Guild Wars Afterlife is the first major update for the original game in almost 20 years

ArenaNet and co-developer 2Weeks announced Guild Wars Afterlife on November 4, 2026, the first big content update for the original Guild Wars since 2007. It launches on PC and mobile on January 13, 2027.

What Afterlife adds

The headline feature is a dynamic dungeon that reshapes itself after every run. It is paired with a skill-drafting system, so you build a different skill bar each time you go in rather than bringing the same loadout. There is also a new story with new characters and a fresh region called Xotecha.

Afterlife costs $29.99, €29.99 or £25.99. Pre-orders placed before January 13 get 20 percent off.

A long gap for Guild Wars 1

The last major expansion was Eye of the North in August 2007. After that ArenaNet put most of its effort into Guild Wars 2 and simply kept the first game's servers running. Interest has picked up again recently: Guild Wars Reforged, an upgraded version of the original MMO, launched late last year, and a new dungeon in April drew new and returning players.

Three Guild Wars games at once

ArenaNet now supports three games in parallel: Guild Wars Reforged with Afterlife, Guild Wars 2, and the action-focused Guild Wars 3 that is still in development. Eurogamer reads that as confidence in the MMO market.

For long-time players, the shifting dungeon and drafted skill bars are the interesting part, because they give a twenty-year-old build system a reason to be replayed. Mobile support also means the original Guild Wars can be played away from a PC for the first time, which may tempt lapsed players back.

Source: Eurogamer, reporting ArenaNet's announcement.