For a game that’s now 15 years old, it has to be said that World of Warcraft is till keeping it pretty tight. That doesn’t mean we can’t wonder what the popular MMO would look like if it were made today, of course.
Because we live in a world where it’s now apparently the law to remake pretty much every popular franchise using Unreal Engine 4, YouTuber and designer Daniel L has been remodeling iconic areas from World of Warcraft since 2015, and they recently uploaded a compilation of their impressive efforts over the years.
Check it out below.
The likes of Duskwood, Durotar, Westfall, and more all look undeniably gorgeous in the 12 minute video, but the world does seem to have lost some of its magic through the overhaul. It resembles the gritty realism of Skyrim more than the colourful whimsy of Azeroth. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but a big part of World of Warcraft’s charm comes from its vibrant, unique-looking world.
Still, given the fact all of this was the work of one dedicated fan, I have to commend them for what is, by all accounts, a truly incredible effort. If you’re interested, Daniel L shows us in a separate, lengthier video how they went about recreating Goldshire.
You can check that one out just below. Spoiler alert; it took a while to complete.
Unreal Engine 4 has been used by fans for years to create all manner of gorgeous fan projects that will obviously never see the light of day. Two of my personal favourites include an eye-wateringly lovely take on Dragon Ball Z, and a recreation of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that takes my breath away every time I see an update on it.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.