WoW player impressively recreates WotLK in Unreal Engine 5, misses actual Wrath Classic launch

A boat glides across icy waters towards WoW Classic's WotLK expansion
(Image credit: Blizzard)

A World of Warcraft fan is recreating the entirety of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in Unreal Engine 5, keeping them busy enough to miss the launch of Wrath Classic itself. 

Reddit user Majusbeh has shared a peep at what they've created so far to YouTube (below) and Reddit, leaving WoW fans fantasising over a proper remaster once more. You've got some sweeping shots of iconic vistas and even some gameplay of Majusbeh's orc going about their business. Riot Games president Marc Merrill has even shown up to ask the creator if they're looking for a job. 

Majusbeh explains on the WoW Classic subreddit that the project was initially supposed to be a small summertime endeavour designed to help them get to grips with Unreal Engine 5. Three months later, it looks like the plan has changed. At the time of writing, Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend are "in-game and running", and you can expect more behind-the-scenes videos to be released soon. "Was it worth it? I don't think so, but I'll let you decide," they say.

As for how they did it, Majusbeh explains that it's a mishmash of creating new assets and using existing ones from content packs and from WoW Classic or the base game. As such, the project won't ever be available for download, though you'll get to eyeball it plenty.

In other news, Wrath Classic looks to be off to a popular, if rocky start. Much like the pre-patch, WoW Classic queues soared when the new Wrath of the Lich King servers launched. You could also see the popularity of the expansion if you boarded the boat to Darkshore, packed into the vessel like sardines in a tin as your frames dipped.

If you think that's impressive, this World of Warcraft player won the race to the new Wrath Classic level cap using a decade-old bug.

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Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.