If you’re a bit stunned to hear that there’s a new single-player story campaign for Warcraft 3 in 2026 – 23 years after its last expansion, The Frozen Throne – then you can imagine how I felt when Forsaken Kingdom fell into my hands ahead of its surprise announcement and immediate release today. It’s honestly great to be back, considering Blizzard hasn’t given single-player RTS fans anything new to chew on at all since 2016’s Starcraft II: Nova Covert Ops. This expansion maintains the feel of classic Warcraft 3 while mixing in some new ideas, and that’s something I might never run out of appetite for.
At the time of writing, I’ve only had the chance to play through maybe a quarter of the new story: the four-mission Last Days of Lordaeron prologue, which is quite juicy and ambitious on its own, as well as the first three or so hours of what Blizzard says is roughly 30 total in Forsaken Kingdom. The latter really leans into being an RPG so far, like a more ambitious version of Rexxar’s Founding of Durotar bonus campaign in The Frozen Throne.
The Last Days of Lordaeron picks up on the day Arthas returned from Northrend to kill his father, perhaps one of the most pivotal moments in all of Warcraft lore, and follows the new hero, guard lieutenant Garek Bandarion, as he fights his way through a besieged Andorhal and a devastated Strathholme in a doomed attempt to save his homeland from the Scourge. This prologue culminates with a confrontation against none other than Baron Rivendare, and contains numerous clever little references to both Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft.
I enjoyed the design of these missions for the most part. The Siege of Andorhal, especially, puts a little bit of a MOBA-inspired twist on the typical Warcraft 3 routine by having you capture towers that spawn waves of AI-controlled friendly soldiers at regular intervals to help you push across the map. Another segment of the same mission required me to hold specific objectives to be able to recruit certain kinds of units, rather than simply needing their associated structure in my base.
Stratholme, post-purge at this point, is built like a winding dungeon crawl that requires you to coordinate one group led by Garek and a second led by the elven priest Ilastar Songbreeze – 500 bonus points if you recognize that deep cut, because I definitely had to look up who the heck he was and I practically eat, sleep, and breathe Warcraft. They remain separated for the first half of the mission, which created some interesting opportunities to use one group to complete an objective that helped the other progress. They then unite at the end for the final, dramatic push.
In an extremely heavily-telegraphed twist, Garek doesn’t fare well in his confrontation with Rivendare, and ends up raised as one of the free-willed Forsaken in the main campaign. Taking his orders directly from Sylvanas and accompanied by her lieutenant, the Dark Ranger Anya, this free-roaming, quest-driven adventure revolves around establishing the Forsaken in the Undercity beneath the capital ruins. We also know Garek is destined to become the first Forsaken Paladin – an unorthodox combo that is soon to be playable in World of Warcraft – but I’m not sure how this transpires just yet.
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