NOTE: This article contains minor spoilers for the first game. These spoilers are found in the final subsection of the article.

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Meet The Sequel

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor appears to be getting a sequel by the name of Middle Earth: Shadow of War. There's almost no information available about this upcoming game, and what little we have comes from an unlikely source...

Target. Yes, that Target.

It seems that Target listed Shadow of War, along with boxart and a description today on their website, but the content has since been removed. Luckily the details and images are still easy to find since so many people, not unlike myself, jumped on the bandwagon of reporting this find as soon as it popped up.


Deets Plz


The description:
"Go behind enemy lines to forge your army, conquer Fortresses and dominate Mordor from within. Experience how the award winning Nemesis System creates unique personal stories with every enemy and follower, and confront the full power of the Dark Lord Sauron and his Ringwraiths in this epic new story of Middle-earth.

In Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™, nothing will be forgotten." *

Boxart:


PS4 cover art


Gold Edition cover art


Additionally, there was a listing for a gold edition which included more information about both the gold edition and the base game itself:
"Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion
Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion
The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion
The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion
Gold War Chest
Over $125 in total value

The two Nemesis expansions feature "a new Orc Tribe featuring new enemies, followers, missions, abilities, weapons, Fortress, and wilderness updates, and a Mythic Gear Set." The story expansions, meanwhile, have "a new campaign, playable character, and abilities, side missions, enemies, allies, and more." **

The game was listed for PS4 and XBox One, with no mention of a PC version, but that doesn't mean anything as of yet.


Looks Like We've Got Another Mystery On Our Hands, Gang.


One truly odd thing about this is that the game hasn't even been announced, yet according to the listing it's slated for release in June of this year. Now that shouldn't be taken as a real release date, as it seems incredible in the most literal sense of the word that a game of this caliber and a sequel following such an massively successful first title would go by without any teaser trailers, info releases, or an announcement of any kind whatsoever. Take, for example, Horizon: Zero Dawn which has had trailer after trailer, article upon article, interviews galore, and constantly been teased on PSN or some other format for nearly two years now; Even the third party title that preceded Shadow of War, Shadow of Mordor, was revealed a full year ahead of it's release. So to think Shadow of War would be revealed only four months prior to it's release, and that by an ordinary retailer that isn't even game specific, and that this reveal would be pulled again all within a matter of hours, seems highly unlikely.

Were it not for the fact that we're seeing this kind of thing fairly often these days, I'd say it was a slip up, but given the semi-frequency of these supposed retailer slip ups with big name games over the last few years, I can't help but suspect that it was a publicity stunt that WB themselves were behind. The date however is confusing if such is the case: why have them list it with what is likely a highly inaccurate release date?


Who Cares Though? I Just Wanna Kill More Uruks!

Regardless, at this point it looks as though we'll be getting a followup to what many — myself included — feel is one of the biggest masterpieces of modern gaming, sometime in the next year or two at least. And thankfully it seems to dodge the logic downfall that plagues many RPG sequels in that all of Talion's abilities from the previous game seem to remain intact.

Besides, as long as we get to make mor Uruk heads roll (or explode), does anything else matter?
Now let's just hope they change that name before they release the game, shall we?



*Official game description
**Quote taken from GameSpot.com

Can't say I'm super hyped for this game, the original was kind of a let down to me. The story and lore aside from the introduction, felt pretty lackluster which is a shame since it's a game set in the LotR universe so there was a lot of potential. The gameplay was solid and the nemesis system a cool idea, but the novelty of it quickly wore off after playing for a bit when you're killing so many of the same enemy type. Besides the gameplay and free running mechanics there really doesn't seem to be a lot of substance, so it did not deserve the awards it got in my view. I would rather play something with freeform gameplay that has an interesting narrative and/or characters to go along with it, like the AC or Batman games. I'll probably still be picking this game up at some point if it gets good reviews since I'm a sucker for LotR like most people, though considering the shady practices of warner bros with review copies I'm definitely waiting until it's been out for a while and the price drops. The fact that there's already a "gold edition" planned long before the game is out kind of leaves a foul taste as well.

Zlinqx : I've heard that complaint against the game a few times before, and I can get it. I can enjoy a game for story alone, gameplay alone, or a mix of both. Shadow of Mordor was honestly a mix of both for me, though the gameplay was definitely the biggest sell. So addictive.

I am a little surprised to hear you say that about the story though since it does what you applauded other WRPGs for, and takes the organic approach. The story is scarce by way of narration, but when you follow all of the side quests and find all of the items and markings etc. (the proper names elude me) it sheds more light on what happened before and tells not only more about the main story, but several smaller side stories as well. Though none are exactly deep, they do add character I feel.
But no, story was obviously never SoMs strong suit, and it could have used some more I suppose (so long as it didn't take away from the freedom the game offered). The official trailer for Shadow of War was released yesterday, so now we have a glimpse at what to expect anyway.

As for LoTR...I really want to get into it because I loved the games The Hobbit and Shadow of Mordor, but I just can't get into the stories: Tolkien wrote SO slow...like using entire chapters just to say "Frodo and company took a detour through the woods" or "This ranger came to an inn". Why? lol

Eirinn : I'm not saying every game that I play needs an interesting story, I've played a lot of games has little if any story some if which I've loved (recently Furi comes to mind) but it felt more appropriate in that case. Past the nemesis system I wouldn't really say it sets up for organic story telling since you have to do side quests which are often of the fetch quest type which feels more reminiscent of an MMO. That's one of the really good things about the nemesis system, the problem is you start to notice the pattern it uses long before the game is over which breaks the illusion for me and unless they change it up a lot in the next game I doubt it's going to work. The organic thing about something like Bloodborne which I've talked about earlier is that it manages to tell a story without all of that, it never really feels like you're doing a bunch of fetch quests by taking control of X uruks, it feels more like you're investigating the world yourself because you want to piece together what happened. I would also argue the lore in those games is more well constructed and is made more interesting by the fact that it ties directly into the gameplay. I don't think an approach with sparse dialogue fits as well with the LotR universe either since it never felt like it's about that.

I think some of the Arkham games and AC games (before Unity at least) did a better job since their narratives felt a lot more natural and both have an instantly promising premise. In the Arkham games case they're building on long established character dynamics between major characters of the franchise and in AC it's the concept itself as they're dramatizations of historical events which already has many people interested. I guess it's partly just what I would want in a LotR game as well since that's mainly what I like about the franchise. Personally I've always enjoyed Tolkien's writing though I recognize enjoying it as much as I do is in part due to nostalgia.. The slow build up allowed for a lot of character and world building but you don't really get that with Talon. I do prefer the original trilogy to the hobbit though and for what it's worth I've always liked Star Wars more when choosing between epic movie franchises, I wouldn't call myself a hardcore fan as much as someone who appreciates the franchise