Blizzard's Dustin Browder teams up with shoutcaster, Husky, to bring us two entire games of Heroes of the Storm, played by the game's developers. Blizz's lane pusher, formerly Blizzard All-Stars, re-emerged at Blizzcon this year with new visuals and some ideas that should set it apart from Dota 2 and its ilk. There's no last-hitting, no denies, no items, and HotS will feature many different maps with their own rules. That's demonstrated nicely in the videos below, which show players gathering coins to pay off a ghost pirate, and gathering mystical symbols to curse the enemy team.
Also, there are huge flesh golems that will join you if you beat them in combat. And you get to see Pudge Stitches ride a tiny horse. Also the StarCraft 2 Seige Tank is a hero. I think I'd quite like to play this videogame.
It looks like there's plenty of room for comebacks, but it's tricky to assess on a couple of games. The lack of items, economy (beyond magic pirate coins) and the shorter game length should make it a little friendlier to newcomers than its competitors, but you're still facing five heroes with five abilities that all look and behave completely differently, an upfront wall of complexity that's typical of the genre.
Heartheroes of the Swarmstorm is currently in alpha, but you can sign up for the upcoming beta on the official site .
