Blizzard launches new Warcraft III: Reforged campaign after more than 20 years

Blizzard pulled a surprise out of its hat for Warcraft III fans during BlizzCon 2026. More than twenty years after The Frozen Throne, the classic real-time strategy game has received a completely new official campaign. It’s called Forsaken Kingdom, it runs for roughly 30 hours, and existing Warcraft III: Reforged owners can pick it up for around €30. A few extra missions would have been news on their own. Blizzard went much further. Forsaken Kingdom includes a prologue, three main chapters and close to an hour of new in-game cinematics. Its story sits between Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and the opening era of World of Warcraft, filling in a period centred on Sylvanas Windrunner and the rise of the Forsaken.

Lordaeron gets another campaign

The campaign opens with The Last Days of Lordaeron, a prologue set around Arthas Menethil’s return home as a death knight. Players revisit the fall of Capital City from a different perspective, following defenders caught in the collapse rather than replaying the old missions beat for beat.

From there, the focus moves to the undead who escape the Lich King’s control. Sylvanas takes centre stage as the Forsaken begin securing territory across Lordaeron and building their own faction.

Familiar names turn up throughout the campaign. Arthas, Kel’Thuzad, Varimathras and Baron Rivendare appear alongside new characters, with Andorhal, Stratholme and the future Undercity forming part of the story.

For anyone coming from World of Warcraft, much of this territory will be familiar. Forsaken Kingdom uses Warcraft III’s RTS format to cover events sitting between the end of The Frozen Throne and the version of the Forsaken seen in Blizzard’s MMO.

It isn’t a standard Warcraft III campaign

There’s plenty of base building and army management here, but Forsaken Kingdom doesn’t stick to the old mission template for its full running time. Some sections borrow from The Founding of Durotar, the RPG-heavy bonus campaign from The Frozen Throne. Larger areas give players room to explore, pick up equipment and develop heroes with deeper progression systems. Expanded inventories play a bigger role, and several missions put more attention on individual characters than on building a huge army.

It still plays as Warcraft III. Real-time combat remains central, units need managing and battles can grow large. The campaign spends more time on exploration, hero growth and quest-style objectives. A neutral Forsaken Paladin hero joins the mix too, giving the new material another gameplay wrinkle beyond its story missions.

Reforged gets a major update at the same time

Forsaken Kingdom is paid content, but its release comes alongside a large update for Warcraft III: Reforged. Existing owners get the Definitive Edition changes without buying the campaign. Blizzard has reworked parts of the presentation, performance and interface, added music, updated the World Editor and raised the unit selection limit to 24.

Reforged first launched in January 2020 as Blizzard’s modern version of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne. Warcraft III itself arrived in 2002, bringing undead and night elves in as full factions alongside humans and orcs. Hero units added experience levels, abilities and equipment to the familiar RTS structure.

The Frozen Throne followed in 2003 with new units, heroes and campaigns. It continued the stories of Arthas, Illidan and Sylvanas, and its events fed directly into World of Warcraft, released a year later.

Forsaken Kingdom bridges two Warcraft games

This is where the new campaign fits. The Frozen Throne showed Sylvanas breaking free from the Lich King and forming the Forsaken, but much of the faction’s next chapter happened away from Warcraft III. By the opening period of World of Warcraft, the Forsaken had established the Undercity and become a major faction in Azeroth.

Forsaken Kingdom covers more of the missing stretch. Players see the group secure its position in Lordaeron, develop its identity and move closer to the status it holds in the MMO. Blizzard has tied the campaign into its wider plans for Warcraft too. Forsaken Kingdom leads into World of Warcraft: Forever, scheduled for 4 November 2026, with the new MMO story picking up soon after the campaign’s events.

For Warcraft III itself, the headline is simpler. A game first released in 2002 has a new official campaign in 2026. It’s a substantial one too: roughly 30 hours of single-player content, new cinematics, new characters and a bigger RPG influence than many of the original missions. Forsaken Kingdom requires Warcraft III: Reforged and costs around €30 for existing owners.

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