Guild Wars 2, Season 3 statue of Jormag screenshot

After a rather long break from any sort of meaningful updates ArenaNet launched Guild Wars 2's Living World Season 3 story campaign back in July. A couple of months have passed since then, but their pace has not slowed down in the slightest, and as such I am glad to announce that Episode 3: A Crack in the Ice is now available!

If you're wondering what "A Crack in the Ice" is all about, both in terms of story and in terms of shiny new items you can collect, ArenaNet has prepared a brief preview video going just that. Have a look, and don't worry about spoilers, there's very little new lore in here:

And as an added bonus for my fellow fans of Fractals, "A Crack in the Ice" brought with it a brand new Nightmare Fractal! It features a bunch of new bosses and encounters, a toxic Tower of Nightmare full of traps and pitfalls, but also a variety of new mechanics inspired by the "bullet hell" genre of shoot 'em ups. I haven't had the chance to try it out myself, but anything that puts the focus on Guild Wars 2's more action-orientated elements is a welcome addition in my book!

Episode 3 is already live and available for everyone that owns Heart of Thorns, so feel free to log in at any time and give it a spin. Then again, you might not want to wait for too long because the episode is only going to be free for a couple of weeks, after which you will need to pay with Gems in order to access it. On the positive side, even if you don't feel like playing Guild Wars 2 right now, all you need to do is log in and press the shiny green star - this will permanently unlock Episode 3 for your account. And on a final note, here's two images showing off some of the cooler enemies you'll get to fight:

Guild Wars 2: Season 3 Toxic Wurm screenshot

Guild Wars 2 screenshot showing off a robotic monstrostiy