Middle-earth: Shadow of War picks up where Shadow of Mordor left off. The Gondorian Ranger Talion and Celebrimbor, the wraith of the Elven smith who forged the Rings of Power, walk into Mount Doom and forge a new Ring of their own, one that owes nothing to Sauron. With it they mean to raise an army from Mordor's own orcs and take the Dark Lord's Fortresses from the inside. Monolith Productions built this open-world action RPG around the Nemesis System, the enemies-who-remember-you idea that made the first game famous, and expanded it into something that runs a whole region's worth of orc politics.
Nothing Will Be Forgotten
The Nemesis System is the reason people still talk about these games. Every orc captain is generated with a name, a tribe, a personality, strengths, weaknesses and a set of grudges, and the game keeps track of every encounter you have with him. Kill a captain and someone rises to fill the gap. Die to one and he is promoted, and the next time you meet he has something to say about it. Shame him instead of killing him and he might drop a level and come back looking for revenge, or lose his mind entirely.
Shadow of War pushes this much further than its predecessor. Captains you dominate become followers with loyalty of their own: some will take a blade for you, some refuse to stay dead, and some are simply waiting for the right moment to betray you. A blood brother turns up to avenge the friend you killed. An orc you were sure was finished walks back into the story with a metal plate where half his face used to be. None of it is scripted. The stories are yours, and the game never lets you forget them.
Take the Fortresses, Then Hold Them
Every region of Mordor is ruled from a Fortress, and every Fortress is held by an Overlord and his Warchiefs. Taking one is the centrepiece of the game. First you work the region: dominate captains, send them to infiltrate a Warchief's bodyguard or challenge him outright, and build the army you will need. Then you pick your siege upgrades, from sappers to siege beasts and drakes, and march on the walls with your captains beside you while the defenders answer with poison pits, fire and beasts of their own.
Once the Overlord falls, the Fortress is yours. You choose who sits on the throne, which captains guard it and how it is fortified, because the enemy will be back to take it. Each of the seven tribes, Machine, Marauder, Warmonger, Feral, Dark, Mystic and Terror, brings its own look, its own tricks and its own defences to a garrison, and the choices you make change how a region looks and fights.
Five Regions of Mordor
- Minas Ithil
- The Gondorian city where the story opens, already under siege by the Witch-king's army. Talion fights beside Captain Baranor and Idril to hold the walls, and the city's fall into Minas Morgul sets everything that follows in motion.
- Cirith Ungol
- Shelob's mountain pass and the orc stronghold built into it. Its tunnels and cliff paths suit the stealth side of the game, and the Ringwraiths are never far behind you here.
- Núrnen
- The green shore of the Sea of Núrnen, watched over by the nature spirit Carnán. It looks nothing like the Mordor of the films, and its forests and ruins are thick with Caragors and Graugs waiting to be broken.
- Seregost
- A frozen fortress in the mountains and the hunting ground of the Balrog Tar Goroth. Snow, cliffs and drakes make it the harshest region to move through and one of the most satisfying to take.
- Gorgoroth
- The ash plain in the shadow of Mount Doom, where Sauron's power is strongest and his best captains are stationed. The war for Mordor comes to a head here, and nothing you built in the other four regions goes to waste.
Fight Like the Bright Lord
Talion fights with sword, dagger and bow, and with the wraith abilities Celebrimbor lends him, and the game gives you a lot of room to decide how those pieces fit together.
- Six skill trees, Combat, Predator, Ranged, Wraith, Mounted and Story, each with upgrades you can swap in and out. A stealthy Talion who drains captains from the shadows plays very differently from one who rides a Graug straight into a war camp.
- Gear with real consequences. Every captain you kill drops equipment tied to his tribe, legendary sets carry their own bonuses, and gems slotted into swords, bows and armour push a build further. Some pieces only reach their full strength once you complete a challenge with them.
- Mounts worth the effort. Caragors, Graugs and drakes can all be broken and ridden, and a drake breathing fire across a Fortress wall changes the shape of a siege in a hurry.
- Wraith powers that grow with the Ring. Shadow Strike across a courtyard, slow time mid-leap for a bow shot, or Dominate a whole war party and walk away with a new bodyguard.
This is the standard edition of Middle-earth: Shadow of War, with the full campaign across all five regions, every Fortress and the Shadow Wars that follow the main story. Sauron's armies are waiting, and every orc inside those walls is about to learn your name. Pick up the Ring, choose your first captain, and find out who remembers you.
