From a potential leak on behalf of retailer Target to the NeoGAF forums pointing it out, WB Games released a cinematic announcement trailer for Middle Earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to the critically-acclaimed Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. The GWW’s President Joe Barhoum scored the game an 8.8 and wrote Mordor is the “best game in the Lord of the Rings franchise. It’s dark, compelling, and fun to play.”
Shadow of War sees the return of Talion and Celebrimbor and gives players the ability to not only wield a sword, dagger and bow, but now the Ring of Power against more orcs, Nazgul and Sauron himself, according to a WB Games press release.
The Nemesis System is also coming back, and it has expanded beyond interactions with orcs. This time the whole of the open-world map reacts to in-game actions. An addition to those personal encounters is through “Followers who bring entirely new stories of loyalty, betrayal and revenge.” On top of that, there’s going to be Nemesis Fortresses where “different strategies [can be used] to conquer dynamic strongholds and create personalized worlds with their unique Orc army,” according to the release.
“Monolith Productions continues to innovate by introducing deeper, more personalized gameplay experiences, coupled with authentic storytelling,” David Haddad, President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, said in the release. “Middle-earth: Shadow of War truly drives the genre forward by taking the Nemesis System to new heights and allowing players to create their own personal journey within Middle-earth.”
“Following the amazing reception to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, we massively expanded every dimension of the game,” Michael de Plater, Vice President of Monolith Productions, added in the release, “including the world, the story, the RPG systems, the core gameplay and of course the personal player stories of the Nemesis System. As lifelong fans of Middle-earth, we are so grateful to have the privilege to bring to life the most incredible fantasy world ever created in a new way, for a new generation. With Middle-earth: Shadow of War, we can’t wait to see the amazing stories players are going to create and share.”
Fellow GWWer Everett Harn and I interviewed comic book writer and novelist, Dan Abnett, back on June 19, 2015, and he had this to say as he elaborated on his dialogue work for Shadow of Mordor:
“I don’t think I’m breaking any NDA’s to say that I’m doing a bit more of that on an even bigger scale for a very similar game that might be the sequel.”
We won’t have too long to wait for more Shadow of War either after three years anxiously doing so. In a week’s time, we’ll be treated with a gameplay reveal on March 8, per the above trailer.
Aside from that, also shown in release, let’s prepare ourselves to return to Middle Earth on August 22 when the sequel drops for XBox One, Project Scorpio, Windows 10 PC (Windows Store and Steam), PS4 and PS4 Pro and XBox Play Anywhere.