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“It feels, paradoxically, like a fresh summit. It feels like a rebirth."Eurogamer
“There was no closure and no emotional payoff."PC Gamer
“Shadowlands finally ditches the hefty time commitment."Polygon
“Endgame activities have never been this diverse and interesting."IGN Nordic

About Inside

You have to look at the game itself too, though, and Shadowlands represents something of a soft reboot for World of Warcraft. Narratively, it's a relatively easy jumping on point. Although the catalyst for players' journey into the Shadowlands - the Warcraft universe's version of the afterlife - lies somewhere in the convoluted lore-nerdery and soap-opera of 2018's Battle for Azeroth, once you are "beyond the veil", you will be mostly interacting with an all-new cast of characters and factions (with the added fan-service of a few deceased favourites getting a new lease of death).

But it's not really in the expansion's laundry list of new features that you will find a decisive new direction for World of Warcraft. 2016's brilliant Legion can make a better case for redefining the modern game; it introduced follower adventures that play out while you're offline, a viable solo endgame in World Quests, and in Artifact Power, an endgame resource/progression framework quite distinct from the regular gear grind - all ideas which both Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands have presented variations on.