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What is it about Blizzard's games that command such obsession and commitment from those of us who play them? There's the emergent complexity that springs up from root simplicity - easy to learn, hard to master if you prefer - but there's something more to the magic of the time you spend in these worlds, something that transcends the fundamental nuts and bolts of tightly-tuned gameplay.The answer for me is simple. Blizzard makes games about rhythms that get under your skin and then carry you compulsively forwards. World of Warcraft's cooldown system adds a measured, hypnotic finger-click to the tempo of its encounters, StarCraft 2's heart beats with a relentless tribal intensity, and the upcoming Heroes of the Storm is underpinned by the steady, blood-pumping unit flow that defines the genre it belongs to. These games tap into something primal, and they soothe and excite in equal measures as they do so.
For its own ebb and flow, Blizzard's slower-paced strategy game Hearthstone breathes the gentle, warming rhythm of a rousing crescendo, from the tentative early game plays that set the scenes for each match, through to the grand drama that plays out when a greater wealth of options manifest themselves, and make a meaner march across the stage.
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