We got to see more of Guild Wars 3, the upcoming MMORPG from ArenaNet, and here’s everything that got us excited.
Guild Wars 3, the MMORPG follow-up to Guild Wars 2, developed by ArenaNet, has been a long time coming. Guild Wars 2 is one of the most beloved MMORPGs of all time, with years of support that kept its community engaged. Now, ArenaNet is finally getting ready to bring Guild Wars 3 to the masses; its initial unveiling was just a few months ago at Summer Game Fest 2026. We got to attend a preview to see more of the game; here’s what we learned.
The preview was a gameplay slice that was debuted at Gamescom, focusing on gameplay mechanics currently in Alpha. Guild Wars 3 will be playable with both mouse and keyboard and controller, as it marks the first time Guild Wars comes to console on PS5. It acts as a prequel, set long before the events of the first two games so that new players can play without worry. You’re a Veilwarden, the first guild, tasked with keeping the land safe, defending the defenceless.
ArenaNet is focusing a lot on getting movement and combat right. On the movement front, ArenaNet is drilling in on the joy of movement. You can mantle and run up walls, much more agile than most other MMORPGs. We run and jump up a Veilwarden camp, showing off much of the world at large, including the capital city. Momentum is a new major movement feature, where Guild Wars 3 lets you build up speed between movement types, moving fast across the world.
“Momentum is a new major movement feature, where Guild Wars 3 lets you build up speed between movement types, moving fast across the world.”
The player jumped off the mountain, glided down into a valley, and seamlessly landed, rolled, and took off running, keeping the momentum building as you move. Momentum also affects combat. The player then jumped off a rock face to do a slam attack on unsuspecting enemies below. The bigger the drop, the more damage and splash when you hit the ground.
Positioning is important, as you can hit enemies into walls to stun them, but just as easily, enemies can stun you in the same way. The more momentum you have, the harder you hit, and the farther you can send bigger enemies flying back. The bigger the enemy, the harder it is to move them, making momentum critical to combat. Elite skills build up over the course of combat. The player was a warrior, unleashing rage to deal more damage and to knock enemies back harder.
We jump to another area: a destroyed, dark temple. It’s a stark shift from the beautiful and colourful fields we were just in. They summon a sprite to help light the way, and call in backup. Another player arrives, this one a necromancer, and they head in together to the dangerous ruins. They run up on a member of the Mavenwright guild, who don’t follow the ways of the world at large.
The necromancer can jump off the shield the barbarian is holding, sending them flying towards the enemies, gaining momentum for a huge slam when landing. Enemies are sent flying, kicking foes off cliffs, with one player setting them up to the right spot, and the other sending them off. This teamwork extends to the mini-boss ahead, as one player distracts it and another sets off a firebomb on its back.
They then jump to another area, this time with spiders ahead that can slow players. Build craft is important here, using the right skills for the right situations. The warrior lights his weapons, the fire burning away the spiders’ webs. ArenaNet says this focus on build craft harkens back to the original Guild Wars, where being ready for a fight is as important as the actual fight. At this point, you can change skills in the open world, but PVP or dungeons will lock you into a set. This could change Alphae game is in alpha, but for now, that’s how it stands.
Next up was a Q&A, and the creative director was on hand to answer questions. He said players can expect a lot from Guild Wars 3, including a focused single-player campaign, PVP elements, and dungeons. There are a lot fewer loading screens in the world than before, letting you keep momentum without as much stopping. Scale is another focus:e Guild Wars was much smaller,r and Guild Wars 2 had a ton of players on screen. Guild Wars 3 wants the screen real estate to be more meaningful than before, where each player you see on screen has more impact.
“If Guild Wars 3 can deliver on all its promises, it could be one of the greats.”
They went on to clarify that your characters do have stamina, which limits how much you can run up and across walls, glide, and so on, in one go. You won’t be able to run up an entire mountain, for example. Classes will all have the same basic momentum systems, like scaling cliffs, but classes will have more specific skills. Warriors can bomb from the sky; necromancers have a horizontal slash that goes farther and saps health with the more momentum you have. Rangers can shoot enemies from the sky, slowly falling as they shoot more arrows.
Multiplayer can also change things, with the ranger able to summon a polar vortex that adds cold damage to their moves. That vortex stays for a bit, though, so if a warrior runs in and launches up, they also get cold damage, making their bomb to the ground tinged with ice. Guild Wars 3 will have plenty of these interactions, where momentum can change skills, along with your combos with party members.
Another example they gave was that conditions are stackable across the whole party. If one player starts doing cold damage, the entire party will start to see the cold damage build up. Multiple party members can stack cold damage, and when a threshold is crossed, the enemy gets frozen in a block of ice. Another character that has a knock ability can then run in and smack them, sending cold shrapnel to all nearby enemies.
Guild Wars 3 really wants the co-operative nature of MMORPGs to shine through, where every person in the world has fun and doesn’t make the game worse for someone else. Even random players running in can change the flow of battle in a meaningful way.
Everything I saw made me incredibly excited for the potential of Guild Wars 3. The meaningful team-ups, the freedom of momentum and how it impacts both traversal and combat, the world at large – if Guild Wars 3 can deliver on all its promises, it could be one of the greats. Guild Wars 3 doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will come to PC and PS5 in the future.
