Playing A Game Middle-earth: Shadow of War PC

The ending is ... okay. Like the rest of Shadow of War's story, it somehow manages to simultaneously feel cool and bizarre. The final act is pretty impressive, but more for its visual flair and its new gameplay than for any narrative payoff.

When I say "final act," I mean Act III: Shadow and Flames. This linear capstone on Act II's open-world orc-slaughter represents the cinematic culmination of Talion's struggle against Sauron.

... but then, the game keeps going. Non-spoiler: no, Talion doesn't defeat Sauron in some alternate-universe retelling of Tolkien's stories. Instead, the Epilogue: Shadow Wars shows Talion continuing his sisyphean toil against the uruk legions. After conquering each of the game world's five fortresses, now, they must be defended!

I did the first defense stage, with attackers somewhat below my level, and it was pretty easy. Then the second, with attackers near my level, and it was kind of hard. I saw the third stage had some attackers above my level. And then I looked up how many stages there are. Ten?

Evidently, Shadow Wars requires a hell of a lot more grinding through orcs, leveling-up, captain-promoting, and warchief-buffing, with absolutely no narrative integration until the very end.

By electing not to continue this tiring routine, I'm departing Shadow of War with a high opinion of it. Building my army and conquering Mordor was way fun. After 40 hours of it, though, I've got no interest in the epilogue -- nor in its awkward-sounding DLCs.

(Blade of Galadriel strips out the Nemesis system? And Desolation of Mordor removes respawning? Nah, thanks.)

Better than: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Agents of Mayhem
Not as good as: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Boy, if they try to sequelize this again: Monolith will really have their lore-work cut out for them.

Progress: 95%, level 48

Rating: Awesome