2.5/5 ★ – peacebrendanp's review of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

This game has not aged as gracefully as I remember it in my memories. I made the choice to return to this 2-game-run of a series, because I have only played through each entry one time. Also, because this game uses the "free-flow" combat system that the Arkham games used, and this seemed like a nice direction to go with my next run of games. It's been over a decade since playing Shadow of Mordor, and while I think it holds up in some aspects, there are just so many things that are equally stacked against it. The story is a mess, and a bore-fest. Each cutscene was un-interesting. The game starts out on a high-note; I think the original motivation for the main-character is good: to get revenge. However, the story then turns into just non-sense. I guess, in the end the story is somewhat completed, but I thought the foreshadowing to take the fight to Sauron was a little silly, given that we know he would only ever be defeated by Frodo. Regardless, I guess it's a decent foreshadow to taking the fight to his armies. All characters are uninteresting. All side-missions are uninspired. Weapon runes feel inspired from mobile games, which makes all runes feel not very useful (not entirely true, just annoying to engage with). This game feels like it could have single-handedly started the open-world game fatigue. It just all feels like meaningless filler and fluff. The combat, while brutal and cool to watch for the first few hours, starts to feel limited, and lacking depth after spending some time with it. It does not feel precise. It feels repetitive. That being said, there is still some fun to be had with it. Ragdolls feel fun to throw around, and there is a decent foundation built here. The climbing is inspired by Assassin's Creed, and feels mostly good to use. Though, it mimics those early games by feeling a bit finicky at times. Traversing the world, in general, is so mid. It's essentially you just running around, but your character doesn't have much weight to his movements. There are button prompts on screen, that only pop-up when you hop over an obstacle, that will give you a temporary speed boost. It's engaging, I guess? It's not a terrible idea, but feels underbaked. Hell, most of the game feels underbaked here. You can also get a mount, but I never really wanted to do that. The star of the show here is the Nemesis System. The trademarked system implemented into this game, which allows uruks to have personalities. Not only that, as you kill uruks or possess them, you can alter the hierarchy of their armies. It creates some genuinely interesting situations. But, for me, it ends there. It's cool to kill an uruk, only for them to come back all mangled seeking revenge. However, I didn't really want to engage with all the missions that would actually have impact on the armies. I wish there was more fluidity here. That's how I feel about the game: everything is a good idea, it's just all underbaked. Maybe the technology wasn't there at the time? Maybe I'm being too harsh, given this game came out in 2014? I'm unsure. What I do know, is that there is probably something here for folks that have never played this game. The combat and stealth is fun in the first few hours, and while it does evolve with interesting ideas, it never got deep enough for me to enjoy it to it's fullest potential. The story was unintriguing to me, with characters that can be forgotten the moment you meet them. The abilities in the game are cool, but due to terrible mission pacing, you won't be unlocking all of them by the end of the game, and the main abilities that the story gives you, they don't dish some of them out until the end. That's fine, except some of those abilities literally are the whole selling point of the game, which is to play around with the Nemesis System. Everything here is just more disappointing than I remember. The game doesn't even really feel like a Lord of The Rings game? Except for lore-drops, Uruks, and some general visual vibes, I'm not quite sure I was a fan of this. I will say, having uruks being manipulated by the Nemesis System is really fun, and seems somewhat appropriate. And, there are times where there are a crazy amount of enemies on screen, which definitely feels formidable, but there's a lack of large-scale battles here. The environments are pretty enough, despite there only being two different areas to explore. Though, they are not that fun to explore. They differ visually, which is at least nice. But, they feel pretty hollow and empty. The graphics, in general, have aged decently. Those elements, as well as some actual gameplay elements, have all aged fine. I just think the actual design of the game has aged poorly. I don't have much more to say. This was really just a slog for me to get through, and 12-hours was probably too long. I did some side-missions at first, when I was enjoying the game. Nemesis System aside, I wish this game was more of a linear experience. Also, for a game where your main-weapon is a sword, and you are fighting brutal uruks that are swinging there swords around, you don't really slash with it much. Some of the combat moves are pretty cool, but I just wanted to note that. I thought it was really weird. Why does Talion have straw for hair? Again, this game is probably a decent time for a first-time playthrough, or for someone who really likes Lord of The Rings, but honestly, this game appealed very little to me this time around. I'm super hesitant to move onto the second game, but I will give it a go, hoping that the 3-year development cycle provided enough time to improve upon the systems built-out here. Console Played On: PC (Steam) Game Played: 01/2025 - 01/2025 Review Written and Published: 01/12/2025