The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight

I remember it as if it were yesterday: The green blaze of the dark portal. The ignorance of the secrets that would be hidden behind it. Which monsters would I have to hunt down? Which areas would await me? And above all: What thematic focus would those have?
The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight (3) Source: buffed When my 16-year-old self stumbled naively through Blizzard's worlds shortly after the initial release of the first expansion, "The Burning Crusade," one thing above all was the focus of the journey of discovery: The anticipation of the "next area" and the answer to the never-ending question: what would the next zone look like?

Impressions that stand the test of time

Let's be honest: My youthful WoW mind was easily amazed. Be it the parched dunes of Desolace or the lush meadows of Feralas. Even the Plaguelands had their own charm - the thought of the morbid aura of decay still sends a cold shiver down my spine 15 years later.
The Crown of WoW Aesthetics: Shadowlands as a New Highlight (4) Source: buffed But there is one thing I will never forget: The first elf-like hoofprint of my delighted "Oh, can I really turn into an owl form?!" druid on the red-furred barren hills of Hellfire Peninsula. And the sky at that.
The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight (5) Source: buffed In my slightly nostalgically distorted perception of the past, I spent the first days of the encounter contemplating the cosmic trajectories of extra-earthly planets. A truly epic sight.

The aesthetics of the new

Granted - Outland doesn't evoke those feelings by a long shot these days. But what still impresses me these days are the ongoing aesthetic innovations that a 15-year-old game like World of Warcraft (buy now €14.99 ) gets. With each new expansion, the developers tickle a bit more atmosphere and a bit more "boom" out of the dusty engine.
The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight (6) Source: Blizzard We remember: In the third WoW expansion "Catalcysm" we were able to enjoy polished graphics for the first time. Water and ground textures were refined, lighting was made more realistic, and clouds and plumes of smoke were perceived as such for the first time.
The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight (7) Source: Buffed But a lot has happened since then, too - a look at the current WoW expansion "Battle for Azeroth" shows how wonderfully atmospheric areas like the Stormsang Valley or Drustvar are. In the latter area, I was personally particularly convinced by the audiovisual Gesamtkunstwerk, as I was able to report in my musical journey.

Shadowlands shows: There is still more

Now we are once again on the verge of the release of a new - the eighth in the meantime - expansion. Shadowlands has now raised the graphical settings again and can now display more realistic lighting effects thanks to ray tracing support. Even people have "finally" become beautiful.
The crown of WoW aesthetics: Shadowlands as a new highlight (1) Source: buffed Bastion knows how to please - our author Philipp Sattler is also blown away by its aura. Personally, I am a big fan of Exile and Oribos. The cold fog and the ominous Nether awaken a highly oppressive feeling of confinement in me, which brings me back extremely close to the Plaguelands experience of my youth.
The Crown of WoW Aesthetics: Shadowlands as a New Highlight (2) Source: buffed Oribos sees itself as the exact opposite here. It is reminiscent of a castle enthroned high above the clouds, surrounded by watercolor-colored sky pictures. A sight to fall in love with, because it reveals what a great work of art has once again been created here on an aesthetic level.

But one thing is missing: the music. As a self-confessed film and video game music lover, I listen to the sounds of Glenn Stafford and imagine once again how he (and many others) will also turn the upcoming expansion into a successful audiovisual spectacle, because music and image are always beyond re

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