It can be hard sitting on the outside. Spend some time listening to all of the accolades for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and you are bound to think that if you didn’t play that then you will be hopelessly lost in Middle Earth: Shadow War. Fear not as one of the more prominent orcs from the Shadow of War marketing, Bruz the Cropper, is more than happy to bring you up to speed on the series and share what you can expect in the sequel. Sit back and let Professor Bruz educate you on the story so far and what you can expect with October 10th’s Shadow of War.
As you’d expect Bruz first fills all gamers in on what exactly constitutes the Bright Lord. Afterall, newbies to the franchise might be excused for thinking that that would be a single person. In fact, it does not. The Bright Lord is actually the combined life forces of Talion, a Ranger, and Celebrimbor, an elf. The two co-exist in a single body. This served them well during the exploits of the first game. While Talion could wield a physical sword against the many orc enemies, Celebrimbor embued special attacks and the ability to protect against falls from considerable distances.
Bruz next focuses of all of the open world and skill upgrade abilities, He then explains the nemesis system and the orcs within that are so deeply entwined with the franchise. The orcs are segregated into tribes that can be decimated or controlled, based on how they are interacted with. The nemesis system will then create orcs that are uniquely distinct for your game and you can determine how to deal with their challenges. You may be able to slay them, reduce their power, befriend them or have such a limb destroying battle that they become your true nemesis.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War releases October 10, 2017, on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.