THE CRUNCH
ArenaNet and co-development studio 2Weeks have announced Guild Wars Afterlife, the first major gameplay update for the original Guild Wars in nearly 20 years. It adds a dynamic dungeon that morphs after each run, a skill-drafting system for building a fresh skill bar each attempt, new characters and story, and a new region called Xotecha to explore.
Afterlife launches on PC and mobile on 13 January next year, priced $29.99 / €29.99 / £25.99, with a 20 percent discount for anyone pre-ordering between now and 13 January. The scale of the update is unusual: the last major injection of content for Guild Wars 1 was the Eye of the North expansion back in August 2007, after which ArenaNet largely shifted to Guild Wars 2 while keeping the original's servers running.
The game has not been entirely dormant, though. ArenaNet released Guild Wars Reforged, an enhanced upgrade of the original MMO, late last year, and a new dungeon arrived in April, drawing in new and returning players. Afterlife's reveal also lands as ArenaNet juggles three live service games at once: Reforged with Afterlife, Guild Wars 2, and the in-development Guild Wars 3, all of which will receive updates and support simultaneously.