Remember how much Grixsnak the Slayer wanted to kill you in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor? Or how badly Turg Rattlebreak desired your head on a pike? Thanks to the free Nemesis Forge update for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, those dirty rotten scoundrels can follow you to the upcoming sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Man, you must’ve really pissed off Hoog the Undying for him to travel all the way over to another game just to deal with you.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is currently on sale for $4 on Steam, Xbox, and the PlayStation digital stores. Middle-earth: Shadow of War will launch on October 10th.
One of the most satisfying things about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was meeting some low-level scrub orc, Gutterbum the Wretched, barely good enough to wear rags and carry a stick into battle, then bumping into him ten hours later as Gutterbum the Almighty, encased in the finest armor, wielding a mighty sword, and commanding a throng of minions. That was your handiwork. You forged Gutterbum in the crucible of your making. You raised him up from a nothing to a somebody as you tore around Monolith’s open world brawler. There was an odd sense of pride in seeing that orc again, now made formidable thanks to your own choices. He might kill you, but you made him that good, darn it!
Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the upcoming sequel, brings back the vaunted Nemesis System that made enemies grow with the player, but Monolith has expanded the way it works. Captured and turned bad guys will also evolve depending on the player’s actions. That’s not always going to be a positive thing, however. As the game’s creative director, Michael de Plater explained to PC Gamer, these allies may even grow out of their relationship with you. Their stories will have more meat on them compared to the first game’s rather generic buddies.
“We’ll say what’s a good story: does that begin with burning someone to death, or failing to rescue them in a mission so it makes for a betrayal, or you revive them so they feel loyal? What’s a good story? From that story we can mix and match different elements, whether it’s the writing, or what his fighting style is, or if he’s going to betray you. We’re always trying to make these really emotional, powerful stories.”
Middle-earth: Shadow of War launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in August 2017.
GameInformer has announced their next cover story and chock full of Tolkien. Monolith Productions and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is bringing us Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for current and next-gen platforms. You’ll play a ranger – no, not Aragorn – this is a prequel! You get some guy named Talion as he treks across Mordor, presumably fighting orcs and questing for some hard-to-pronounce thingamabob.
The Nemesis System assures that every enemy you fight is a named foe, and if they survive their battle with you, they continue to grow, improve, and act in the world, even as you attempt to do the same with Talion.
Sounds promising! I can’t wait to fight some orc with a lot of consonants in his name again and again.
