From your cold, distant position hovering above a Starcraft 2 map, it's easy to forget that the armies you control are full of tiny representations of people. That SCV you sacrificed for crucial scouting information? Only two months off his final mortgage payments. That Colossus you mis-microed? Proud father to a litter of baby colossi, whose small stature admittedly makes their name redundant. And those Zerglings you rushed... Admittedly, not a lot going on there. Hive mind and all that.
Still, there's potential tragedy with every click. Especially when centred around the characters of Heart of the Swarm's plot. That's the subject of the prequel webcomic, Hope and Vengeance , which Blizzard have uploaded to their site for the launch of the latest RTS expansion.
In it, Kerrigan broods over her past life, while Valerian Mensk reflects on the same. Don't expect the raw lols of Valve's TF2 comics here - it's pretty much panel-to-panel pathos.
Pathos that eventually leads to death and explosions and screaming, as explored in the previous Starcraft 2 "Vengeance" trailer. The one in which the vengeance happens.
Heart of the Swarm is out now.
