Blizzard announced back in November of 2015 that there would be some brand new mission packs made available for StarCraft II. The game will be receiving several packs throughout the year and they're called the Nova Covert Ops. The first of these packs goes live on March 29.
The news was sent out via press release where Blizzard revealed that the latest single-player expansion for StarCraft II would be available for purchase digitally at the end of the month. The full expansion will contain nine missions that span the likes of three separate packs. The second and third packs are planned to be released sometime later in 2016... they don't go into detail on release dates or even release windows. I wouldn't be surprised if we get the second pack sometime before summer is out and the third pack during the holiday rush in the fall.
The StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops puts players in the role of November “Nova” Terra, one of the most powerful Ghost operatives for the Dominion. The gameplay is identical to the classic StarCraft II mechanics, but Blizzard took some time to also implement some brand new gameplay features that will only make their debut in the Nova Covert Ops. Unfortunately they don't exactly explain what these new mechanics are or how they work, but I wouldn't be surprised if the features center more around stealth-oriented gameplay.
The thing is, this expansion will still be set within the rules of the StarCraft RTS universe, so you can't go in expecting gameplay similar to the cancelled StarCraft: Ghost, which was a third-person, stealth-action game starring Nova partaking in covert operations for the Dominion. Interestingly enough it kind of appears as if the Nova Covert Ops expansion for StarCraft II is taking on the guise of StarCraft: Ghost and picking up where the cancelled game was possibly going to go.
The press release manages to avoid any kind of story spoilers whatsoever. We obviously know it has nothing to do with the main meat and potatoes of the StarCraft story involving Raynor, Kerrigan and the Protoss. That all wrapped up with the very epic expansion and conclusion known as Legacy of the Void.
What I'm sure a lot of fans are curious about is whether or not Nova's missions will take place before, after or during Legacy of the Void? If it takes place after then it opens the door for more missions and stories involving the StarCraft universe and the three main warring factions. If it takes place before Legacy of the Void then it's basically just going to be designed to flesh out what was happening on the other side of the galaxy. If it takes place during Legacy of the Void then it still opens up some strong possibilities for how the galaxy is shaped leading up to the ending.
It's all very murky right now and we won't know for sure how this all plays out until the first expansion for Nova Covert Ops finally releases on March 29.
Gamers who can't wait that long to get their hands on the game can pre-purchase the three episodes containing three missions each for $14.99 from the Battle.net shop.
