From the start I will tell you that GWEN, as the developers used to call Eye of the North, is not just another expansion. It gives you plenty of opportunities to come back for more.

As GWEN was intended as an expansion, you won’t have a new starting area; you won’t be able to create new characters. For you to taste the Eye of the North flavor, you must have a level 20 character. And the will to face the dangers of the Underworld.

After taking the quest to Eye of the North you will learn that earthquakes started to ravage the lands and fissures appeared all over the world. Destroyers are doing their best in ravaging the land. The same Destroyers from the Nightfall campaign. You believed you crushed every one of them? You missed some, hehe.

It’s time for heroes to step ahead and face both friends and enemies from the past in order to deal with this new threat. As you pass into the fissure, your life will change. You will encounter three new races, races that each has their own secrets. Each race is in peril of destruction and each has to work together with the others in order to have a chance of survival. But how can they do that if they never interacted with each other? It’s a though thing and it’s up to you to help them work things up. This while you try to stay alive as Eye of the North is a very dangerous area, where your death will stalk you and your team. 


The three races introduced in Eye of the North are the Asura (a race of small but incredibly intelligent humanoids who live beneath the surface of Tyria, the land from the original campaign), the Norn (a races of nine-foot-tall warriors who live in the northernmost Shiverpeaks, a cold environment where only the bravest and strongest survives) and the Ebon Vanguard (part of the Ascalon Vanguard, the Ebon operated behind Charr enemy lines and is now composed of human refugees, exiles, and escaped prisoners from the Charr work camps). 
The beauty of GWEN is the non-linear story. If the previous chapters were pretty linear, here you will have to choose between three different story arcs. You will get introduced to the story and secrets of each new race. By doing this, you will also visit new areas: the Far Shiverpeaks, the Tarnished Coast, the Charr Homelands and beneath all, the Depths of Tyria.

First, Far Shiverpeaks are located in the north and are home for both the Norn and Ebon Vanguard. The Charr homelands are located in the east of the Far Shiverpeaks and north of the Ascalon, the same Ascalon they messed up in the first chapter. Asura live on the Tarnished Coast, a green, beautiful area, where the philosophy of “Eternal Alchemy” touches everything.

The Depths of Tyria are full of vicious, deadly creatures where danger lurks after the corner. Better be prepared if you intend to visit it as it won’t be a pleasure trip.

The enemy AI has received some work and now the enemies are pretty smart. The casters and support in generally tend to stay behind, while the melee rushes to your group, smacking everything. You won’t see them staying around if you start doing some AoE spells or if they get overwhelmed. Another bad news is that the monsters are really high in level. With their level up to 28, they are pretty powerful and they can finish your party very fast if you don’t play smart.

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To give you a deserved break from clearing hordes of monsters, you now test your skills in different mini games. The dwarves have the brass knuckles, the Norn have their one-on-one brawling tournaments while the Asura will allow you to play polymock, a shapeshifting game where you will receive the stats and spells of different creatures and must overcome your enemy.

The new armors and the new weapons look very good and I’m sure that many players will try to get them very fast.

Regarding the graphical experience, Eye of the North received some new goodies and now the game looks even better than before. New shaders have been implemented into the game, making the game look sweet, without needing more powerful hardware to play the game as you did before. 

Another good news for the Prophecies and the Factions players is that now they can have heroes. If until now, only the ones who bought Nightfall could use heroes, now everyone can put some heroes into their party and customize them as they see fit, allowing them to create a full party in no time.

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Gameplay: 86

Eye of the North keeps everything Guild Wars had to offer and brings some new additions to the game. These additions will give you that extra that will make you come for more.

Graphics: 87

With a revamped graphical engine, Guild Wars looks at its best. A lot of cinematics have been implemented in Eye of the North which do nothing but to help you understand the story better.

Sound: 86

As always, the music is worth every penny. The voice acting and the sound effects are very good and there is nothing to complain about.

Multiplayer: 87

Lot of players, the lag is as always almost absent, allowing you to taste a beautiful MMO experience.

Hardware: 88

Nothing has changed and the game runs as smooth as always. The constant patching keeps the game at its best. Huuray.