Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans

Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans is a cancelled graphic adventure game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and Animation Magic from 1996 until 1998. Set in the Warcraft universe after the events of Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, it followed the orc character Thrall in his quest to reunite his race, then living on reservations and in slavery following its defeat by the human Alliance. Assuming the role of Thrall, the player would have used a point-and-click interface to explore the world, solve puzzles and interact with characters from the wider Warcraft series.

Warcraft Adventures was conceived in late 1996, when Blizzard's sister company Capitol Multimedia suggested that the Warcraft license might be suited to an adventure game. Blizzard co-developed the project with Animation Magic, a subdivision of Capitol responsible for the CD-i games from The Legend of Zelda series. The team opted for a conservative design approach influenced by LucasArts adventure games such as The Dig and Full Throttle. Blizzard struggled to adapt to the adventure genre, and delayed Warcraft Adventures past its original release date of late 1997. Game designer Steve Meretzky was hired to revise the project in February 1998, resulting in a plan to edit and improve the nearly-completed game with minimal changes to its art. Meretzky's plan went largely unused, as Blizzard determined that its implementation would lead to excessive delays. Instead, the project was canceled in May 1998, after roughly 18 months of work.

Warcraft Adventures received significant pre-release attention from the gaming public and press, and the decision to cancel it was met with fan backlash and critical disappointment. Despite the game's cancellation, its story was adapted into the novel Warcraft: Lord of the Clans (2001) by Christie Golden, and was the basis for Blizzard's real-time strategy game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Elements of the game later influenced World of Warcraft and the 2016 film Warcraft. A nearly-finished version of the game was leaked online in September 2016. Reviewing the leaked version, critics generally praised its visuals, but several found its design uninspired.