Millennial gamers soaked up the nostalgia and embarked on fresh adventures in a land of orcs, mages and elves Thursday as "World of Warcraft" came back online in China.
Beloved titles from the fantasy epic to shooting game "Overwatch" went offline in China in January 2023 after a contract dispute between the American developer Blizzard and local partner NetEase -- prompting a wave of mourning and anger from fans.
But the two firms reached a new deal this year, announcing the titles would return to Chinese screens sequentially -- starting with "World of Warcraft" (WoW) on 1 August.
And at an internet cafe in the capital Beijing, his fellow gamers tapping furiously on multicoloured keyboards, 35-year-old Wei Jia told AFP he felt "nostalgic" as soon as he had heard that WoW was coming back.
Playing the game, he said, was "like taking a trip down memory lane."
"It was a game that really touched me," he explained. "I would stay up all night for a whole week to play it."
He admitted that his age meant he couldn't "play that hard anymore."
"But I still really like it."
Massively popular worldwide, particularly in the 2000s, WoW is an online multiplayer role-playing game set in a fantasy world where good battles evil.
It is known for its immersive and addictive gameplay, and players can rack up hundreds of hours of game time.
Liu Haoran, a 30-year-old media worker, said he had come to the internet cafe near his office as soon as he heard that WoW was back online.
His fondest memories of the game are the friends he made as he explored the vast, mythical world of Azeroth, he explained, as dragons and other mythical creatures flew past on his screen.
"It's a game I've played for a long time," Liu, who said he started playing WoW in 2004, told AFP.
"I have a lot of real-life friends on it, and I've made a lot of friends playing it. Many of my childhood friends are on it and there are many memories."
'Good memories'
Among those memories are an evening spent with a girl stargazing in Nagrand -- a land traditionally sacred to the orcs -- as well as watching New Year's Eve fireworks with friends in picturesque Stormwind City.
"We would chat and greet each other and spend the New Year's countdown in World of Warcraft," he said.
"There were a lot of good memories like that."
Others had been busy recruiting fellow players for battle ahead of the relaunch.
"In just a few days, we have more than 100 members in our WeChat group and we are all waiting for the Chinese servers to come online," Wang Jing, 44, told AFP over the phone.
"Over the years playing WoW, we have gone from young people to middle-aged people," he said.
"Our children have grown up... and we once again have time and energy to reunite in World of Warcraft and make new friends."
The return of Blizzard titles is a welcome boost for NetEase, which like many of the country's tech giants has had a rough few years after a government crackdown on the industry.
Gamer Wei told AFP he had been "disgusted" with the falling-out between Blizzard and NetEase and that he'd felt "regret" when it went offline.
But he's "happy" it's back.
"Because we can play together again and talk about the past. All in all, it's good."