colonists call the Terran Dominion for help
High quality terrain and cinematics, supported by many custom assets: sounds, models, textures, loading screens and more
Playable in single-player or two-player co-operative mode on four difficulty levels
Free to play for everyone on the StarCraft II Arcade
How To Play
Anyone who owns the free StarCraft II Starter Edition can play any map of the campaign. Simply start StarCraft II, go to the Arcade tab, type in "Shadow of the Xel'Naga" or "sotx" in the search tab and you can select any of the 7 maps to create a new game. It is recommended that you start with "Chapter 1: Welcome to Bhekar Ro".
Prologue
Bhekar Ro was settled around 2460 by colonists seeking to escape from the civil strife of the Confederacy's inner worlds. Five years after settlement contact with the Confederacy was broken off.
Attacks of wild animals, like the widespread bird species Karak, forced the abandonment of most scientific endeavors and many mines that were used to gather precious material. Priority shifted toward survival which now depended on farm work.
After their parents death Octavia Bren and her energetic brother Lars had been taking care of their cultivated land and also looking for more arable farmland. After a long day of hard work they were finally on their way home.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Bhekar Ro
Introduction to setting and characters
Varied objectives supported by semi-linear level design
Two unique heroes with different playstyles and sets of skills
Drivable vehicles used to overcome distances and kill enemies
No. Due to the co-op feature and the way difficulty levels are implemented it's not very cool to start it from the editor. But I understand that map designers want to have a look and see how things were made so I consider making the maps public some time in the future.
StarCraft II: Shadow of the Xel'Naga
Co-op campaign
StarCraft II: Shadow of the Xel'Naga is a custom campaign for the award-winning Real-Time-Strategy game StarCraft II, created with the StarCraft II Editor. All 7 maps were released on November 27th, 2015. They are available on the StarCraft II Arcade, free for everyone.
In Shadow of the Xel'Naga the focus lies on variety. Each map is unique and based on a different sub-genre of strategy games. These sub-genres include Tower Defense, MOBA, puzzles and more. Additionally the campaign offers co-operative gameplay. All maps can be played alone or with a friend.
The story is based on the StarCraft novel Shadow of the Xel'Naga, written by Gabriel Mesta. The action revolves around a colony planet called Bhekar Ro, where one of the frequent and very violent storms uncovers an ancient Xel'Naga artifact. This temple calls both, the zerg and the protoss, while the colonists call the Terran Dominion for help. All these events cause a great confrontation on the normally placid world. The story acts as an interquel between StarCraft and Brood War.
Key Features
How To Play
Anyone who owns the free StarCraft II Starter Edition can play any map of the campaign. Simply start StarCraft II, go to the Arcade tab, type in "Shadow of the Xel'Naga" or "sotx" in the search tab and you can select any of the 7 maps to create a new game. It is recommended that you start with "Chapter 1: Welcome to Bhekar Ro".
Prologue
Bhekar Ro was settled around 2460 by colonists seeking to escape from the civil strife of the Confederacy's inner worlds. Five years after settlement contact with the Confederacy was broken off.
Attacks of wild animals, like the widespread bird species Karak, forced the abandonment of most scientific endeavors and many mines that were used to gather precious material. Priority shifted toward survival which now depended on farm work.
After their parents death Octavia Bren and her energetic brother Lars had been taking care of their cultivated land and also looking for more arable farmland. After a long day of hard work they were finally on their way home.
Chapter 1: Welcome to Bhekar Ro
More screenshots...
Chapter 2: Uninvited Guests
More screenshots...
Chapter 3: A Shadow in Between
More screenshots...
Chapter 4: Xeno Defense
More screenshots...
Chapter 5: Twilight
More screenshots...
Chapter 6: First In, First Out
More screenshots...
Chapter 7: The Phoenix
More screenshots...
Credits
book
Gabriel Mesta
design
Alexandros "OutsiderXE" Delas - outsiderxe.blogspot.com
codex lore
starcraft.wikia.com
custom models
Ghostnova - herdal8 - TaylorMouse - Thrikodias
uses a modified Starcraft: Mass Recall mod
SCMR version 5.4.1 - sc2mapster.com/maps/starcraft-mass-recall
testing
Adrian K. - deltronLive - Devourer - Eaglesight - Elematic - Eredalis - Knallertton - Lightspeed - Malchose - Mietfekatfe - Obatztrara - Observer - Silence - Sumadin - theSixthGate - Sven K. - Tomura - XpPlayer
credits music
"Terran Metal Remix" - Charlie Parra del Riego - charlieparradelriego.com
special thanks to
Blizzard Entertainment - Mass Recall team - sc2mapster.com - campaigncreations.org
More information
Outsider's Blog
Level Design Portfolio
Custom Campaign Initiative
Awesome! :D
Are you going to upload it here on Sc2mapster as well?
No. Due to the co-op feature and the way difficulty levels are implemented it's not very cool to start it from the editor. But I understand that map designers want to have a look and see how things were made so I consider making the maps public some time in the future.
Congrats on finishing the project. What an epic undertaking!! I'll try to put on the CCI News soon!!