Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™

The greatest system for a game ever created, must play. do all the endings or something.

amazing games cant find others like this. Easily my fav game

just great for LOTR fans even if it's not canon it's a great story really good system witch the orc captains that every other orc has his own personallity and the story of Talion is relly good. It's sad because he wants revenge for what happened in Shdow of Mordor but he know's he can't do much about it exept fight and have control over the forts. Over all it's one of the best games i have played

Played on Steam Deck on medium settings and it ran very smoothly.

Flying around Mordor performing acrobatics like a middle-earth Ezio makes for a very fun experience. The nemesis system makes the journey feel personal, for example: I 'killed' a captain by chopping his leg off and later on he came back with a peg leg for more.

Story wise, I had no clue what was going on as I didn't play the first game, however the story didn't seem like the main focus of this game and I still enjoyed the cut scenes.

Overall, a fun game with an addictive gameplay loop that definitely scratches that middle-earth itch.

Really fun, lots of stuff to collect in the Post-Game which adds a lot of value. My one complaint is the storage required; my harddrive is very happy I finally decided I'm done with this game. XD

Great game! So fun to just mess around in. 62h in and only half way through the story because of all the fun things you can do.

Good hack and slash fun, lots of hours of play time. 5hrs in and I'm barely 5% through.

The most slept on game ever. This game needs a sequel as much as Warcraft 3 needed one.

10/10

Fucking awesome game. Satisfying combat, decent story but I just wanna get something off my chest real quick..

FUCK THE FIGHT PITS. Ohhhh... myyyyyy. Your follower AI is so trash compared to the enemy. They would taunt and taunt and taunt instead of attacking. They'd do some kind of build up animation only to get interrupted by the enemy last second and this goes on a loop till they get murdered. You could have the best stats and counters. On paper, yours should beat theirs but the AI..... There are other silly things that pissed me off but ultimately, the game is GOOD.

The RPG element is fine. the game offers so much more in terms of combat. I really like the variations on top of the new skills.

8/10⭐

The game is good and really entertaining, BUT there are two things that completely killed my motivation to 100% complete it, and I don’t think I’ll bother with the alternate stories.

Spoiler alert!:

1.Each of the captains has a looooong, boooooring introduction that CAN’T be skipped. Who thought this was a good idea? No skipping cutscenes that don’t even have story content? really?

2.Captains that can one-shot you and don’t even give you the second chance option.
This is a major design flaw. They give you a game mechanic, and then randomly you just can’t use it, which takes away control because you can’t do anything else.
For example, at the end of Talion’s story, when defending castles and spending tons of points on defense, some random captain manages to kill me with a simple attack, and I have to go back and fight 8 warchiefs in a fully fortified castle just to take it back, then defend it again, and only then finish a little part of the story, to then, have the same issue on the next castle. No, thanks.

Bonus!
3. Flying on a drake—what horrible controls.

Shadow of War is a fun, easy to play game. If you've ever played Batman: Arkham Knight, then I'd say that the combat is very similar. It's nothing too hard; you're given a few basic attacks and learn how to counter different types of enemies.

Where this game shines is with the nemesis system. This system allows you to recruit orcs you find out in the world, each having a relatively unique personality, look, and style of combat. After a while, many of these orcs blend into one, but the system is fun nevertheless. You can then use these orcs as bodyguards, assassins, and fighters in fortress sieges. Basically, they do your dirty work. They might also save you from death or betray you, meaning that unique stories are generated between yourself and particular orcs. You may kill one by chopping his limbs off, only for him to come back with a vengeance, his limbs haphazardly sewn back on or replaced by scrap metal.

The story is solid, and Celebrimbor's character (and his actor's performance) were highlights for me. It doesn't feel like anything too special to begin with, but offers a unique and thought-provoking twist at the end of the game.

The game also features numerous collectables and achievements to hunt down if you enjoy that.

Overall, I'd give this game a 7/10. Excepting the nemesis system, the game isn't anything too unique, but is otherwise solidly put together and offers an enjoyable experience.

I played this game when it first came out in high school—it is the best game I ever experienced, or so I thought until now replaying.
It's still a good game, but the story is linear. Nowadays, if it's an RPG, I need it to have BG3-level choices and story branches. However, with its game mechanics and nemesis system, it is not as bad as GOW: Ragnarok, so I can still tolerate it.
One thing I can't tolerate—and find absolutely disgusting—is that you can't recruit orcs who are higher level than you. This makes the game super grindy since XP is hard to earn and renders its biggest game mechanic entirely pointless. It's like playing Pokémon and finally beating an extremely rare Pokémon, only to be unable to catch it because it's 10 levels higher than your Pikachu. Whoever set this restriction had no idea what this game really is.

Yet, still the best game I played 8 years ago.

it's an Uruk Dating Simulator(patented) on steroids. really great steroids for the most part aside from a couple of questionable design decisions relative to its predecessor. it's an absolute blast with a lot of great content and a thicccc spider.

God damn this game is a slog to play through.

The first act was fun and a good set up to what I thought would be a better story. I was wrong. I was wrong because the same dang thing happened to me like in the first game. I was bombarded with side content that I completely forgot what the main mission was and was questioning if I was doing a side quest when I was actually doing main missions.

How the hell did they do it again. I thought clearing the the outposts was the game and I had to fight my way back to the opening area. I was very wrong and it's probably my fault, but I'm still annoyed.

I am happy that the nemesis system was expanded and more integrated with the main story, even if I cleared all the outposts before I really did the main content and ruined the pace of the game. Actually, I'm mad that they allowed me to do that. Maybe I'm not liking open world games as much as I use to, but I wish there was a bit more linearity to the game so I actually feel compelled to play the main story. I hate being bogged down by all of this filler side shit in games and this game especially.

The combat has also made an improvement over the pretty good combat in the first game. I like that the orcs have more strengths that make me vary up the way I approach the encounter and that they add more beast as into the middle of fights as well too. Pretty good mix of that. Unfortunately the gosh darn parkour still sucks and I feel like is worse because I had to spend so much more time playing the. It became pretty infuriating towards the end when I would get stuck on stuff on the ground or climbing or assassinating the wrong guy over and over and over. That was a really big let down and something I thought would be fixed.

Higher highs and lower lows. This really is Assassin's Creed.

Great Game, will give you hours of gameplay. Has all the Lore of Lord of the Rings

IMO this is the best LOTR game right after RoTK for PS2, absolute banger of a game

Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™ delivers an incredibly immersive and thrilling gameplay experience. The combat system is fluid and satisfying, making every battle feel epic and rewarding. Once you dive into the game, it’s easy to lose track of time, as it draws you into its rich world and action-packed story.

However, one minor issue I encountered was navigating the maps. While exploring feels exciting at first, it can become time-consuming later on. Despite this, the game remains highly enjoyable and absolutely worth your time.

For the best experience, I recommend playing on a high-performance setup with a large display or even a gaming monitor to truly appreciate the stunning visuals and detailed environments.

One does not simply walk into Mordor, unless that one is the Gravewalker.

Really good game. Had it for so long, every minute is beautiful. Shame they copyrighted the Nemesis system. The graphics are good, but the world design is a bit like minecraft in some part. That does not take away the beauty of the story and the feeling of sheer power, jumping from high up and having no fall damage. Pretty cool.

This game is for any true fan of the lord of the rings movies or book, they adapted a well written character into an already amazing world. This story may not be truly cannon and have a few parts i disagree with but I can always come back to this amazing world time and time again. The Nemesis system making the combat and the Death in this game an actual challenge. If this game had an actual co op thats the only way it could get any better.

great game, could do with less fucking tutorials, everytime I need to do something like take a piss it feels like the game needs to hold my fucking hand

Although a bit same-y, what the game does well at, the game does REALLY well at.

The best combat system in video games.

I love the call outs, game play with fantastic story and ofc the NEMESIS system !!!

even better the second time through, higher difficulty is definitely the better experience.

good game, lots of lore, lots of grinding, not really true to Tolkien, but give it a shot

This is a significant step up from the original Shadow of Mordor. It's landlocked to design decisions made almost ten years ago meaning the game-play is the classic Arkham counter system with a clumsiness that comes with hindsight of playing RPG's of the modern day. It's a very bloated game being almost half a dozen open world areas stuffed with collectables and captains to fight. The content is excellent, however, past ten hours you'll be in a loop of the same combat cycle until the credits. You'll get your value for money when paying full price but the game is very theatrical and enjoys indulging in it's USP. By the end, I would have really appreciated an interrupt button for the speeches as they can rattle on for 20 seconds each and with numerous captains fighting at once, it can really slow the game down. There are some really inspired choices with a few of the perks and I can't think of one game that executes all these ideas so harmoniously.

I completed 94% of the content in just under 30 hours. The game is excellent, ran amazingly well (never crashing and running very solid at >140 fps) and has X1X controller support. I would absolutely recommend this game!

deep story and world keep you engages for a long time, sometimes the fights and such can be a bit repetitive but all round great game.

Spent hours looking for some good stats orcs. One time he was accidentally killed by other orcs, the other time it was in an online Vendetta and that orc had Iron Will.

After playing the first game, I immediately dove into this one. It had a familiar feeling to the first once but you can tell it had a lot more to offer in terms of game play. The introduction to capturing and holding bases is very cool but not entirely for me. I mostly wanted to play this game for the story.

The story, the abilities, skill tree, and movement was also very good! That being said I felt as if the story was drowned in the capture concept of the game.

If you played the first game and enjoyed the story you will enjoy this story too it just comes with some more grinding than I expected.

I really enjoyed this game, the combat and stealth mechanics are fun and after playing Shadow of Mordor it was also nice seeing the conclusion to Talion's story.

One negative is that the third part of this game can become a bit of a grind. There was some controversy with loot boxes in this game when it was first released. They're gone now, and you can tell that there is something slightly off about it. But none the less it's still a fun and engaging game to play.

I managed to get both games bundled and on sale for just over £5, so for me it was excellent value.

The Nemesis system is the single greatest thing they could have done for this series, I still find myself tempted for new playthroughs 8 years later because of this system. I wish it was licensed out to other developers, that would be a WIN WIN

The nemesis system is awesome, and you can play single-player for hours on end after beating the main campaign. Just keep in mind the multiplayer aspect of the game is iffy, and there's a bunch of people with cheated orcs/forts.

had a great time playing through the story definitely recommend playing, the dlcs in this game are shit and boring though.

Way bigger and way more ambitious than its predecessor, but also less polished. Among the mindless "ubisoft tower" games, this might be the best, a perfect game to play between more cerebral, intense experiences.
Especially good if you like nursing and caring for burly, terrifying and surprisingly well written and spoken orcs.
The main story is cool, takes many liberties with the source material but gets you engaged with the universe, it's kind of the Force Unleashed but for LOTR. Talion and Celebrimbor have incredible acting chemistry and the talent is there, sad that this potential is a bit squandered in the ending, the emotional punch was rushed but otherwise appropriate.

great story, gameplay, and also the nemisis system as well.

If you enjoyed Shadow of Mordor then you will almost definitely enjoy Shadow of War more. The amount of things to do and the complexity are significantly increased. There's great combat, the visuals are great, the music and voice acting are top notch. Once you get through the first act the game suddenly has quite a bit of a learning curve as it just opens into a much larger world with lots more to do. The item upgrade system isn't very intuitive. For example Legendary weapons are difficult to upgrade but can only be upgraded 3 times total regardless of level. If you really invest time then there's also a huge online conquest component that you can sink tons of time into. The game is very rich and I've had a blast putting in the hours.

I enjoyed Shadow of War, especially the Nemesis system, which really stands out. It made every encounter feel personal and unpredictable, adding a unique depth to the gameplay. Building rivalries with orcs and turning them into allies or foes was consistently engaging. While the story and world are solid, it’s the Nemesis system that makes the game truly memorable for me.

It's not a bad game nowadays, with all the lootbox nonsense gone, it's generally a really good game, though it has a tendency to really piss you off when you're forced to fight orcs immune to nearly everything, and when not immune to something, that something has a habit of pissing them off.

Really fun game. Nemesis system is great, it makes you want to play even more, beyond the story. Great music and good story as well.

The nemesis system still holds up as one of the most incredible things ever put into digital form. I can only pray Monolith isn't going to abandon it going forward. It's too good not to reuse.

The story kind of picks off from its predecessor but the story was more well written and compelling to me. You don't need to play the 1st game first.
They introduce a few new mechanics, but mostly it’s the same. An online competition mode is introduced where you fight your turned orcs against other players turned orcs. Or you defend your base with orcs or attack other players bases with their orcs. You spend some in-game currency to upgrade them. The online mode can be totally ignored however.

I didn’t experience a single crash and it runs very smoothly. No problems at all.

There’s 2 story DLCs: DLC 1 The blade of Galadriel and DLC 2 The Desolation of Mordor.
DLC 1 continues the story, bringing her side of it and changes a few combat mechanics.
DLC 2 adds a side-story, new mechanics and with a sort of rogue approach. One life and it wants you to keep risking it for a higher score.
My completion times on normal difficulty:
Main story 100% 40 hrs.
DLC 1, 100%: 3 hours of gameplay.
DLC 2, 1 run: 3 hours of gameplay.

This game is very enjoyable to play. I beat this game on X Box and then got it on Steam. Very smooth controls, and great game-play mechanics. Once you beat it, it is still fun to play afterwords. You can create your own ork army. 9/10

You can so easily play this game for hundreds of hours. I rebought it on Steam after playing for over 400+ hours on console so that I could experience it again and I was no disappointed. It's just an overall fun game to play, even after beating the game and doing everything.

Very good game,the nemesis system is one of the best mechanics in games to-date

I've racked up 46 hours roughly of Shadow Of War and it's time to give my review. I know i'm late to the party with it being the age that it is but either way, I have a few things to say about it.

The good stuff -
- I like how they explain their slight changes to the real story, how you can see it would connect if that was the case, so nothing is left with you thinking "well that didn't really happen". There are many inaccuracies I believe but none to make you question anything that doesn't seem right.

- Voice acting is super.

- Graphically for it's time it's pretty good, can't fault it at all actually and looks really realistic.

- Gondor story quests and other story missions in relation to this are pretty good.

- I like how you can what was known as in the last game as "branding" you can do the same in this game but actually make an army, so I really like that.

- Love you can ride the Graug's, Caragors and Drakes that was fun.

- Like the upgrades, don't think it's as easy as the last game to get your head around but I got there eventually.

- They thew in the odd captain who would appear pretty tough, would be aware of your dodging and blade attacks so you'd have to change strategy, I like this.

The not so good -
This game hasn't come without a few problems in my time.
- My first playthrough, resulted in a major game breaking glitch when trying to add perks with my perk points. It makes a sound but doesn't give me the perk. I had to redo 7 hours of gameplay because I didn't wish to continue going when I can't upgrade the way I wanted. After searching the interweb I saw no-one suggesting any fixes but I wasn't the only one to experience it.

- Annoying orc swarming. I know many will probably say, there is a tactical way around it and yes there is, you can lower the alert level, till you want to fight that captain again. I do shoot the orcs before they raise the alarm but sometimes you are already swamped you can't shoot them because there are so many in the way already. It's very tough and very frustrating being hit all sides when trying to fight a captain, especially the warchiefs, it really made me angry I changed the difficulty to easy because I just go so frustrated with this.

- The map. This is my biggest complaint despite all I mentioned. I can't for the life of me find a particular region on the map at all. In the main map view, It's not named, for example I wanted to find a stronghold, finding that unless you are actually in that region I can't see a way to do that so you have to go scouring fast travelling to place to place to find it. Or when I have a quest saying "Capture all the towers in Cirith Ungol" I have no idea where that is and the quest marker was not showing me, it doesn't flag up to tell me where it is or set a quest waypoint if it's not in that region, so you zoom out to the big map, it still doesn't do it.

- Silly OTT comedy. This began wearing thin on me. There were some funny dialogue things said but god it just got irritating. I felt like I was playing a game for children not for all ages, felt the orcs were more like an enemy from a disney movie than actually something relating to Lord Of The Rings.

- This may be a petty thing but I had to google one of the door poems, felt i'd been sat there for some time. The issue I have with this is it won't mark what is correct so you are constantly second guessing what you are doing and i was spending just far too long. If it coloured green or something it would make it that little bit easier. I get that you don't want people to guess it that easily but for me, the whole purpose was for the experience and yet again I got impatient and looked on Google.

- Begins to feel more like "Shadow Of Mordor" than a different game with some aspects of Talion's powers crossing over. They are cool and I like them, but it was literally just the same game but with better graphics and a few added bits.

- There are some quests I don't think many would be that interested in completing. Do this challenge and do that for xp, M (Coins) or XP. I get it why you would but they are just so boring, more of the same with nothing different to add.

- Captains coming back from the dead. This really p'ed me off, so much I ended up just dominating them and having them in my army, one came back THREE times after I killed them. BORING. I don't want to keep fighting the same leader, it's annoying.

I know there's a fair few negatives here but overall, the game was great. I felt I would do a review as i'm getting close to the end of things I wish to do and achieve, i'm kinda left feeling... empty since you need to capture the towers ect to continue. I find that pretty dull running around the map, having orcs chase you whist you are doing this just so you can progress the story. It feels they were drawing it out too long.

I would recommend this game, but that recommendation would be mentioned with all the above with slight hesitation with the positive stuff.

Good game ! Really funny , the fights are cool ! I think It's pretty underrated ! Aged well for a 2017 game...

Shadow of War is arguably the best Lord of the Rings game ever made if you want to feel like a god-like, unstoppable, bad ass, half ranger, half wraith, mind controlling, head chopping killing machine that also commands armies to conquer giant settlements all over middle earth. This game plays so unbelievably smooth and pushes the unique nemesis system to its brink. Visually stunning, a more than serviceable story, insanely satisfying and flashy combat similar to that of the Arkham games (I would say perfected freeflow combat) and faithful to Tolkein loreT, this game is a GEM and is another example of taking what made the first one so amazing and dialing that up to whole nother level. Its a shame that there is no news of another badass adventure in Middle Earth coming from Monolith Soft with the Nemesis system as any LOTR fan would undoubtedly be excited for that. Can be a little overwhelming at the start with how much power this game gives you at your fingertips but if you stick with it, it can get hard to put down.

the gameplay is alot better from the previous game

Builds upon the last game. Nemesis system improved, which is nice.
Takes a lot of liberties in Lord of the Rings lore, namely in the Nazgul.