Full disclosure; technically I haven't finished this game, however, I have seen all the story elements and all that remains is an endless grind into nothingness so I feel qualified enough to convey my experience. With that out of the way, recently I got my hands on a game I've had my eye on for some time, (At a great discount!) 2017's Shadow of War. Sequel to 2014's Shadow of Mordor, SOW is an action game that continues protagonist Talion's story (Voiced by legend, Troy Baker, obviously.) as he cuts his way through the most dangerous land in all of the Lord of the Ring's lore. (That's Mordor. If you had trouble with the context clues.)
I remember back in 2014, in the lead up to the first game, when I found myself very much of two minds on the game. One on hand, the E3 demo showed off amazing action and flashy visuals, but on the other hand it also showed off clunky movement and climbing animations. I know, I know "Wait, you were dubious because some of the animations looked clunky?" What can I say, clunky animation has always been a pet peeve of mine. I literally judge how much effort is put into Spiderman games based on the walk cycle alone. (Shout out to the Amazing Spiderman game, in which Spiderman literally walks about with his fingers on his webshooters like he's an action figure.) it is easy to say "Who walks in a Spiderman game?" but from my reasoning, the ability to websling should be a bonus, not a replacement to, getting around. (Plus, if they cut corners with something as basic as a walk cycle, where else have they cut?)
It is a bit of a nuanced view on game design so I generally tend to find myself alone in my opinions. Therefore, whilst I was tutting my head and saying "I don't know." most of my contemporaries were just watching Orcs get beheaded and cheering. (Aside from one former Assassin's Creed 2 developer, who claimed that Monolith had stolen the code behind that games climbing to use for Mordor... and made it look worse, apparently.) These slight misgivings may have been part of the reason why I drifted away from the marketing for Mordor in the weeks to come and ended up forgetting about the game altogether.
The wider gaming world, however, did not forget, and I ended up hearing about many of the exciting features of Shadow of Mordor through second-hand accounts. Most notably of all being the 'Nemesis System' which promised to make every encounter be unique and progressive. (Not in that way.) 'Nemesis' would act as an unseen storyteller who would watch the ways that you interact with the Orcs of the game and make them respond accordingly. Did you run into an Orc, set him on fire, and then leg it for the hills? The next time you encounter that Orc he might mock you for your running, or be morbidly afraid of fire. Do you have that one Orc who, try as you might, you never seem able to kill no matter how often you duel? He may end up becoming your Nemesis, and show up again and again for key duels down the line. 'Nemesis' was an AI system that seemed to truly push the boundaries of AI in gaming, and that was a novel concept amidst an industry that seemed to have forgotten about AI advancement ever since the release of F.E.A.R. How it worked in practise, however, would be anyone's guess.
I was still not entirely sold on the game, despite how cool 'Nemesis' sounded, and so I refrained from boarding the hype train for many months more. In the end it took those who knew their stuff (supposedly) to win me over. In the days before launch, the review embargo was lifted and scores started dropping. People were dubious about how long Warner Bros. held onto that embargo (In situations like this, the longer the Embargo is held, the more anxious that studio is let the public know about the game.) However, seems that needn't have been so cautious as the game netted positive scores across the board. Not just positive either, this game got exemplary scores! (I'm talking 8/10's to 10/10's.) There were already calls of 'game of the year' and anyone who didn't have this game on their radar (a la moi) certainly did now.
That would perhaps end up being the first time that I ever impulse bought a triple A game on the day of it's release. I just had to see what all the fuss was about, and if the game would end up becoming my new favourite, as other high scorers had done. The results? Even back then I felt that the final game was a little overrated. Don't misquote me at all, I certainly do not think that Shadow of Mordor is a bad game, by any stretch of the imagination, I just believe that a game with a 9 or 10 score, should offer more than a glorified gimmick to earn it's spot. (Perhaps that's why I avoid numbering systems altogether.)
Perhaps is sound a little callous to say that SOM greatest asset was just a 'glorified gimmick' but I mean that in the most affectionate of tones. Perhaps the creators, Monolith, believed their system to be so advanced that one would never even to be able to distinguish it's hands working in the background, but, as a lifelong gamer, I certainly did. The 'Nemesis System' was easy and fun to exploit in order to make the skeleton's of your own gameplay stories, but I never felt as though the AI storyteller was ever shaping my story. (As one would usually hope for with AI storytellers.) All that being said, I did enjoy the game greatly. The combat, in particular, was incredibly tight and exciting, bridging the gap between weighty and fluid beautifully. There were times when I would alert an entire camp and lead them to a courtyard so that I could cut them all down in succession. As you can likely deduce, this meant that the core game wasn't exactly difficult. (which can be a turn off for me.) Also, the story itself wasn't very inspired (Which, for a game set in the world of Lord of the Rings, is rather lamentable.) So, spoilers ahead, not that it matters too much.
Set many years before the events of the books, (Although you would never know that until the second game made it clear) Shadow of Mordor follows the story of a Gondorian Ranger, named Talion, who finds himself manned on the Black Wall alongside his wife (I don't remember her name) and son. He has eloped with his wife in order to flee her important father, and so ended up posted on the border of the land of shadows, forever damned to watch against the darkness. Unfortunately, that means that Talion and his family are right in the line of fire when, inevitably, the dark forces of the dormant lord awaken to seek dominion over the land of man. (Huh, I'm really good at this 'doom and gloom' stuff, perhaps I should be the next Galadriel!)
One fateful night, the orcs attack the black wall and promptly wipe the whole place out. Talion and his family are dragged to the roof in front of this pale skinned fellow known as the 'Black Hand' and they end up getting themselves sacrificed. The Hand slaughters them all in some sort of profane ritual to summon the departed spirit of Celebrimbor, the smith who forged the rings of power. For some reason that is never explained, the spirit completely breezes past the open arms of the Black Hand, and instead jaunts into the bleeding corpse of Talion, fusing their spirits together into one body. From this point onwards, Talion is a wraith.
I always thought that this was an ingenious storytelling tool on behalf of Monolith as, by making Talion a ringwraith, you can place him on par with those beings of unimaginable power that have to avoided in the books, such a Sauron himself. This works from a gameplay perspective too as, being a wraith, Talion and Celebrimbor are "Banished from death", meaning that the game continues even after you die. This allows for the 'Nemesis system' to build up a relationship between you and your slayer, paving the way for unique transactions. This also allows you to make 'Nemesis' characters of your own, as anyone who manages to kill "the Gravewalker" is instantly promoted to the position of captain. I have, at least once before, created a captain and then watched him rise to Overlord before casting him down and beheading the fool.
Eventually, Talion meets with Queen Marwen and her adoptive daughter Lithariel, who appear to be some of the last human natives of Mordor. He also meets Gollum, a comic-relief Orc called Ratbag (Who gets he head caved in with a mace) and an annoying dwarf called Torvin. (One day I will write a blog about how much I dislike fantasy dwarves) Marwen instructs Talion to build an army to tackle the Black Hand and Lithariel gives Talion a reason to still care about humanity by making him fight for the slaves of Mordor. Talion ends up following the example of both, cutting down the Black Hands forces and paving the way for the captured to escape the land of shadows once and for all. Only then does he realize that Lady Marwen has been possessed by Saruman as she tries to steal Celebrimbor from him. Talion fights back, shattering her possessive staff and freeing her.
Obviously, more than a few people found themselves to be a little disappointed with the ending, but I found the whole story to be lackluster. Most of the characters seemed to be little more than passerbys and the only person who is designed for us to get to know is Torvin, is an obnoxious fantasy Dwarf stereotype who's defining characteristic seems to be: Hunts. Lithariel comes and goes rather promptly, despite Talion fondly recounting how she reminds him of his wife, and Lady Marwen's betrayal is so prompt that it leaves literally no impact. ("Oh, I just met this weird lady in the middle of the woods and she tried to hex my ass, I guess that's pretty much what I should have expected.") Most disappointing of all, however, was the Black Hand himself. I still have no idea who this guy was meant to be and he died so easily that I almost think that I was never supposed to know. Also, the Sauron bait-and-switch for that fight left a poor taste in people's mouths.
It would be several years before Monolith got around to wrapping up that cliffhanger that they set up in the first game, time in which their 'Nemesis system' went entirely unchallenged by other games companies in regards to interesting AI-based storytellers. This meant that the game never completely faded from the public eye, with players being able to go back and mess with the system for years to come. They also managed to stay in the good graces of consumers, despite the small incident during the marketing phrase wherein they hired Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) to promote the game without disclosing that his video was an ad, thus kicking off a platform wide crackdown on undisclosed ads. Monolith managed to get away unscathed, with most of the blame landing on Warner Bros. and they were free to drum up interest for their next game when the time came.
At E3 2016, we finally got a look at the next Mordor game; Shadow of War, and the impressive way in which Monolith intended to push their craft forward. As the previous game had focused on establishing the look and feel of a Lord of the Rings experience, this time they wanted to focus on another aspects of Peter Jackson's epic; The huge battles. To this end, Talion is now able to summon together all of his dominated Orcs into an invasion force and pull off his own little war on a comparable scale to some of the smaller skirmishes from the film. They also used this E3 to show off how the 'Nemesis' system would expand beyond the confines of Orc captains and into the interactions between the players and his own captains too, coining the tag line "Nothing will be forgotten."
Excitement for this next entry would proceed to ramp up, only to be sullied after the passing of Monolith's executive producer; Micheal Forgey. At the time, Monolith thought that it would be a sweet gesture to immortalize their former colleague within the game by making a friendly Orc in his likeness. Things got a bit murky, however, when they decided that it would be apt to sell this Orc as DLC, whilst claiming that all proceeds would go towards his family or to charity. This invited suspicion from many, enough that they decided not to go along with it and instead support the family out of their own pocket whilst implementing the special Orc for free.
Quite a curious bit of controversy that one was, I'll admit that I'm still unsure how to feel about that situation. Luckily, Monolith's next Shadow of War controversy was a lot more standard and easy to react to. You see, once the game launched, people noticed something was very wrong from the outset, namely, that the game featured it's very own premium currency store. That's right! Lord of the Rings had just been imbued with the dark curse known as Microtransactions. But what on earth would they sell in a game about slaying Orcs? Well, it seems that a great deal of thought was put into retooling the game's mechanics to solve that quandary.
Now, players would be subject to levelling their character and equipment in order to meet the requirements necessary to face off against particular Orcs. With this, of course, came a new 'gear rairty' system that provided players with the ability to customize the look of Talion, but only if they suffer through a grind fest to earn the look that they wanted. Then there were the Orcs themselves. Oh yeah, you bet Monolith found a way to sell you Orcs. Due to the new levelling system, players would find that any Orcs that they dominated would quickly become under levelled in comparison to new Orcs that would show up, thus rendering them ineffectual. In order to provide a solution to this, Monolith introduced a lootbox system that one could pay for in order to be imbued with a selection of randomized gear and/or Orcs in order to get over any obstacle in their way. This became almost essential in the much lambasted epilogue chapter; Shadow War, in which the game would slam players into difficulty ramp and force them to grind themselves out or fork up in order to get to the end of the game.
It wasn't too long after this game that 'Star Wars Battlefront 2' came out, the straw that broke the Lootbox camel's back, and so you can imagine how badly Shadow of War got caught up in the scuffle. The game ended up selling worse than Shadow of Mordor and received nothing but bad word of mouth from reviewers and influences. All of this was despite the fact that, as fans claimed, the microtransactions were "obsolete" and shouldn't have been included in the first place. After some time, Shadow of War just ended up being another casualty of avaricious tendencies and was forgotten by many gamers. But not by me.
I never picked up Shadow of War at launch, because something about the experience rubbed me the wrong way. (Lucky me.) The second I saw the 'tiered loot' system, I guessed at nefarious ends (Just as I have guessed for 'Ghost Recon: Breakpoint') and that saved me from overspending on a game that certainly did not seem to be worth it. However, I did keep an ear out for any news that I heard on the game, like it's struggles to find success and recognition. I even heard about the fact that Monolith, several months too late, made the decision to remove the storefront entirely, citing 'player feedback' as the spurring factor.
I can hold a bit of a grudge, as anyone who used to be my colleague can tell you, so I still waited for a particularly steep discount before touching this game. Fast forward to 2019, where the Season pass was so cheap that I picked that up and then went out and got the game at one of those old-world relics known as 'second hand retailers.' (Can't kick too much money Warner Bros' way.) and so there I was, ready to give this controversy of a game a try, just as I had for Battlefront 2. (Which turned out well enough) I only hoped that I would come out on the other side in one piece. (Am I being dramatic enough for you?)
Shadow of War is a game that is certainly deserving of all of it's criticism, and yet it still most certainly got a bum wrap. I say that because, whilst the developers and publishers only have themselves to blame for the backlash and under performance, the game itself (sans microtransactions) is superior to Shadow of Mordor in almost every way. The only downside I can think of is that the new game lacks some of the accessibility of the previous. In Shadow of Mordor, Talion could unlock all the tools he needed to stand up to his threats. You would have to earn some level-up points, but by the end of the game there was no scenario that you couldn't stand up to. Shadow of War muddies this with a 'choose-your-perk' system that requires players to choose between three perk modifiers which are mutually exclusive. Therefore the new Talion never quite feels as diverse as the old, as you are always balancing between abilities you need for the task and those you may need as backup. Apart from that relatively minor grip, everything else in an improvement.
The Orcs have been divided into clans that each inform their strengths, weaknesses and special abilities. You have the Orc captains spilt between Terror, Dark, Feral, Mystic, Marauder, Machine, Outlaw, Slaughter and Warmonger tribes; and every encounter with a new type of Orc feels like a different type of fight. All of that is achieved without robbing this Orcs of their trademark individuality, which is a very impressive feat. Tribes are also related to that gear system I mentioned earlier, in that Orcs of different clans drop different sets of armour and weapons. Wear pieces of the same set and find yourself imbued with unique powers as well as a matching visual flair. The level of thought that went into this tribe system is akin to what one might find in a well executed MMO, gear sets that are spread across content encouraging the players to diversify.
This level of forethought also goes into some of the game's other systems too. The whole vendetta mechanic (In which you avenge an online player by travelling to an instance of their game state and slaying their slayer.) has been granted it's very own gear set, making that aspect worthwhile this time around. Monolith saved their best, and most badass looking, sets until the final chapter however, the aforementioned 'Shadow War' grants some ringwraith themed gear as you grind through it. (Maybe that's enough to make some players forgive the grindwall entirely.)
I also believe that the characterization of Talion and Celebrimbor's relationship has been greatly improved. Before, Talion seemed to be going about his way with Celebrimbor providing, usually ignored, commentary like some sidekick. In Shadow of War, the two converse like standoffish friends that hail from different worlds and ideologies, perfect for a coupling of a human and an elf. (Or elf spirit, I guess.) There are times when you even feel a glimpse of mutual respect between the two and even some sympathy for the normal lives that neither of them could afford.
This strength of writing also expands to the many side characters that Monolith introduced. I expected little from this cast, but ended up finding each and every one to be very memorable. Don't get me wrong, these guys aren't the 'Van Der Linde gang' or anything, but I actually cared about them enough to want to see their stories through. Many scoffed when they saw Shelob presented as a human woman, but given the position of sympathy they wanted to place her in, it made sense to have the great spider undergo metamorphosis now and then. (Although, I will say that her actions in this game make me very confused as to her intentions during Return of the King.)
The large scale stronghold battles are also a welcome addition. Players must assign their captains in leadership roles for the siege and then use their siege points (acquired through questing or pick-ups) to buy siege equipment, such as war Caragors and rampaging drakes. The enemy stronghold's defences can also be breached by either smashing them up outright, or sneaking into the base beforehand and taking out the overlord's warchiefs; conveying yet another layer of strategy. It's hard not to be taken by the whole affair the first time you see your forces charge a fortress wall whilst being bombarded with arrows and ballista fire. I would say that it never gets old, but the game has you do it at least 8 times and then a potential dozen more during 'Shadow War', so that isn't true.
From here on out, all of the main points that I wish to cover in this game will be strictly related to story events and how things progress. That means that I will diving into heavy spoilers regarding the plot. If anything I have said so far has interested you and you'd rather I didn't spoil the story, then you can skip forward to my clearly titled verdict underneath it all. (Although you should definitely remember to avoid looking at the pictures between here and there, as I took some doozies.) So without further ado, let's analyse the main parts of Shadow of War's story.
Shadow of War takes place directly after the end of the last game wherein Talion declares, at Celebrimbor's insistence, that the time has come for a new ring. (I don't personally remember that scene but the flashback says it happened, so okay.) Unfortunately, the second you do craft said-ring, over the fires of Mount Doom, Celebrimbor is called from your body and flies away. Obviously this is a problem, seeing as Talion is technically dead, so Talion tracks down his wraith partner before his jugular leaks all of his vital fluids.
Eventually he finds out the Shelob has kidnapped the smith and she trades him for the new ring. From then on you lose all of your abilities from the first game because Celebrimbor apparently poured all of his power into making the ring. (Uh huh.) Shelob grants Talion visions of the future, specifically the fall of the last of Mordor's settlers, and Talion suddenly remembers his Gondorian patriotism and sets off. For the first chapter of the game, the player is reintroduced into the world by having Talion travel to Minas Ithil in order to save the last city of man in Mordor. (Funny how he forgot they existed for all of the first game.)
Whilst there he meets Baranor and Idril and uncovers a conspiracy to sell out the Gondorians, and their precious artifact; the Palantír, to the leader of the Nazgûl, The Witch-King of Angmar. (Jeez, Tolkien and his bloody names...) At this point the game slightly retcons Talion's relationship with the Nazgûl from nonexistent to a bitter rivalry. I enjoy this aspect because it pits Talion against a similarly capable threat, rather than against Sauron, a foe we know he cannot beat. The Witch-King apparently has it out for Talion and will not rest until Talion becomes one of the nine, a fate that Shelob has forseen. Before the final fight, Talion rescues his eight legged benefactor and she grants him back his ring, for reasons that are not immediately clear.
Of course, Minas Ithil eventually falls and is renamed Minas Morgul (I'm sure the change holds some significance but my Tolkien is rusty) and Talion is forced to fight off 6 ringwraiths at once in an incredibly badass fight scene. (Although, one that does deescalate some of the later encounters in the game wherein Talion is forced to fight one ringwraith at a time.) Just when he seems to be overwhelmed, he is saved, and immediately stabbed, by an elf warrior called Eltariel. Talion is spared from becoming a ringwraith and the tone is set for the rest of the game, The Witch-King is upset that he lost his prey and is looking for vengeance.
Talion wakes up, still banished from death, and meets Eltariel, who reveals herself to be an agent sent by Galadriel and armed with her light, on a mission to kill the ringwraiths. (So Galadriel hired this poor elf to kill unkillable enemies? Talk about a thankless job.) From that point on, the game world opens up and the player is tasked with systematically dismantling Sauron's hold over Mordor by taking over his forts. This starts with a highly linear take-over of the first stronghold, alongside your new 'dominated' guide Bruz the Chopper, and expands into freeform questing intercut with side character specific missions. It's a cool way to let players feel free to play whatever they want to when they want to, although this does mean that the main story feels mostly aimless until the final act.
Baranor and Idril's story is probably the least interesting side mission on offer. As the last Gondorians, they never left Mordor and it's up to Talion to convince them otherwise. This means a lot of 'rescue' quests and getting to know more about Baranor's culture as an Easterling. (That's Tolkien for 'black person'.) It starts to become apparent that Idril is on some sort of death wish and Baranor seems to be dragged along for the ride. Eventually, Talion and Baranor manage to convince the little lady that there are better things to die for and Idril finally agrees to leave with Baranor. I feel that this entire story just prolongs the story points of the first chapter and so feels a bit like padding. The only thing we learn is that Baranor and Idril seem to have something of a budding romance but, honestly, why would I care? (What is this, a VN?)
The most surprising side quest line, for me, was that of Carnan; the forest spirit. She is this huge wood-like entity that speaks in one of the most intriguingly obscure accents that I have ever heard. (I know it's eastern European but I just can't place it.) Carnan calls Talion into the forest and promptly attempts to murder him for crafting the new ring. Once they reach a resolve, she explains that new ring has summoned an undying being called Tal Goroth and that is would be really responsible of Talion to clean up his mess. "Undeath will defeat Undeath" These quests lead to the player meeting the necromantic Orc; Zog, and discovering that Tal Goroth is actually one of the coolest Lord of the Ring's monsters of all time. It's a freaking Balrog. The quest has you defeat and seal the Balrog alongside sporadic help from Carnan and eventually ends with you slaying Zog. Twice. It is honestly a really fun and varied narrative that was strong enough to hold up on it's own.
Then there was the tale of Bruz. You see, after clearing that first fort, and learning that it was being held by the, formerly presumed dead, Ratbag; Talion ends up gifting control of this fort to one of his followers. (Thus introducing the player to this system.) Unfortunately, this doesn't sit well with the team, and after defending one of your bases from a counter attack, (Another system introduction) Talion is literally stabbed in the back by Bruz. (A profoundly stupid move to do to your boss, who you know can come back from the dead.) From there evolves a humorous plot which has Talion and Ratbag team up to make an example out of Bruz and free Ratbag's friend 'Ranger' (named after Talion.) After it is all said and done, Talion defeats Bruz and, instead of out-right killing him, he uses his powers to shame Bruz so badly that he becomes deranged. (Unlocking that ability for the player.) I genuinely love this quest line, as it lets us see much about the relationship between Talion and his Orcs. (A dynamic that has only existed in our heads beforehand.) We see that, although he brainwashes a lot of them and treats them as disposable fodder, he can can come to actually care about a select few. We also see the extent of his mercilessness when he reduces the, once proud, Bruz to a gibbering wreck and then leaves him like that. A fate worse than death for one such as him.
Eltariel's narrative is essentially just the main plot, although not exactly framed as such, but I will treat her tale as though it is. Her missions revolve around hunting down the Nazgûl and learning more about what they are and how they came to be. It also provides an interesting perspective on the gameplay mechanics, as Eltariel admonished the player for 'dominating' orcs, claiming that it is akin to slavery. (Although, she doesn't think twice about killing them so, pot meet kettle) She is also highly critical of Celebrimbor, claiming him to be just as bad as Saruon and wondering when her mission parameters will expand to slaying him. Shadow of Mordor expands upon the Nazgûl lore by introducing a plethora of new stories attached to the ringwraiths. (Previously only two were named.) And even teaching us that Isildur, ancestor to Aragon, was turned to a necromantic ringwraith after his death. I enjoyed these levels as they delved deeper into the lore of the Nazgûl through the only character you could achieve such a dialogue through, another wraith. Plus, I enjoyed Eltariel's way of changing our perspective on how to feel about our plans. If we slay Sauron only to take his place then what have we accomplished? (Oh, I go all tingly for these 'become the evil you sought to destroy' narratives!)
After you take all of the forts of Mordor, except for the one in the desert which is inexplicably labelled as 'optional', you turn your sights upon the tower of Barad-dûr. What follows is a gauntlet of battles across the bridge to the end in which you'll find yourself facing off against all of the Orcs that you pissed off in the main campaign. Luckily, you have all of your Overlords and Eltariel by your side to fight the good fight. The battle is capped off with a one on one with Isildur, the one ringwraith that you never managed to defeat, and you finally get to banish him and see what a vision of his past. At this point you learn that Celebrimbor was still working with Sauron when Isildur was enslaved from death and Talion is immediately repulsed. Celebrimbor tries to wave that aside and convince Talion to enslave Isildur so that they can use him to defeat Sauron. At that moment, Talion realizes that everyone was right, it isn't the magic of the ring that corrupts people, it's power itself.
Talion removes Isildur's ring and frees his spirit to the land of the death, much to Celebrimbor's dismay. They have a confrontation to which Celebrimbor explains that they cannot kill Sauron and that is been his plan to dominate the Dark Lord all along. (Oh god, I just realized the connotations behind the word 'dominate'. Well, I'm 30-odd paragraphs in, too late to change it now.) Surprisingly, Eltariel agrees with Celebrimbor, I suppose being forced to kill the unkillable for the last 50 years will do that to you. Talion outright refuses to stoop to this level "This is not the ending that I fought for!" he screams. But Celebrimbor simply points out that he isn't the only one who has been fighting. At that, the smith leaves Talion's body and hands the ring over to Eltariel, leaving the Gondorian to choke on his blood as his jugular opens up once again. And so they leave him there to die and go on to fight the Dark Lord together.
I must say, at this point I was thoroughly impressed by how the narrative had gone and was incredibly excited to see it to fruition. I understood Monolith's decision to move Talion's rival from Sauron to The Witch-King of Angmar, but there is a problem there; both of those beings are killed in the books, Talion cannot definitively defeat either of them. I thought that their solution would be to have Eltariel become the big threat that Talion has to defeat, thus giving him a foe that he is canonically allowed to kill. Unfortunately, they had other plans for the elf, so Monolith didn't quite go that route just yet.
Whilst he is dying on the bridge, Shelob's spiders crawl over to Talion in order to commune him with their mother. There Shelob commends him for amending the vision that she saw, explaining that she witnessed Talion and Celebrimbor defeating Sauron and taking his place, changing nothing. (Kind of insulted that you felt the need to spell that one out to me, Monolith.) But she also tells Talion that his work isn't over yet, and that someone needs to hold the forces of Mordor at bay whilst the armies of man prepare to thwart the Dark Lord. Talion is unsure how he can do that, given how he is soon to be dead, until he remembers the tool lying right next to him. He then opens his eyes and reaches over to Isildur's ring, vowing to hold Mordor for as long as he holds breath.
From this point onwards, the player loses the powers of Celebrimbor and gains the abilities of a necromancer, which includes the power to raise Orcs from the dead. Talion also adopts an incredibly pale complexion and starts donning hoods and capes, like a goth school girl. Goth-Talion storms Minas Morgul and finds himself fighting a one on one with the Witch-King. (Funny, considering how the entire lore around the Witch-King is a trussed up cautionary tale about how one cannot defeat evil on their own.) So Goth-Talion defeats the Witch-King on his own, and then takes back the Palantír just in time to see his traitor friends go toe-to-toe with the big bad.
The rest of the game has Talion single-handily hold off against the endless assault of Sauron's forces in order to stop their march on the rest of humanity. This section is known as 'Shadow War' and it is easily the most contentious part of the game. This part of the game has no story and is just a pseudo-turn based affair in which your bases get assaulted by increasingly high level Orcs. This part is pure grind and designed to wear down the player and make them willing to spend on microtransactions. Except, you can't do that anymore, so now it's just a poorly designed slog. This is the part of the game where I stopped actively playing. Luckily, Monolith knew of this problem and redesigned the game so that the final cut scene unlocks after the first round, so I got some closure at least.
As the years go by, Talion is worn down from wearing Isildur's ring. The rings of the wraiths were all designed to subjugate the wearer and Talion knows that one day he will succumb to a similar fate to the other wearers. But until then he resists the urge and stands vigilant against the wraiths. From here, the story is intercut with the two DLC's and so I'll try to cover them in some sort of order.
Eventually, you fight to a standstill (Unless you lose, in which case Talion just kills your ass.) and Talion reveals that he hasn't fallen to the ring yet. (But they still fought because we're operating on Batman vs Superman logic here.) Talion and Eltariel then form an alliance to hold off against the ringwraiths together. I did appreciate how can see that Eltariel has actually begun to care about her human friend, She is even shown to be reluctant about the inevitability of having to put him down. (Or perhaps that is just the guilt of having put him in this situation to begin with.)
As Eltariel has sworn off of dominating her opponents, (Apparently losing her fingers helped her grow a conscious) she instead dedicates herself to winning over Orcs by doing odd jobs. This DLC features many incredibly unique Orcs for Eltariel to win over to her cause, all with their own personalities and goals. Soon she had built her own army, alongside Talion, to retake the fortress of Gorgaroth from the dominion of two rogue ringwraiths known as The Sisters. They manage to win back their fortress and Eltariel then sees into the mind of these former princesses, discovering them to be of some Japanese decent. (Or whatever the Tolkien equivalent to Japan is.)
Cue the Lord of the Rings riff as Talion suddenly doesn't quite feel like surrendering the power he has grown accustomed to. Seeing her friend slip, Eltariel begs Talion not to betray the man he was. This sets Talion off as he questions who she is to speak of betrayal. (Way to put your foot in it, El) Obviously, this means that we have one last battle with our former protagonist in which Eltariel defeats and banishes Talion. (Whilst forgetting to take his ring, so ensuring that he would come back.) Overall, this was my favourite DLC that the game had to offer, purely because of how fun it was to play as Eltariel. Her elfish mobility completely suits this kind of game and I would love to see what they could do with her as a main protagonist down the line, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
The Blade of Galadriel replays this same scene with the added bonus of watching a small silver light escape Barad-dûr before it collapses, witnessed by Eltariel. She notices that her ring seems to react to the light, indicating that it is the spirit of Celebrimbor, and that she is duty-bound to hunt him down. Monolith leave us there with that potent bit of sequel bait, despite how many misgivings I have about another Lord of the Rings game set after the events of Lord of the Rings. Are you even allowed to do that? Isn't the death of Sauron supposed to represent the dissolution of all evil, no matter how unrealistic that concept is? Should the Tolkien estate put a stop to this?
Verdict
Shadow of War did exactly what one would want from a sequel to a game that was basically a tech demo, it took all of those mechanics and put it in a story that realized it's potential. Unlike 'Mirror's Edge: Catalyst', which was a similar project that failed to pull together a compelling narrative, Shadow of War, elevates it's storytelling far above the first game towards a calibre that I will happily call: serviceable. You won't find yourself emotionally hooked to every character, but you might just care enough to see the story through to the end and be excited for a potential sequel. (If Monolith can pitch it right.)
From a gameplay perspective, Shadow of War is one of the better action adventure games of it's kind. The combat may not be revolutionary, but it is masterful in it's simplicity. People often compare these games to the Arkham series, in terms of combat, but I honestly feel like this game goes so far as to eclipse Arkham's combat, in diversity and challenge. The DLC also succeeded in changing up gameplay enough to make things feel fresh and exciting. (Again, Eltariel played so well that I wish she was the main character.)
Ultimately, if you were a fan of Shadow of Mordor, you will love Shadow of War, it is everything that the first game was but improved. You may get a sour taste in your mouth when you see the elements of the game that were built for the, now absent, monetisation systems, (Like the entirety of Chapter 4) but the core experience is strong enough that you will remember the good times above all. I highly recommend Shadow of War, especially for the low price that it is retailing at now, pick it up and go nuts. And if you took the time to read through this entire blog, thank you so much for your sacrifice and I'm so, so sorry. Now go play some games!
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