Why it matters: Blizzard later this year will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Warcraft but there's seemingly no reason we should wait until November to partake in the festivities. The developer has once again joined forces with GOG.com to bring two additional classics to the DRM-free storefront for the first time.
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans arrived on MS-DOS on November 23, 1994, before finding its way to the Macintosh in early 1996. It wasn't the first real-time strategy game to offer multiplayer but it did help convince gamers that the concept had a future in the RTS arena.
Warcraft II Battle.net Edition followed in 1999, adding support for Blizzard's multiplayer platform and replacing the MS-DOS version with one for Windows. Both games were a hit among critics and helped establish Blizzard as a top-tier development studio.
The version of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans available on GOG.COM has been fully optimized to run out-of the-box on today's operating systems. Meanwhile, players who purchase Warcraft II through GOG.COM will get two versions: one that's been updated with support for high-resolution displays and multiplayer via LAN connections; and a period-appropriate classic version that includes the original SVGA graphics, and matchmaking through the classic version of the Battle.net online-gaming service.
Those ready to go back to where it all started can pick up Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and Warcraft II Blattle.net Edition over on GOG.com for just $14.99. They're also available individually - $5.99 for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans and $9.99 for Warcraft II Battle.net Edition - if you're only after one or the other.
Blizzard teamed with GOG.com earlier this month to make Diablo available DRM-free for the first time.