Playing A Game Middle-earth: Shadow of War PC

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a lot like its predecessor -- like, a lot like it.

  • Shadow of Mordor's story was well-acted and cinematically cool, but the lore and setup felt dumb. That's still true in Shadow of War. (A "New Ring?" Yeah, okay. But Talion still looks like he could be in a Peter Jackson movie.)
  • Shadow of Mordor's mechanics felt very lifted from other games, like Assassin's Creed-style sneaking and Batman Arkham-style brawling. Shadow of War layers on some new mechanics, like Dark Souls-style online integration and ... some more Assassin's Creed-style meaningless collectibles.
  • Shadow of Mordor didn't show its whole hand until several hours in, when Talion learned how to dominate and brainwash uruks. Somehow, he forgot how to do this, and Shadow of War also keeps that card hidden up its sleeve for the first several hours.
  • I was really impressed by the Nemesis System back in 2014, and I figured the next several years of open-world games would pick it up. As of 2018, this is still true: it's an awesome system and I can't believe more games aren't doing it.
  • As repetitive as it can seem, mowing down hordes of orcs is still really fun. Using combos to charge meters to activate special abilities to clear the area, only for more enemies to stream in afterward -- it makes Talion feel like a damn super-hero. It's empowering and challenging at the same time.

Shadow of War has basically the same faults as the previous game, but also the same strengths. And while many of its new features aren't that remarkable - the Shelob memories feel especially like trivial filler - it does bring a grander scale. Simply put, there are five regions (compared to Shadow of Mordor's two), and each one has its own orcish org-chart and its own fortress to siege and conquer.

Taking the first fortress was easy, but by the second, it became clear that hunting down bodyguards and planting spies among the warchiefs are necessary tactics. Middle-earth spycraft!

I'm not sure how well it'll all turn out, considering that Frodo and Sam never saw the Bright Lord on their way through Mordor. But at least for now, I really feel like I'm delivering on Celebrimbor's goal of building an army to rival Sauron's.

Shadow of War is a good counter-example to my recent experience with Agents of Mayhem. The latter had mechanically fun gameplay, but a dumb and unengaging plot, and I was unsatisfied with its sense of progression; I didn't feel like I was really making a difference in Seoul.

Shadow of War also has mechanically fun gameplay, and while its plot is still dumb and unengaging -- the sense of progression is very satisfying. As I slaughter uruks by the hundreds, I know that their corpses are building my way toward a better Mordor.

Progress: Just took my second fortress.

Rating: Good