In the Guild Wars game each campaign can be added on to the existing ones or can be used by itself. Each campaign has its own virtual continent and the continent of Nightfall is known as Elona. In other campaigns the game is played out through characters engaging in player versus player and player versus environment, in Nightfall the game tends more towards player versus environment or PVE.

In Guild Wars Nightfall players can create their character from one of the six core professions in the Prophecies campaign or one of the two professions that are only a feature of Nightfall. The two additional professions in the Guild Wars Nightfall campaign are the Dervish and the Paragon. The Dervish is a holy warrior who uses a scythe and a number of different enchantments to support their cause and vanquish their enemies. They can confuse their enemies by changing themselves to appear as one of the five gods. The Paragon has a spear and plays the part of the battle commander. Paragons wear heavy armor and are able to help their allies by chanting and shouting. The Assasin and the Ritualist from Guild Wars Factions can take part but only where the player has access to the Factions campaign.

Players create their characters who then become members of the Order of the Sunspears, their major aim is to return to the world a god who has been forgotten for a long time. Their opponents Warmashal Varesh’s demons and Vabbi princes. In Guild Wars Nightfall players start out by playing against each other but most of the game takes place through players in combat against their environment. In the preceding campaigns players are helped in their quest by henchmen, the henchmen in this campaign are known as heroes.

Players can direct their heroes and provide them with weapons, armor upgrades and special skills. The player can choose the skills they use set up points on the map that the heroes have to find. Players get their heroes in the act of playing the game and they can then used in both the player versus player and player versus environment fields of the campaign. Guild Wars Nightfall also has a new player versus player arena where players go into combat with each other using their heroes. All players have the ability to acquire heroes but the limit that players can have of these henchmen is three. This campaign also has some new skills that players can unlock for both themselves and their heroes to use. Players only have access to skills from their chosen profession but heroes can have skills from any profession. These are the basic differences between the Nightfall campaign and previous campaigns.