The new Diablo 4 Starcraft crossover skins will cost you up to $185

The Diablo 4 Starcraft crossover is here, but you're going to need to break the bank if you want to do your best to pretend that Starcraft 3 is actually real in Blizzard's hell-bothering ARPG. The internal collaboration project gives us a teasing taste of the space epic, right as we approach the tenth anniversary of its final release, Legacy of the Void. As an ardent fan, my response is naturally to cling onto any hope that Blizzard remembers this lost series - it even brought us a surprise SC2 balance patch back in September - but I can't help but balk a little at the asking price.

Starcraft 2 might be the peak of its genre; there are certainly other worthy candidates on our list of the best RTS games, but none can top the highs of its glorious campaign and blistering multiplayer. I put the soundtrack on while I was writing this and, in retrospect, it might have been a mistake; the Terran's iconic space-trucker blend of bombastic brass and twanging slide guitar have awakened the beast of nostalgia inside of me. Yet soon, I'll be back in the reality of a cold, hard world where Starcraft 3 is but a glint in the eye and all we have to console ourselves with are these new Diablo 4 cosmetics.

The good news is that they do look lovely. Jim Raynor becomes a Barbarian, Queen of Blades Kerrigan is a Spiritborn, and Zeratul naturally slots in as a Rogue. The other outfits the action RPG has to offer are no slouch, either. Necromancers get an Overqueen-inspired look, Druids transform into an infested marine, and Sorcerers style themselves as high templars. There's also a fantastic Zergling mount, and a pet that resembles a baby Hydralisk. The downside is that they aren't cheap.

The six class-specific cosmetics come in at 2,800 Platinum each ($24.99 / £20.99 if you buy that specific amount), as does the Zergling mount, while the pet is priced at 2,500 Platinum. This matches the pricing of the Berserk skins, but there are two more classes on the table this time. Total that up and it comes to 22,100 Platinum - more than the biggest bundle you can buy, which is the 18,500 pack costing $149.99 / £125.99.

The free seasonal Reliquary won't get you much closer, either, as you can only claim 200 Platinum in Season 10's offering. By my best calculations, that means there are two reasonable ways to reach the necessary total. The simplest is two of the 11,500 Platinum packs, which will come to just shy of $200 / £170 and leave you with 900 Platinum to spare. Alternatively, you could combine the 18,500, 2,800, and 1,000 Platinum offerings and spend $185 / £155 with just 200 Platinum left over.

For comparison, buying the Diablo 4 Expansion Bundle (and ignoring its regular sales, such as the ongoing 50% deal) will get you the base game and its Vessel of Hatred expansion for $69.99 / £59.99. The complete StarCraft 2 Campaign Collection costs $39.99 / £34.99. Buying both games with no discount will therefore set you back $110 / £95, meaning you'd still have enough change to get another full-price game (such as the $70 Black Ops 7) versus buying this complete set of cosmetics.

Of course, I do feel obliged to point out the obvious caveat here: you don't have to buy any of these, and you certainly don't need to get them all. There's no impact on your gameplay, and unless you enjoy hopping between all six Diablo 4 classes you may well not use every single skin. I can't deny the appeal of striding across Sanctuary as my favorite intergalactic god-empress, Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. But I'd be more inclined to dip in if Blizzard promised me that the funds would go towards finally realizing the dream of Starcraft 3.

If you're smashing your way through Season 10, take a look through our best Diablo 4 builds for some inspiration. Feeling like something a little different? Maybe another of the best games like Diablo will tickle your fancy.

What do you think of this latest round of cosmetics? Are you still holding onto that sliver of hope that maybe, one day, Starcraft will return in earnest? Drop by the PCGamesN community Discord server and tell us your go-to build order.