Middle-earth: Shadow of War

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Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a 2017

Elf Lord Celebrimbor, as they forge a new Ring of Power to amass an army to fight against Sauron
. The game builds upon the "nemesis system" introduced in Shadow of Mordor, allowing Talion to gain followers from several races of Middle-earth and command them in warfare.

Shadow of War expanded on the scope of Shadow of Mordor by introducing new game mechanics and extending the nemesis system, which procedurally generates orc characters for players to fight and recruit. Compared to its predecessor, the game features more light-hearted moments, and the five regions were designed to be bigger and more colorful. Locations in the game were inspired by the landscapes of eastern Washington, Alaska, and Iceland. Troy Baker returned to provide the voice of Talion, while simultaneously serving as the game's motion capture director. Other cast members include Alastair Duncan as Celebrimbor, Laura Bailey, and Pollyanna McIntosh.

Announced in March 2017, the game was released worldwide for

Windows, and Xbox One on October 10, 2017. Shadow of War had a generally favorable reception from critics, albeit more mixed than its predecessor. Reviewers praised the gameplay and improved nemesis system, while criticizing the game's microtransactions
(which was removed in a post-game update in July 2018) and story, including changes to characters seen in Tolkien's books. Many critics noted that the game's increased scope caused it to feel bloated. The game was the best-selling video game in the United States in its month of release. Monolith supported the game post-launch with free updates and two story expansions.

Gameplay

In this gameplay screenshot, protagonist Talion is exploring Seregost, one of the five open world regions in the game.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an

health.[1][2] When an enemy is about to strike Talion, a symbol will appear on top of their head, signaling the player to parry their attacks. Unblockable attacks are highlighted in red, and the player must try to dodge those attacks.[3] In addition to melee combat, players can also utilize stealth tactics when approaching their targets.[4] Talion also has unique abilities provided by the wraith of the elf lord Celebrimbor, with whom he shares his body. Through Celebrimbor, Talion can perform magical feats such as double-jumping, activating wraith vision to highlight nearby enemies, shooting spirit arrows, wielding a spectral glaive, draining an enemy's health, or dominating them. Players must use their combined abilities to complete various missions, typically aimed to disrupt the armies of Sauron. As players progress in the game and complete story quests, they will gradually gain points to unlock new skills and abilities. Each skill can be individually upgraded to provide more gameplay perks and bonuses.[5]

The game features a currency called "mirian", which is earned by defeating enemies. Mirian can be used to purchase weaponry and other gear, as well as followers, in the game's market.[6] Talion has access to five different types of gear in his inventory: a sword, a dagger, a bow, armor, and a cloak. The effectiveness of a particular piece of gear is dictated by both its stat and its rarity, which is categorized into: common, rare, epic, and legendary. Players can spend the mirian and finish "unlock challenges" in order to upgrade their weapons. In addition, gems can be slotted into Talion's gear. They can be used to either increase weapon's damage, Talion's health, or the amount of mirian Talion will gain through defeating enemies or completing quests. Several lower-quality gems can be combined into a gem of the next-higher quality. As players progress in the game, they will collect legendary gear. When multiple legendary gear of the same set are collected, combat bonuses will be granted to players.[7]

Shadow of War is made up of five different areas, which Talion can

endgame content known as "Shadow Wars" (renamed to "Epilogue" in July 2018), in which players must defend their fortresses against hostile enemies 20 times before unlocking the game's bonus ending.[12]

Nemesis system

The nemesis system expands upon its introduction in

level. Players cannot recruit orcs who have a higher level than Talion.[17] A shamed enemy may also become a "maniac", a deranged individual whose level will increase significantly.[14]

Shadow of War's nemesis system also extends to Talion's followers as he gradually builds his own orc army, which can be summoned to the battlefield, assisting Talion in combat. Players can recruit a captain and send them to infiltrate a fortress. They may be appointed as the bodyguard of a warchief, allowing said captain to betray the warchief in a subsequent mission. Following the death of a warchief, captains will battle each other for the position. Players will then unlock a Nemesis mission, allowing players to assist Talion's followers in battle to ensure their success. These warchiefs will then betray the overlord during fortress assault battles, thus making the fortress siege easier for Talion. There are a number of Nemesis missions, allowing Talion to perform tasks like exacting revenge on a captain who has previously killed him, or intervening in conflicts between orcs.[10] Friendly orcs will also remember a specific encounter, saving Talion when he was about to be killed by a hostile captain, or attempting to take down a specific enemy captain on his own.[18] Friendly orcs can also participate in fight pits, in which they battle another orc to death in order to earn gear and level up.[19][20] However, friendly followers may also betray Talion.[21] The player is able to transfer their top Nemesis and their most loyal follower from Shadow of Mordor into Shadow of War through the Nemesis Forge.[22]

The game features two asynchronous multiplayer modes. In Online Vendetta missions, players can enter another player's nemesis system to defeat their nemesis. Once another player's nemesis has been defeated, players would receive a loot chest and "Spoils of War", Vendetta's form of

experience.[10] "Social Conquest mode" allows players to invade other players' fortresses and attempt to conquer them. This mode has two settings: friendly and ranked. Friendly allows players to invade someone's fortresses, without the risk of losing their army. Ranked, on the other hand, allows players to invade, but with a risk of losing some of their own orc followers permanently.[23] When the game was released, players could purchase reward chests through the game's marketplace. This included Loot Chests that provide players with gear and consumables, War chests that unlock followers and training orders that improve a follower's attributes, and "Spoils of War Chests" that unlock high-level followers.[10] In July 2018, the marketplace and all forms of microtransactions were completely removed from the game.[24]

Plot

Troy Baker provided the voice for Talion, the game's protagonist. He also served as the game's motion capture director.

Shadow of War continues the narrative from Shadow of Mordor, following undead ranger Talion (

Minas Ithil. The city is under siege by Sauron's forces, due to the city's possession of a valuable Palantír
that allows whoever possesses it to see anything they wish, making it either a valuable tool for Celebrimbor or a powerful weapon for Sauron.

Talion travels to Minas Ithil and is at odds with Celebrimbor. Talion wants to help his fellow Gondorians, while Celebrimbor believes the city is already lost and the retrieval of the Palantír must take priority. Talion reasons that protecting Minas Ithil will protect the Palantír, and he meets up with the city's defenders: General Castamir (

Elven assassin working on behalf of Galadriel (Jennifer Hale). The Witch-king, having seized Minas Ithil, renames it Minas Morgul. With the Palantír, Sauron realizes that Shelob is holding Celebrimbor's Ring and sends the Nazgûl
to attack her. Talion is able to save Shelob, who returns the Ring to him and tells him that the fate of Middle-earth is in his hands.

With the Ring back in his possession, Talion begins to use its power to dominate orcs and build his army. During this time, he assists Idril and Baranor in rescuing Gondorian survivors, helps the nature spirit Carnan (Toks Olagundoye) defeat the Balrog Tar Goroth and the necromancer Zog (Nolan North), is betrayed by one of his followers, and hunts the Nazgûl alongside Eltariel. Talion builds up enough strength to assault Sauron's fortress directly. During the battle, Talion faces Isildur (Nolan North), who has been corrupted into a Nazgûl. Talion manages to defeat Isildur, but upon seeing his memories of how he was corrupted by the One Ring, decides to destroy Isildur and release his spirit rather than dominate him. Celebrimbor remarks angrily that Isildur would have been a valuable asset to their cause, leading Talion to realize that Celebrimbor wishes to replace Sauron by dominating him rather than destroying him. Talion refuses to follow Celebrimbor's orders any more, causing the wraith to abandon him and possess Eltariel instead.

Without Celebrimbor or the Ring, Talion begins to die before seeing a vision of Shelob. She informs him that if he had gone on to fight Sauron, they would have succeeded and Celebrimbor would have enslaved Sauron and marched on the rest of Middle-earth. She implores Talion to continue to fight to contain the darkness within Mordor. Deciding to put his fate in his own hands, Talion picks up the ring Isildur was wearing to preserve his own life. He uses the power of Isildur's Ring to assault and seize Minas Morgul, defeating the Witch-king in the process. Talion takes possession of the Palantír and observes Celebrimbor and Eltariel making their assault on Sauron. The latter two manage to gain the upper hand and Celebrimbor attempts to dominate Sauron, only for Sauron to cut off two of Eltariel's fingers, one of which is adorned with the Ring of Power, and merge himself with Celebrimbor. As a result, Sauron and Celebrimbor remain trapped in Sauron's tower in the form of a flaming eye as their spirits continue to battle each other for dominance. Knowing he will not be able to resist the Ring, Talion decides to use Minas Morgul as a fortress to keep Sauron's forces contained in Mordor as long as he can.

Decades later, Talion succumbs to the corruption of Isildur's Ring, and joins Sauron's forces as a Nazgûl, where he goes with the others to hunt Frodo and the One Ring. However, with the destruction of Sauron and the One Ring, Talion dies with the rest of the Nazgûl, and his spirit is freed. He is last seen on the shores of Valinor discarding his weapons and armor as he walks off into the west.

Blade of Galadriel

Following the final battle between Celebrimbor and Sauron, Eltariel recovers Celebrimbor's Ring, and receives orders from Galadriel to continue hunting the remaining Nazgûl, including Talion. Eltariel reluctantly confronts Talion, who manages to convince her that by working together, they can keep Sauron's influence contained within Mordor. However, he informs her that a new warchief is leading a massive army and has attacked many of his fortresses. Talion tasks Eltariel with defending one of his remaining forts while he goes to defend another fort in Seregost. Eltariel manages to recruit several new tribes of orcs to fight for her and she successfully defends her fort from enemy attack, though Seregost falls. A pair of rogue Nazgûl arrive, revealing they are the ones leading the new orc army, as they plan to take advantage of Sauron and the Witch-king's weakness to take over Middle-earth. After recapturing Seregost, Eltariel and Talion pursue the Nazgûl twins to their stronghold, where Eltariel is able to defeat both of them. Despite their defeat, Talion begins to succumb to the temptation of Isildur's Ring, forcing Eltariel to battle him. Though Eltariel is victorious, Talion tells her that he will inevitably be resurrected by Sauron. Afterwards, Eltariel continues to battle the forces of Mordor until she witnesses the destruction of the One Ring. Upon seeing Celebrimbor's spirit freed from Sauron, Eltariel decides to track him down.

Desolation of Mordor

After the fall of Minas Ithil, Baranor seeks to hire mercenaries to help him seize the fortress of Shindram. On the way, he is attacked by

Gorgoroth
will be their next target.

Development

After the success of

Terminator 2 to Terminator."[26] Monolith upgraded their game engine, named LithTech, from Shadow of Mordor, to the Firebird engine, which can support large-scale battles and more complex features in the nemesis system.[27]

The team wanted the game's story to "evoke some of the most iconic and epic elements" in

Fellowship of the Ring, the team believed that they could fill in some missing details without impacting the wider story depicted in Tolkien's novels, as this period was relatively less explored in fiction.[28] The team further compared the game to the Star Wars movie Rogue One, whereby the story of Shadow of War would lead into the events of The Lord of the Rings.[29] The story was also designed to be accessible, and players need not play Shadow of Mordor or understand any of the Tolkien's work before playing Shadow of War.[29] The "Shadow Wars" endgame mode was created with the intention of giving players more reasons to continue playing the game and explore the nemesis system after they complete the main story. The team expected only a small percentage of players to unlock this final ending.[25]

Talion returned as the game's central protagonist. The game's narrative follows a three-act structure, and provides a definitive ending to Talion's story that begins in Shadow of Mordor.[30][31] According to de Plater, while Talion inherited the heroic traits of Boromir, he is ultimately an everyman like Samwise Gamgee.[32] Troy Baker returned to provide voice for Talion, while also serving as the motion capture director for all story sequences in the game. Baker drew from his experience working with Naughty Dog on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End while working on the project, while working closely with the game's writers and cutscenes directors.[33] In addition to Baker, Alastair Duncan returned to voice Celebrimbor.[34] In the game, Celebrimbor is an ambitious "figure of power", one who believes that he can be better than Sauron, once he takes the ring.[32] The team wanted to take players to areas outside of Mordor and have Talion meet other new characters. New members of the cast include Laura Bailey, who played the role of Eltariel, an elven assassin working for Galadriel who fights to keep the Nazgûl within Mordor.[35] Pollyanna McIntosh voiced Shelob, a spider who can shapeshift into a human woman in the game.[36] While this decision was initially met with a backlash from fans of the series as Shelob is not a woman in the books, writer Tony Elias added that they could explore the character in a much more in-depth manner when she was in her human form, or they would have to dramatically reduce her role in the game.[37]

Volcanoes in eastern Washington were one of the inspirations for the locations in the game.

The team tried to devote resources to new regions as much as possible.

engines of war and factories.[41] The nemesis system also influences the world itself, with each environment changing depending on the tribe of the orc overlord controlling each fortress.[38]

Development of the nemesis system

Monolith aimed to improve the nemesis system by increasing the emotional intensity and variety of the emergent stories.[25] Lead designer Chris Hoge explained that the best relationship between Talion and orcs is similar to a roller coaster, one that is filled with "ups and downs". He added that the more trouble an orc caused to the player, the more rewarding it would be for players when they eliminate that orc later in the game. This created a "revenge loop", where the player needs to know how to exploit an orc's weakness and break the loop. The game introduced a system named "player interaction score" (PIS), which tracks how much players interact with each individual orc in the game. The orc that a player interacts with the most is more likely to "cheat death" as they return to life to taunt the player. Certain orc archetypes were designed to appear only once per game. For instance, an orc with "the Claw" title is one whose arm has been dismembered by Talion, but nonetheless returns to face Talion with a metal prosthetic. According to Hoge, the dialogues and the in-game text were written to be "as natural and shareable as possible", so that players would share these personalized moments with their friends.[42]

The team wanted enemy encounters to be challenging and varied. Compared with the enemy traits in Shadow of Mordor, traits in Shadow of War were more predictable, making them less likely to be completely undefeatable. This was achieved through the tribal affiliations of each orc, as each tribe has their own unique appearance and preferred approaches to combat. In addition, the team also significantly expanded Talion's combat skills, and introduced an "easy" difficulty mode to avoid frustrating players who are less competent.[25] Monolith also curated content in the nemesis system, removing boring scenarios, while handcrafting certain scenes that the team wanted to happen in the procedural generation.[43] While the nemesis system has been significantly expanded, the game remained a third-person action-adventure title. The team did not want players to over-strategize. The nemesis system was described as a "story-generating machine", but its calculations are not fully revealed to players.[28][44]

To rectify a situation in Shadow of Mordor where competent players would rarely be killed by enemies and therefore never get to explore the nemesis system, Shadow of War's system will track a player's gameplay style and have enemies adapt to these tactics, making for a more challenging experience. The system was designed to track the player's progress and send a particular type of enemy after the player. This was designed to ensure that all types of players, regardless of their competency in the game, would get to experience the nemesis system, and create a nemesis that is "personable" and "memorable".[45] The nemesis system was also expanded to include Talion's followers. A personal story for each orc continues after they have been recruited, as they will rescue Talion in his dying moments, deliver gifts to him, and sometimes betray him.[42] According to de Plater, this allowed the nemesis system to further tell stories about "loyalty, betrayal and friendship", a process that does not necessarily include being killed by a hostile orc.[28] By having orcs betray Talion, players are also given a target for revenge. When playtesting the game, the nemesis system sometimes generated unexpected results. Instead of correcting these issues, the team instead embraced these results and wrote extra dialogues for such outcomes.[46]

Monolith strived to give each orc their own unique personality.

ringwraiths.[31] The Olog-Hai was a group of smart trolls created specifically for the game; their design was inspired by the super-soldiers from Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.[29]

Release

Shadow of War was officially announced by Monolith Productions and publisher

top-down perspective, where players can recruit characters from the console/PC versions of the game and other characters from its predecessor and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy to fight Sauron's forces in small-scale battles.[51]

On March 3, 2016, Monolith's executive producer, Michael David Forgey, died of cancer. To commemorate the loss of Shadow of War's executive producer, Monolith, and Warner Bros. announced a downloadable content (DLC) named "Forthog Orc-Slayer". Originally selling for $5, Warner Bros. promised to donate $3.50 of the proceeds from each sale of the DLC made from any of the majority of the U.S. states[52] to the Forgey family through December 31, 2019.[53] Warner Bros. was criticized for attempting to cash in on Forgey's death.[54] Following a public backlash, on September 27, 2017, the DLC was made free to all who purchased the game and all proceeds were refunded to those who purchased it beforehand, in favor of Warner Bros. making a lump sum donation to the Forgey family.[55]

The game was released alongside an expansion pass, which grants players access to several pieces of

Steam users in August 2018.[60]

Reception

Middle-earth: Shadow of War received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to

lootboxes (war chests) were widely criticized by critics.[66][70][69] Commercially, Shadow of War was the best-selling video game in the US in October 2017, with sales being 20% higher than its predecessor.[72] In the UK, it was the second best-selling video game in its week of release, behind FIFA 18.[73]

The nemesis system was often singled out as the highlight of the game. Matt Miller from Game Informer described Shadow of War as "a playground of intense and emergent action scenes" shaped by player's choices. He was impressed by the variety of orcs he encountered in the game, and wrote that interacting with them through the game's nemesis missions helped deepen players' engagement with the game's world.[65] Hurley also enjoyed the nemesis system for creating personalized stories on top of the main narrative, noting that each encounter with an orc may potentially develop into a unique story depending on players' decisions.[67] Stapleton praised how the nemesis system generated numerous colorful characters and adversaries, with each having their own voice and appearance. He further applauded the system for introducing a layer of surprise and unpredictability to the game.[68] PC Gamer's Andy Kelly described the nemesis system as the "best part" of Shadow of War. The tribal systems was singled out for producing orcs that feel like "distinct, original characters, therefore, making the relationships forged with them more "personal".[69] Christian Donlan from Eurogamer praised the nemesis system for making the game's world feel "wonderfully, comically, teeteringly alive".[74] However, several critics questioned the morality behind building an orc army by essentially brainwashing and enslaving them.[75][76][77]

The combat of the game received critical acclaim. Matt Miller from

GamesRadar, also enjoyed the upgrade system for significantly deepening the "simple" yet "effective" counter-based combat system. He remarked that each combat scenario could be different due to the unique traits of each orc, forcing players to improvise and adapt.[67] Dan Stapleton from IGN praised Talion's agility, calling the transversal options "quick and fun". Fortress assault was praised by critics for being epic in scale,[66] though Stapleton was disappointed by the lack of planning and strategy involved.[68] Johnny Chiodini from Eurogamer wrote that the game often overwhelmed players with upgrade points and skills, causing the gameplay experience to be relatively easy. As a result, this undermined the nemesis system, as he had never encountered a "nemesis" character that caused him significant trouble or could repeatedly kill his Talion.[78]

The story of the game received generally negative reviews. Hurley remarked that the game's tone was incoherent and felt the story did not respect the source material, citing Shelob's change from a spider to a human woman as one of his disappointments with the game's narrative.[67] Stapleton added that the game played "fast and loose" with Lord of the Ring lore, while criticizing the game's dialog as "clunky" and "derivative".[68] Kelly also disliked the game's tone, feeling that it was "overly-serious" and lacked a sense of playfulness.[69] Johnny Chiodini from Eurogamer also called the story "dreadful", "self-indulgent", and "bombastic nonsense". He suspected Monolith only added certain plot points "for the sake of doing things bigger for the sequel", and wrote that "the lore had been thrown out the window for the sake of a couple of schlocky and unnecessary reveals".[78] Chris Carter from Destructoid disliked Talion, calling him "bland", and remarked that the story was "nonsensical", with "rings upon rings and comical retcons".[64] Phillip Kollar from Polygon remarked that fans of the Tolkien's legendarium will likely find Shadow of War's story and twists to the existing canon "distasteful".[70] Writing for GameSpot, Justin Haywald liked the stories featuring the game's side characters and orc companions, but lamented that players did not get to spend enough time with them and that these quests end abruptly.[66]

Critics had mixed feelings about the scale of the game. While some reviewers noted the distinctiveness of the game's five regions, they also noted their lack of new enemy types or gameplay.[65][68] While Miller praised the location design and described the locations as a "visual treat",[65] Kelly criticized the uninspiring environment design and the game's "sludgy, muted look".[69] Kelly felt that despite the abundance of systems in the game, many were not integrated properly. Elaborating on the game's bloatedness, Kelly added that the game was "constantly screaming at [players] to do things", and described its side content as a "fantasy to-do list".[69] Carter, likewise, felt that some of the systems, such as the gear featured in the game, were overly convoluted.[64] Andrew Webster, writing for The Verge, added that Monolith's intention to introduce more content to the game unexpectedly backfired and diluted the experience, causing great moments in the game to be overshadowed by unnecessary content, boring missions, and map markers that failed to elevate the experience.[77]

Accolades

Year Award Category Result Ref.
2018 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Role-Playing Game of the Year Nominated [79]
National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards Animation, Technical Nominated [80][81]
Art Direction, Fantasy Nominated
Character Design Nominated
Control Design, 3D Nominated
Game, Franchise Role Playing Nominated
Use of Sound, Franchise Nominated
16th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards Best Original Song ("Fires of War") Nominated [82]

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