World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Reviews

Over time, I’ve noticed one thing about established universes. Any and every attempt to explain death is a mistake in the making. Especially when it comes to RPGs, where the existence of death is already a huge issue. Take the famous “Why didn’t Cloud use Phoenix Down on Aerith?” question from Final Fantasy VII. When resurrection magic exists, death simply shouldn’t be a problem. So when it was announced that World of WarCraft’s latest expansion, World of WarCraft: Shadowlands wo...

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is a return to greatness for the franchise. The content is both accessible and fun for all types of players, and the story actually makes you feel like everything you’re doing is helping to save the Shadowlands. Torghast is one of the best features ever added and makes each experience unique and fun. While there are some issues which can slow down the time it takes to get everything you want, the journey there is still enjoyable.

A far-out new expansion and major levelling revamp see Blizzard's veteran online world riding a new wave of popularity.

It's been a little over three weeks since the eighth expansion for World of Warcraft launched. Since then, I have leveled up my main, started in on the various max level activities, and worked on an alt a bit. I've also had some time to step into the new raid and experience some of it, and the first Mythic+ and PVP season has started as well. The only thing which isn't fully open yet is LFR as we are just getting the first wing of that starting this week. Nonetheless, the expansion is in full...

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands' base experience offers a variety of excellent content through new zones and endgame content. The framework for a great stream of content is there, so for now, there's a lot to enjoy.

WoW's latest chapter offers a gorgeous leveling experience, interesting endgame systems, and a pile of well-designed dungeons. Though some rough edges remain, ongoing hotfixes are chipping away at them.

Shadowlands might not spark a new golden age for WoW, but it's still pretty fun.

Post-launch support will ultimately determine Shadowlands' fate, but as it currently stands World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is a fantastic expansion that once again proves why Blizzard's 16 year old juggernaut remains the king of the MMORPG genre. While we may be touring Azeroth's afterlife ourselves, it's clear World of Warcraft won't be sauntered off into the great beyond any time soon.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has expanded the worldbuilding to such a scale that every new dungeon or quest is a chance to explore lore new and old. At the end of the day, I can’t ask for more than that.

“World of Warcraft: Shadowlands gets lost in its attempt to offer players more choice than ever before, ultimately forgetting to restock the reward machine needed to keep patrons invested.”

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands shows that the whole World of Warcraft game is really showing it’s age, not to mention that since losing a lot of their key development people from the Blizzard side like Chris Kaleiki and many others, leading to this being a more “by the metrics” Activision based game experience than what Blizzard is renowned for. For many people, the heart and soul of World of Warcraft is dead at this stage, but since it is still early days, future patches and content additions can revive the game into a playable state for those who are still addicted to the game after over 16 years… But only time will tell at this stage.

Compared to the lifespan of most games, World of Warcraft is ancient - but it’s hardly a relic. Even today, Blizzard’s MMORPG continues to keep the content flowing for players old and new. Shadowlands is the eighth expansion, and this journey through the afterlife comes with fresh features alongside systems that will be extremely familiar to veterans of the game. At the core, Shadowlands succeeds with powerful world-building fantasy, player identity, and bold gameplay elements.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands hasn’t quite wowed me in the way that Legion did, but it’s an improvement upon many concepts from Battle for Azeroth. There’s a clearer story that seems to have more embedded bones, with a more pronounced set of zones that stand on their own. As always long-term support remains to be seen, but for now, WoW is still one of the best MMOs out there.

It's been a long time since I was a regular player on World of Warcraft. In my preview, I stated it was around Cataclysm, later thinking made me realise it was earlier. To put a date on it, 2009. I stopped being a regular player while Ulduar was on the public test realm. Since then, I picked the game back up during Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria, plus I returned to review Warlords of Draenor. I haven't even tried after that; the levels were too high, there was too much to make up. The question then is if World of Warcraft: Shadowlands the expansion to bring long-lost players back to the fold?

The 10 levels you'll spend getting to know the Shadowlands definitely live up to the standard of quality I expect from Blizzard in terms of zone design, music, and affecting character moments. And at max level, this is probably the most compelling World of Warcraft's beckoning call to stick around has ever been, mainly because of Torghast and the chances it presents you to craft your own legendary items. But the fact remains that max-level play is designed to keep you around as long as possible with a limited amount of drip-fed story and repetitive daily and weekly activities, even if Shadowlands has more of them, and they're more fun, than any previous expansion. Don't get me wrong: this one ranks highly in the pantheon, up there with Legion and Wrath of the Lich King, partly because it makes some honest and substantial attempts to reinvent the tired endgame formula. I'm just still not sure if it goes far enough to hold my interest, and subscription dollars, in between the meatier story drops in major patches.