Everything about the Lord of the Rings seems to be epic. There are the six books that tell the tale of the fellowship and their journies. There is also the three Academy Award-winning films that clock in at a whopping 557 minutes of orc slaying goodness. Now that term of epic would almost certainly apply to the launch trailer for Middle-earth: Shadow of War. At less than two and a half minutes, we see an imagining of Middle-earth in equal parts as both J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson must have seen in their mind’s eye.
The trailer is literally a who’s who of the Tolkien universe. From Caragaths to Nazgul to Uruks to Olog Graugs, there are few creatures from the Lord of the Rings lore that does not appear in the launch trailer. Although the deadly orcs and other insipid beasts are not the focus of the trailer. Of course, that honor goes to Talion and Celebrimbor the two entities occupying a single body that gamers will control in Shadow of War.
The famous nemesis system from Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is back and has been improved upon. Orc captains that are encountered (and live to tell the tale) will remember those encounters meaning that every player’s game is truly personalized and unique.
“We worked incredibly hard to massively expand Middle-earth: Shadow of War in every dimension, including the open world, the story, the RPG systems, the core gameplay and of course the personal player stories created through the expanded Nemesis System,” said Michael de Plater, Vice President, Creative, Monolith Productions. “As lifelong fans of all things Middle-earth, we are so grateful to have the privilege to bring to life the most incredible fantasy world ever, reimagined in a fresh way for fans and newcomers. We can’t wait to see the amazing stories players are going to create and share once they experience all that Middle-earth: Shadow of War has to offer.”
Middle-earth: Shadow of War released on October 10, 2017, for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The Nerd Stash will have our review of the game shortly after we have cleaved off a few more orc heads.
