World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Reviews
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.
Ambitious but uneven, Shadowlands is an exciting evolution of World of Warcraft.
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.
As it stands, Shadowlands feels a little lost in translation. Blizzard spent the better part of the last year saying how it wanted its juggernaut MMO to feel more like an RPG again — where choices matter and rewards and plentiful. Yet, oddly enough, Shadowlands feels more bereft of that than ever before, becoming something of a jumbled experience that sits awkwardly between being an open-world “sandbox” MMO and a more linear “theme park” one.
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 a lot of 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.
Shadowlands adds some daring elements into the mix while also retaining many of the same hooks that have kept the MMO going over the years
Shadowlands impresses in every way.
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.
So far Shadowlands does not disappoint, with the question of which of the four covenants to soul-bind to being a particularly tricky one, as you get to grips with the endgame content of world quests and dailies. Shadowlands is reminiscent of aspects from earlier expansions, such as Wrath Of The Lich King (even including the grind), but it has a style all of its own and a good sense of momentum that, so far at least, makes it great fun to play.
Shadowlands offers some great new characters and stories, alongside the most compelling max level experience WoW has had in many years.
This recent WOW expansion has everything it needs to stay within the MMORPG’s story: an epic story supported by a valid and varied campaign, that will lead us to explore many new settings, a new job and progression system, new factions and so much more. All of this, within the always magical frame provided by Blizzard. The result is a perfect circle all way around.
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