Game Spotlight: Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Artist: @becky | Writer: @Le Chair @Qadassa @Faded @becky | Editor: @Qadassa @Hydra @becky

RELEASE DETAILS
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor was released back in 2014. Now, three years later, Monolith Productions has decided to release the much anticipated sequel, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. It was developed by the same company as the highly successful predecessor and will take place in the same fantasy era. Monolith is a fairly large studio that is now owned by Warner Bros. They started on their first game back in 1997, when they were still a standalone company. In 2004, they were acquired by Warner Bros and they started on some bigger games. Most notably, they’ve made games such as the F.E.A.R series, Condemned, and the Middle-Earth series.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is set to be released on October 10th for PC, Xbox One and PS4 for $59.99. If you want to feel special and make up for the fact that you have no friends, there are more options for you to purchase. These three different special editions available for purchase are Silver, Gold, and Mithril.

Spoiler: Silver Edition - $79.99

Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Silver War Chest

Spoiler: Gold Edition - $99.99

Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion
The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion
The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion
Gold War Chest

Spoiler: Mithril Edition - $299.99

Game Gold Edition with Exclusive Steelcase
Premium Case with Magnetic Ring of Power
Exclusive Mithril War Chest
Official Game Music Soundtrack
Limited Edition 12’’ Tar-Goroth Balrog vs. Carnan Drake Statue
Cloth Map of Mordor
Collection of Exclusive Lithographs
Tribe Sticker Pack
Collector’s Box

NOTE: Mithril Edition is only available at a GameStop in America.

GAMEPLAY
Dive back into the immersive open-world of Middle Earth in the highly-anticipated sequel to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. You can either decide to be a loner and play single-player or you can join the battle against others in the thrilling multiplayer mode. Similar to Shadow of Mordor, players will experience the game from a third-person perspective to give a more outside view. The movement has stayed mostly the same but with some minor improvements.

During the campaign, you’ll take on the role of Talion, Ranger of Gondor. However, your character isn’t quite just what you see on the outside. Using various combat, athletic, and other unique abilities, you must complete missions and various multiple side quests. Although there will be many quests, the main objective of the game is to stop Sauron and his brutal armies in any way you can. Unlike the previous game, the gameplay has shifted away from the hack-n’-slash style and instead has evolved into more of an ARPG style.



NOW ON TO THE STORY ASPECT
Taking place after the events of The Hobbit but before The Lord of the Rings trilogy, players follow the riveting narrative that continues from the previous game.

We’ll get into this a bit more later but here’s a bit of knowledge: Talion shares his body with the spirit of an Elf Lord. That’s not all, Talion has also created his very own Ring, a new Ring of Power. This particular Ring holds the power to achieve world domination and control, which was Sauron’s complete and total plan from the beginning.

The Elf Lord, Celebrimbor, believes that this Ring can be used to achieve his goal to become a powerful King but still take care to avoid becoming a Dark Lord himself. However, Talion isn’t interested in the power, but still agrees to help Celebrimbor face their newest threat. Sauron has returned with a growing army, preparing to rain hell on Middle Earth.

Can you defeat Sauron, or will you die trying?

WHAT ARE WAYS I CAN PLAY WITH THE PEOPLE AROUND ME?
SOCIAL CONQUEST
Test your skills against other players in this multiplayer game mode. Offering both a “Casual” and “Ranked” mode, the objective is to invade another player’s fortress and take complete control of it. If you decide to play casual, there’ll be no risks of losing parts of your army. However, if you decide that you’re might just be good enough for Ranked, it’s the same thing, but you take on the risk of losing parts of your army permanently.

VENDETTA MISSION
Players may create a Vendetta Mission for others to play. By accepting these hitman contracts, players are teleported to the maker’s World and are required to complete side objectives as well as kill the required Orc. Players are given only one chance to complete each contract mission that a player creates. For their dedication, and their success, they will be given rewards. The player that completes the mission will receive a loot box that you can only get from Vendetta Missions, while the creator receives only some of the spoils.

NEMESIS SYSTEM
The Nemesis System is back with improvements since it’s original introduction in Shadow of Mordor. But hey, don’t fret, you will be able to transfer all your top Nemeses and all their various little loyal followers from the previous game into Shadow of War. Your little devotees are now behavior-guided lemmings and will change their actions depending on how you, the player, interact with them. For example, they are able to become more devoted to you if they like your actions, but can also be more rebellious if they don’t like the things you do. There will be an in-game store where you can purchase a wide assortment of goodies. Some of these include:

• Elements to improve your followers​
• New allies and abilities​
• Loot chests (which contain random items)​

Being added to the Nemesis System are Overlords. These Uruks rule an entire region and shape it how they please. Once you take over an Overlord’s Fortress, you can make your own Overlord. Each fortress you control offers unique and different perks.



MAIN CHARACTER
TALION, RANGER OF GONDOR
Being the main protagonist of the game, Talion has a bunch of powerful abilities ready at his disposal. Besides being a badass and Captain of the Rangers, he also happens to share his body with the spirit of the Elf Lord, Celebrimbor.

For a living, he tracks down and destroys any Uruk Captains he learns about. While on one of these missions, Talion encounters Gollum, that creepy motherfucker that hides in caves. Gollum then proceeds to help Talion find special “gifts” which allow him to see visions from Celebrimbor’s past. In these visions, Talion learns that Celebrimbor actually helped craft the original Rings of Power alongside Sauron himself.

OTHER FEATURES

• An improved Middle-Earth map, made as accurately as possible to fit the story​
• Various difficulty settings to give players the chance to change how disturbing they want their deaths to be​
• Loot boxes that can be bought with real-life monies or in-game currencies​
• Regions change depending on what Overlords decide how they want them to be​
• Dynamic weather throughout the world​
• Upgrade skill trees - you can now unlock abilities with sub-skills that allow you to fine tune your abilities to the highest level​
• Revamped equipment system - now instead of Runes, the Gear you acquire will level up as you do​
• Found loot will now always be unique to you and your game​
• You are able to tame and control more beasts that you find among the map​
• Ride Drakes​
• You have the option to tailor and fine tune your army depending on your recruited Warchiefs​
• New enemies that totally want to touch your ass​
• New types of Graugs, Sauron, Nazgul, Shelob and Drakes​

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7 - 64Bit (SP1 with Platform Update)
Processor: AMD FX-4350, 4.2 GHz / Intel Core i5-2300K, 2.80 GHz
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD HD 7950 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
Storage: 70GB of free space
Additional Notes: X64 required

RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 10 – 64Bit (Creators Update)
Processor: AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz / Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz
Memory: 16 GB System RAM
Graphics: AMD RX 480 4 GB / NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet Connection
Storage: 70GB of free space
Additional Notes: X64 required

TRAILER
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Looks amazing! Quite pricey though

 

Hell yeah, so stoked for this!!!

 

Idk about this one tbh
I’ll wait for some reviews from TB and see if it’s worth grabbing but the first one wasn’t half bad.

 

Nice write up. Not sure it's a game I would pick up, but certainly seems intriguing

 

Might be fun.

 

Try shadow of Mordor
Really unique gameplay and nice open world gameplay

 

Ah yes, I remember this one. I'll probably wait for a Steam sale then scoop it up to play over the winter holidays

 

I wanna get this game hehe ^v^

 

I'm stoked for this, AC Origins, and Wolfenstein 2

 

Bought it earlier tonight, it's really good.

 

You can get it for 30 euros at G2A for a limited time btw. <3

 

I've preordered it and I can't wait. ^^

 

Dope.

 

Been hyped for Shadow of War since it was announced

 

I'm trying real hard to get excited for this, but with the loot box stuff, it's really hard to. Between this, Battlefront 2, and AC:Origins, loot boxes are getting out of control. I'll probably pick this up when it goes on sale.

 

If anyone got this game and wants 100 in-game gold and I guess a chance to win an Xbox, here you go. The code is GHEK-GRGK-PWEK. You have to go to this link to redeem it.

Spoiler: Tags (people who were interested in the game)

@Teben
@KorvaMeister
@Bearded Melon
@Faded
@BrettZilla

 

I already have it lol and I don't really care about the lootboxes anyway

 

I don't even know what 100 gold does but it was on my pizza rolls box.

 

You can buy gold lootboxes.

 

Looks cool!

 

I run Csgo in 8-30fps low settings. I could play this game at a solid 0fps.

 

I have another 100 gold code if anyone who got this game wants it. Go here to redeem it.

Spoiler: Code

K3MK-KPH4-RGWE

 

This was a great game, thank you for the recommendation! @becky @Qadassa @Le Chair @Faded @Hydra

 

was? what happened to it, did you refund it