World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands Launches This October, First Afterlives Animated Short Revealed

During Gamescom's Opening Night Live stream, Blizzard Entertainment showed off the first World of Warcraft animated short in the Afterlives series the company announced early this week. After the short, Blizzard confirmed the Shadowlands expansion launches on October 27.

The first part in the Afterlives series is called Bastion. It's much less an animated short and more akin to a slideshow, with still images weaves together by dialogue and exposition. It follows a man who was betrayed by his student and, upon gaining strength from some Convent, seeks his revenge. It's very dramatic.

But the main piece of news was what followed after the short. Blizzard shared a brief trailer confirming the October 27 release date for the Shadowlands DLC, which you can check out above.

Shadowlands will make a number of changes to World of Warcraft, such as no longer charging to change genders, introducing controller support, class updates, and more. Additionally, the new expansion will allow you to switch Covenants whenever you want.

Also in the Shadowlands expansion is a tribute to late WoW player Byron "Reckful" Bernstein, who unexpectedly passed away earlier this year.