World of Warcraft: Shadowlands animated series will premiere during Gamescom Opening Night Live

Afterlives, a new four-part animated series based on the upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion, is set to premiere during Gamescom Opening Night Live.

Blizzard announced the new Shadowlands: Afterlives animated series with a teaser trailer, and revealed that the first part is set to premiere on August 27 at 11 am PDT / 2 pm EDT / 7 pm BST during the Opening Night Live stream.

"Just as our choices determine who we are in life - they pave the paths we take in the afterlife," the teaser reads. "Prepare to delve into four realms of the Shadowlands - Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, and Revendreth - and discover the journeys souls take once they cross the eternal veil."

The upcoming Shadowlands expansion was revealed during Blizzcon 2019, where Blizzard showed off some of the new features coming to World of Warcraft. Set to release sometime in 2020, Shadowlands takes you to the realm of the departed after Sylvanas Windrunner rips open the way to the afterlife. Granted with the power to cross over to "a world between worlds whose delicate balance preserves life and death itself", you'll set out discover everything Shadowlands has to offer.

Introducing four new zones with four different ruling Covenants presiding over them, it's up to you to decide who you'll pledge your allegiance to. Who you choose to side with shapes the campaign you take and what unique abilities you can gain. Ahead of the expansion's release, the Afterlives animated series will give you a look at the very same "ancient and powerful" ruling Covenants you'll be encountering.

As well as introducing new zones and campaigns, the expansion is also raising the level cap to 60 and "smoothing out the leveling experience" for newcomers, so you gain experience faster and better prepare for the journey to the afterlife. An infinite ever-changing dungeon known as Torghast, the Tower of the Damned, is also coming to the expansion, offering new challenges and different runs each time.

Forget endgame, the most exciting shake-up in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands starts at level one.

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Heather Wald is the Evergreen Editor, Games at GamesRadar+. Her writing career began on a student-led magazine at Bath Spa University, where she earned a BA (Hons) in English literature. Heather landed her first role writing about tech and games for Stuff Magazine shortly after graduating with an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University. Now with almost seven years of experience working with GamesRadar+ on the features team, Heather helps to develop, maintain, and expand the evergreen features that exist on the site for games, as well as spearhead the Indie Spotlight series. You'll also see her contribute op-eds, interview-led features, and more. In her spare time, you'll likely find Heather tucking into RPGs and indie games, reading romance novels, and drinking lots of tea.