World of Warcraft: Shadowlands

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World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Image
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83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
2.7

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 2475 Ratings

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  • Summary: Brave The Beyond
    The veil between life and death is no more.
    With a single act of destruction, Sylvanas Windrunner has ripped open the way to the afterlife. Azeroth's staunchest defenders have been dragged into all-consuming darkness. An ancient force of death threatens to break its bonds    Brave The Beyond
    The veil between life and death is no more.

    With a single act of destruction, Sylvanas Windrunner has ripped open the way to the afterlife. Azeroth's staunchest defenders have been dragged into all-consuming darkness. An ancient force of death threatens to break its bonds and unravel reality.

    Hidden realms of wonder and horror await any who would pass to the other side. The Shadowlands is home to an entire realm of the departed; it is a world between worlds whose delicate balance preserves life and death itself.

    As one of Azeroth's greatest champions, you have been granted the power to cross over in body and soul. Now you must investigate a conspiracy to unmake the cosmos, and help Warcraft legends journey back... or fulfill their ultimate destiny.

    New World
    The Shadowlands

    What lies beyond the world you know? The Shadowlands, resting place for every mortal soulvirtuous or vilethat has ever lived. Journey through planes of torment and imprisonment to those of rebirth and eternal reward.

    New Player Hub
    Oribos, The Undying City

    Oribos is the arrival point for all souls who enter the Shadowlands. At this crossroads, the dead are judged by the impassive Arbiter before being sent to their final destinations, and Oribos' denizens swap gossip and animasoulstuff that serves as both power and currency.

    New Feature
    Covenants

    Align yourself with one of four Covenantsmysterious sects, each with their own ambition for the Shadowlandsto restore balance to the hereafter.

    You'll gain access to your Covenant's Sanctum, where you'll accept unique quests, undertake a sprawling covenant campaign, and call upon your allies to embark on important missions. You'll also earn unique abilities based on your Covenant and class, acquire a unique mount and visual appearance, and forge bonds with powerful souls, drawing on their essence to further customize your skills.

    New Feature - Infinite Dungeon
    Torghast, Tower of the Damned

    Once, the Jailer kept only the most dangerous souls in the cosmos confined in this eternal prison. Now, some of Azeroth's greatest heroes are trapped here, and you'll need to rescue them from the Jailer's tower before he expends their very souls.

    Torghast is an endlessly replayable, ever-changing dungeon that you can challenge alone or in a group. Your runs will differ each time, but you'll need to explore cautiously. Death comes at a terrible cost. Defeat enough of Torghast's unpredictable challenges, and you'll be rewarded with unique abilities and items to ensure your present survival or bolster your next run. The further you progress, the greater your likelihood of retrieving materials to craft the legendary weapons and armor that will help you restore balance to the Shadowlands.

    Other secrets lie within the tower but they're yet to be revealed.

    Game Updates
    Leveled-Up Leveling

    World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will smooth out the leveling experience and better prepare new adventurers for what's to come. Players will level up to 50 before heading to the Shadowlands (new level cap: 60).

    We've adjusted the experience curve to make it faster than ever to prepare for the newest challenges, and each level along the way will provide more meaningful increases in progress and power. All expansion zones are getting more flexible, too; they'll be able* to scale to you and your friends while you level to 50, so it's easy to try a zone you've never played.

    *You can still outlevel dungeons and crush them for transmogs or fulfillment.    … Expand

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World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Release Date Reveal | Gamescom 2020

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Shacknews
    Jan 29, 2021
    90
    World of Warcraft: Shadowlands certainly manages to capture the same feelings we’ve had since first started playing the game. The leveling experience overhaul, constant sense of progress with rewards, and new campaign stories make Shadowlands a must-have for any avid player.
  2. Attack of the Fanboy
    Dec 3, 2020
    90
    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.
  3. BaziCenter
    Dec 14, 2020
    85
    The latest expansion pack for the hit series World of Warcraft is just at the beginning of its journey, and is off to a strong start. The gameplay experience is still very fun and the amount of new content is insane. Only time will tell how successful this expansion pack will eventually be, but for now we can do nothing but to enjoy it.
  4. PCGamesN
    Dec 4, 2020
    80
    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.
  5. GamesBeat
    Jan 5, 2021
    80
    I was concerned about Shadowlands and Blizzard development in the COVID era. All those complex systems made a real mess on beta servers near the original game launch date in October. But other than some balance issues — and that core problem with covenant choices — the extra month of development time after the release date delay really gave Blizzard a chance to paint on some polish. The end result stands as one of the very best expansions the game’s ever had.
  6. 3DJuegos
    Dec 13, 2020
    80
    Shadowlands is a really fun experience that shows the future of World of Warcraft, and it is very promising.
  7. Digital Trends
    Dec 1, 2020
    60
    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.

See all 37 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 228 out of 836
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 836
  3. Negative: 573 out of 836
  1. kind0528
    Nov 24, 2020
    10
    Fantastic leveling. In my opinion, This Shadowlands is more impressive than Legion. Beautiful and Awesome. I want to be job seeker. BEAT BFA !!!!
  2. Velz
    Dec 8, 2020
    10
    New expansion is the most epic and friendly for new gamers.
    Now the best time to "taste" WoW experience
  4. DOMAKOS1
    Nov 28, 2020
    8
    TL & DR?
    So far, the best expansion they have ever released. They have focused on listening to community, while implementing long term    TL & DR?
    So far, the best expansion they have ever released. They have focused on listening to community, while implementing long term payment mode (That's, why only 8/10).

    -Beautiful and varied lands. Most of us will find at least one satisfying
    -Exciting and engaging dungeons
    -Better that usally class balance
    -Stunning raid

    I could write a lot mure, but folks... i wanna play even more!    … Expand
  5. DerryS
    Nov 28, 2021
    1
    At face value on the surface Shadowlands appears to look amazing -- great cutscenes in the beginning and as always the music is outstanding asAt face value on the surface Shadowlands appears to look amazing -- great cutscenes in the beginning and as always the music is outstanding as are the artwork. However, once engaged I found most gameplay to be boring and a tedious chore. The most fun I continue to have in Warcraft comes from doing legacy content. The story itself seems laughingly unbelievable and character decisions left me wondering if they decided to let A.I. create the story. I don't like to diss other writers but this is bad. However, I did find some characters enjoyable, mostly secondary characters players will pick up a quest from or see while doing grinding dailies. I don't think this terrible expansion is enough to kill the game but Blizzard definitely needs a major win next time.… Expand
  6. Ekeys
    Sep 6, 2021
    1
    I thought bfa was awful, but then came Shadowlands... If you are interested in a good story and nice gameplay, then don't play Shadowlands.I thought bfa was awful, but then came Shadowlands... If you are interested in a good story and nice gameplay, then don't play Shadowlands. Play other games until Blizzard finally improve this awful game. Last time I had fun was during Legion and that is several years ago.

    -Along with the cringe lore I really hate that there is no change, no development whatsoever in this game. Just the same stuff recycled in every expansion.
    -We have 2021 and there is still no player housing in this game.
    -There is still racial segregation in this game, meaning the playable races don't have free will, making the whole faction choice stuff extremly stale and based on the given races, resulting in a lot of frustrating compromises and hugely worsen the player experience.
    -There is still no cross faction play- seeing how bad the faction imbalance has become (costed by the Devs for neglecting one faction over several years) that means, that one faction has a much harder way to play this game since so many players left and if you are in one faction you are not allowed to play with your friends in the second faction. So basically you get punished, if you play the small faction. That is not a way to handle a playerbase and wow is the only game that activly supports such a toxic system. It's beyond me why they do that and with that why there is still racism with the division of the races. Players are leaving wow in masses and this is definitely one of the reasons.
    -Most zones have still horrendous outdated graphic and the customization options are... well... far too few. Again... not even close to what you would expect for a game in 2021.
    -Might be just me, but it feels, that even the music got worse with Shadowlands.
    -Along with the faction imbalance the class imbalance makes the pvp scene just awful.    … Expand
  7. mahmoodew
    Jun 11, 2022
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Игра не развивается от слова Совсем.
    Они раздувают мир как мыльный пузырь попутно меняя лор. Но вед увеличение мира это не его развитие. Или я что то не так понимаю?
    Сюжет зациклен на одном и том же. У них не осталось видимо толковых сценаристов которые могли бы написать толковый сюжет.
    Все так же продолжаются пляски вокруг старых персонажей. Как мертвых так и живых. Нет не одного взращённого нового НПС.    … Expand
  8. Sponger
    May 25, 2022
    0
    World Of Warcraft is a game full of dubious stuff like racial segregation, which is forced upon the players, meaning that your race is whatWorld Of Warcraft is a game full of dubious stuff like racial segregation, which is forced upon the players, meaning that your race is what defines to what team you are allowed to go.
    No, not your values are what is important, solely the race is and they kept this division for almost 2 decades.
    This however is not suprising, considering that there is an open lawsuit against Blizzard, because of the yukky stuff the devs did...

    Anyways, back to wow and it's toxic aspects.
    As if racial segregation in 2022 wasn't bad enough the devs do not care, that one of the two playable factions is essentially dead playerwise. An issue, that the devs caused through multiple acts, such as playable races, racials, constantly destroying zones of that faction, allowing open mockery on interviews against the faction and so on.
    That surely tells you a whole lot about the mindset these devs have.

    Then there are cheap tactics like FOMO and borrowed power systems in order to trick their players to stay subscribed (since you have to pay for each month) without giving actually new content. The best example here would be the mage tower.
    Shadowlands had no real content for months, so they announced to bring back the mage tower from Legion. While at first that would be a nice (old) feature, they did not allow us to get the original rewards for fighting in the mage tower. So another case of FOMO. Because if you want certain items in this game, you will have to make sure to play without taking breaks or you will miss out.
    Sadly there are players, who fell for such cheap methods.

    The lore is another case that shows the clear disconnect to their players.
    There are no consequences for anything in this game. You can commit genocide, burn down entire zones, use the blight, tortue and at the end of the day you get rewarded for it.
    And I want to be clear here, I am not against violence in video games, but the way it is used in wow ist straight up disgusting.
    The abuser gets awesome new stuff, while the victims are basically told they should just forgive and forget... and are allowed to watch, while the abuser gets away. Like wtf is this kind of mindset the devs are putting in this game?

    There are just so many questionable things in wow...

    Oh and also... this is an mmo and despite of that the devs didn't want their players to actually play together. Only recently they said, they would be open an extremely small part of gameplay for cross faction, but the main part (neutral races, lfr, lfd, guilds etc.) remains strictly separated.

    The devs fuel so much toxicity and tribalism with the systems in this game...
    There are better games out there. Do not play wow at the moment. This game needs major changes.    … Expand

See all 836 User Reviews

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#8 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

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