Nightfall, the third installment of the Guild Wars series takes players into the Egyptian land of Elona, where a fallen god has been released, and the people must stop it before it destroys everything.

Players then step into the sandals of a Sunspear soldier who works to rise up the ranks to gain recognition. Anyone who played previous Guild War games will be able to jump right into Nightfall. In fact, characters can travel across to different campaigns as long as the player owns them. The core game mechanics are identical. Characters can select one primary and secondary profession. They go out into instanced worlds, where the entire landscape is dedicated to the player's party without anyone else intruding, When venturing out, they are only allowing to bring eight skills with them, making this as much a game of strategy as it is role playing. What sets Nightfall apart, other than its story and setting, are the two unique classes and the hero.

The two new classes include the Dervish and the Paragon. Both are unique to Nightfall, and can't be created through any other Guild Wars game. The Dervish is a scythe wielding holy warrior that specializes in using different enchantments, and it's not unusual for them to have more than one enchantment running at the same time. These skills usually do area damage, making them the ideal fighters inside tight groups. Additionally, many of these enchantments have one effect while active, and one last effect when they end such as adding extra health or doing a circle of damage. One skill the Dervish gets early on will prematurely stop a random enchantment, allowing players the opportunity to strategically select when they might want a post-enchantment effect to occur.

While the Dervish may specialize in up close combat, the Paragon serves as the perfect counterpart. This spear-throwing profession is similar to the Ranger except that it can carry shields and has less range than a bow. The Paragon's primary role within a group is to act as support. Through a series of chants and shouts, Paragons can heal and protect allies, allow them to do special damage (like fire), and even resurrect them. Initially, they are not as powerful as Monks, but Paragon powers are based on the number of people who are within shouting distance. So, the more players that are on the team, the more powerful the Paragon's skills become. Both of these new professions can be combined with the six main classes that came with first campaign (Fighter, Ranger, Monk, Necromancer, Mesmer and Elementalist). In PvP, they may be combined with the unique classes from Factions, so it's possible for players to have that Dervish Assassin people have always wanted. Also, PvP weapons now include "inscriptions," which can be unlocked in the role-playing portion of Nightfall, allowing players to custom design their PvP weapons.

What makes Nightfall's gameplay unique is the new hero system. For the first time, players will have fully customized computer controlled characters at their side. Unlike henchmen, which can be hired at any town or outpost, these heroes will level up alongside players, use items and skills the player assigns them, and can even pick up secondary professions. If a player unlocks a skill for their hero, and they share the same profession, they unlock those skills for themselves too. Heroes are optional, and can be left out of a mission. Later on, if the player out levels the hero, this unit will gain extra experience bonuses until it manages to close the gap. These heroes can even be taken into PvP. Players can control up to three different heroes at the same time, commanding their movements through an add-on to the game's compass. This feature is probably one of the best reasons to pick up Nightfall, because the control mechanism applies to all Guild Wars campaigns. Although the hero feature can only be found in Nightfall, characters in other campaigns can use the feature to move henchmen around. Rangers and Necromancers can use it to strategically place their pets. Once players get used to using it, there can be no going back.