Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans

Warcraft is one of the biggest names in the games industry today due to the success of the strategy game series and the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. Each game added life to the Warcraft universe and shed some light to the events that shaped the gameworld. One Warcraft game never hit the shelves though, and was left nearly forgotten beneath all the glory that WoW created - Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans.

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans trailer

Plot

The game was a point-and-click, adventure game set in Azeroth following the events that happened in Warcraft II games. Starring an orc named Thrall, its plot centered around his plans to free the surviving orcs from the oppressive humans and reunite the remaining clans.

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans gameplay

Cancellation

Warcraft Adventures was originally planned for release in the 4th quarter of 1997. However, technical difficulties and problems with the outsourcing, third-party animation studio delayed its release. On May 22, 1998, days before the Electronic Entertainment Expo, Blizzard officially canceled the game after more than 1 year of development. Critics hinted that the decreasing popularity of the Adventure genre led to the demise of the game. There were also rumors that the producers backed out because of competing titles in the same genre (Monkey Island III and Grim Fandango). In Blizzard's own words though:

The decision centered around the level of value that we want to give our customers. In essence, it was a case of stepping up and really proving to ourselves and gamers that we will not sell out on the quality of our games.

Thrall's adventures were never lost. The game's story was written into a novel of the same title by Star Trek novelist Christie Golden. And Thrall reappeared in the next Warcraft game, Reign of Chaos as one of the main characters.