Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™

I love this game. I also enjoy the story, even if it's not cannon. Also enjoy the cutscenes with Shelob and Celebrimbor.

I loved Shadow of Mordor. Shadow of War seems epic by comparison. I've tried to get into it multiple times over 5 years to get into it, but the controls are just absolute garbage. Shadow of Mordor also had weird controls for climbing, but I was able to adjust. I cannot for this game. Everything I do just feels like a frustration fest. Some people are able to get past it for the cool game, but I cannot. It was a complete waste of time and money for me. Doesn't feel like the devs played it. If you like Lord of the Rings, this is like a comic book. Not quite true to story, but cool. The second game feels like it has a lazy story built around cool mechanics, but the first game is incredibly good in all aspects. Was sad when it was over.

Mindless fun of slashing and dicing everything bad in Mordor. Nemesis system is great too bad WB is keeping it locked.

I refuse to play a game where I have to folder diving and file editing every time I want to play. For a game from 2017. Because of an issue that's 7 years old.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive, is an ambitious action-adventure RPG that expands upon the strong foundation set by its predecessor, Shadow of Mordor. Set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s richly imagined universe, the game places players once again in the role of Talion, a ranger fused with the spirit of the Elven wraith Celebrimbor. Together, they forge a new Ring of Power and attempt to challenge Sauron’s growing dominion over Mordor. What follows is an expansive, brutal, and deeply immersive experience that blends fluid combat, deep lore, and a truly innovative AI system. The game’s standout feature remains its refined Nemesis System, which dynamically generates enemy orc captains with unique personalities, traits, strengths, and grudges. These enemies remember encounters, adapt to your tactics, and react to your victories or defeats, creating emergent storytelling that’s often more compelling than the main narrative. The system is further enhanced in Shadow of War with the addition of fortress assaults and ally recruitment. Conquering strongholds and building your own orc army adds a compelling layer of strategy and long-term planning that gives players a sense of real power and consequence. Combat is fast, responsive, and layered—mixing Batman-style counter mechanics with supernatural abilities granted by Celebrimbor. Stealth, ranged, and melee combat are all viable paths, and the skill tree offers robust customization to fit a variety of playstyles. The game also boasts large, visually diverse regions of Mordor to explore, each filled with side quests, collectibles, lore entries, and enemy patrols that make the world feel dangerous and alive. The visual fidelity, from the orcs’ grotesque detailing to the sweeping environmental design, is impressive, and the voice acting—especially from the orcs—adds character and dark humor. That said, Shadow of War had a rocky launch due to its controversial microtransactions and loot system, which many felt undermined the core gameplay loop. Fortunately, Monolith responded by removing the marketplace in a major post-launch update, making the endgame more enjoyable and removing the sense of artificial grind. While the main story occasionally stumbles with pacing and leans into melodrama, the richness of the world and the player-driven narratives through the Nemesis System more than make up for it. In the end, Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a bold, content-rich sequel that delivers a thrilling sandbox of orc-slaying, kingdom-conquering, and power-wielding fantasy. Its deep systems, satisfying combat, and memorable emergent storytelling make it a must-play for fans of action RPGs and Tolkien’s lore alike. Despite early missteps, the game now stands as a refined and deeply enjoyable experience—one where every battle feels personal, and every victory echoes through Mordor. Rating: 8/10

Game Constantly Crashes after 1-2hrs. This is not a rare thing if look around this is pretty much standard normal with this game and well as can see this far down the line its never going to be fixed on their end.

The game overall is fine, but the controls are terrible. Characters are often jumping in random directions, or attacking some guy just standing somewhere. Further into the game they make opponents 'Harder' by just giving them more and more health until the whole fight is just slapping leaders in a corner for 5 min while occasionally running off to get health because you are being poked to death by archers. Fun when it came out but it does not hold up

It hasn't been long since I found out about the game. But been totally addicted to it. If you're a fan of Assassin's Creed, The Witcher etc then you're gonna love Shadow of War as well 🔥 Such a thrilling experience can't be expressed in words only, so check it out. Highly recommended💯

tried to play but gave up after 20 crashes . Running 5800x3d+4090 and i cant go past the first 2-3 checkpoints before the gpu stops accepting commands. Its a known issue, people talk about it on several forums (some suggest large paging but it didnt help me ) , noone has bothered to do something about it and apparently the only solution is to roll back my drivers which will then cause problems in other games that i play . Dont waste your money , support that doesnt solve a 5yr old problem for a game thats really not that old and belongs to an iconic UP , doesnt deserve it .

only like 50% of what you do is actually reflected on screen, this game tries to play itself and it's doing it very badly, not to mention the constant interruptions that take 20 seconds to finish, the unexplained controls, the over explained controls, and buttons that do not work because the game didn't predict you would press it. and I HATE!!!! the movement so so so damn much. the fantasy is very cool, everything is so close to feeling good, but the game is just so scared to let you hold the damn controller

I wish I could say better about this game, because the gameplay and systems, especially the nemesis system, is absolutely amazing. However, this game spits in Tolkien's face in the worst ways possible. It disregards just about everything. It gets most the lore in Middle Earth wrong and is nothing more than an insulting fanfic of a game. Somehow worse than anything else ever made for Middle Earth in the history of man. And that's including Amazon's attempts.

This game suffers from the same dumb gimmick that EVERY single sandbox crawler has - IF YOU CAN CLIMB IT, YOU WILL STICK TO IT, EVEN WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO. Every single game is like this - you can climb any surface so naturally, whenever you come into contact with ANY surface, you want to cling to it like spider-man, right? It's so very annoying to be trying to run, jump, fight enemies all while trying to UNSTICK MYSELF from every barrel, wall, rope, swing, slightly elevated surface I come into contact with. I hate that this game has so many abilities tied to 1 or 2 buttons, so the climb button is the same as everything else. The controls are a goddamn nightmare. The story is fine. I don't know, some shit about revenge for his wife or some garbage. I can't get over how stupid and annoying the controls are.

Love the game and its variety of uruks and ologs and their variety of looks and personalities fuck no chance though

Giving it a negative review purely because they've done nothing with the nemesis patent and it hinders other devs making good games with this mechanic.

Still an awesome game with two good expansions. Recommend during the Summer Sale of 2025 for sure. It's a steal and worth hundreds of hours of fun if this is your jam. The Nemesis System is still a unique, wonderful mechanic and we won't really see anything comparable for a very long time, especially after WB patented it and then suffered a complete failure of imagination.

I liked this game but it gets boring once you get to mid-game. It has pretty good visuals and a modest amount of lore for LoTR enthusiasts. If you can get it on sale, and are into Lord of the Rings - then it’s a good buy. Otherwise, it has a fairly repetitive gameplay loop and I think the RPG elements are a bit too limited.

Quite the fun game even if you're not a LOTR fanboy. The nemesis system is one of the best game systems I've ever played. It adds an extra level of fun that is hard to beat. The story is pretty decent and the combat is satisfying even if it's a little basic. My only real issue is the lack of a manual save and only one save slot. I dont trust auto saves so I have to fast travel somewhere every time I want to save...and even then there is no save indicator so you're just hoping against hope it saved. I get dying is supposed to add a new layer as it levels up your enemy and makes him like a rival but, making a instant auto-save on death and not allowing a manual or second save slot almost ruined the game for me. And it definitely takes a star or 2 off for me.

I played this game on console and beat it long ago, now I finally am deciding to replay it and man its still so good. I swear if WB Games doesn't make a 3rd game with the nemesis system... Rip Monolith and for now it seems, rip Nemesis system.

Easily one the best games ever made, Brutal difficulty truly makes the Nemesis System shine as a mechanic but is such a shame that we likely wont ever see it again. And I was super sad to hear that the Nemesis Forge from Shadow of Mordor was no longer active so my Nemesis and Greatest Follower dont follow me over anymore

While it sucks that we gamers may never see the nemesis system implemented again, it's still a blast to enjoy what could've been while Batmanning my way through Mordor.

great game, can get a bit repetative tho but the combat is fun and challenging worth the buy

Its old Assassin's Creed with better play, set in the world of LOTR with the ever sought-after nemesis system. This game is basically perfect and the difficulty is as difficult or easy as your play-style suits. I played this game back in the day and recently purchased it on PC and it still holds up as one of the GOATS!

Coming back to this after years of not understanding what I was doing is honestly a treat. Combat in this game is top notch, feel like a god raising your own army. Great game

I only recently started playing this game, and I'm seven hours in. I'm glad I'm played the previous game Shadow of Mordor since it prepares you for this game. This game feels more polished than SoM and the areas feel larger. If you were thinking of purchasing this game, I recommend getting the bundle with SoM included so that you can play these in order. Otherwise jumping straight into this game might be a bit confusing if you don't know the SoM story. This game is frequently on sale and still a lot of fun in 2025.

Just the dynamic and the battle army strategy speaks for itself. Story on point, either main and DLC!

This game is a masterpiece and puffs my Cheeto every time I play it. 6,000,000/10.

Great use of the Nemesis system; combat is excellent, but sometimes repetitive. The story and graphics are both top-notch, but I wouldn't suggest this as a first foray into the world of The Lord of the Rings.

I love Lord of the Rings and everything that is epic swords, dragons all that good stuff but don't know all details and every bit of lore etc. This game is solid 10/10. Basically you are an undead Aragorn (Talion) fused with a racist ghost Legolas (Celebrimbor) going around unaliving orcs, ologs and everything evil in middle earth or making them obey you to join your army against The Witch King. The story is good The combat is absolute cinema with great movements It lets you explore on your own pace and the way you want. Your actions and choices affect your gameplay BUT there is no good option or bad option which is the best part. Absolute masterpiece.

Cons: Stealth is a bit too easy. Fights are easy to cheese. Hardest difficulty provides very little challange. Pros: I get to touch orc faces all day. I get to touch orc faces all day. I get to touch orc faces all day. I get to touch orc faces all day. I get to build a fun team trying to take over forts and other players forts.

I really recommend this game, especially if you’ve played the original. It improves on the gameplay of the first one and adds even more content. The gameplay really hooked me — I managed to finish everything in the game. The graphics are good, and the mechanics are great. The Nemesis system is still present and just as impressive. If you like the Batman Arkham series or Assassin’s Creed, I suggest giving this game a try. Highly recommended!

Ive played shadow of mordor and i thought that was fun... But shadow of War? Damn... Ive played all dlcs, collected every collectible and yet i still play it, because the game mechanics are just fun.

i like the nemisis system, the game is best played on gravewalker difficulty, which is very hard at first, but makes a very unique story for whoever plays it.

The flow is fun and engaging, I love the personality that they gave the orcs! Nemesis system is so interesting!

Good game with some flaws. Good: Cool combat system. All the different skills and enemy captain resistances give combat a good variety and keep it interesting. Big variety in different interesting captains Offline fight pits. Pretty fun to watch your favorite captains smash other captains in the fight pits and even if they lose you end up with a new strong captain. Bad: The shop system and ingame money. Seems pay to win oriented and doesnt belong in a mostly single player game. Online fight pits are definitely rigged in your oponents favor. Enemy captains and units spam their attacks while your captain and units barely do anything. Some fights I think my captains units didnt perform a single attack. Neutral: Decent story

Shadow of war is a very good game however for only a few reasons. Firstly, the only reason that it is good is because of the nemesis system. Otherwise it could be better with a few things such as the graphics. While it is open world i was able to walk for a good two minutes before i was ambushed betrayed and hit twelve times by an olog. during that time i killed two captains. Why? because i felt like it. |Another good thing about this is turninggggggggggggggggggggg slave into captain. REJHAHHAHAHHAHAHAH 7.9/10

One of the best games on the market, great combat, brutal story and a lot of gameplay after completing the main story 10/10 GAME

If you're on the fence about buying it, stop complaining and just buy it. I promise that you won't regret it...

Shadows of war is a weird game for me because it jumps back and forth from being a decent 'passable' game, to a Great and addicting one. While feeling like a chore sometimes, the combat, stealth, and nemesis system make up for it and keep the game consistently enjoyable. IMO, while the story gets weird, it ultimately wraps up beautifully; with Talion getting the ending he's long deserved and concluding the series after countless long fought and arduous battles. Combat is occasionally buggy, and the complexity of the nemesis system sometimes make the AI act weirdly. These bugs however are relatively minor and were only noticeable for me once they being happening consistently in the grind throughout the late game. And the AI only begins acting weird if you absolutely CULL the orc leadership pool. The game's overall performance generally overshadows these issues, however. All in all, the game is a very solid 8/10. WB gaming is doo doo btw

Have always and will always love this game. Also my kid is super into it and likes to know all of the Orc's names and what they're afraid of.

The juice ain't worth the squeeze. Overall the game is very grindy for a single-player game. Gear progression is painfully slow, all remnants of the aggressive monetization, that got removed at some point. Story is alright, but a lot of important elements are just retold by an NPC, ending is ruined. Gameplay is generally good, but controls are clunky at times, sometimes Talion just priorities the wrong thing (like climbing over dodging, or special attack on grunt instead of leader)

very unique mix of different gameplays which all work out greatly together

Still one of my favorite games, its just great, we absolutely need a successor.

It has everything good from the last game and adds bigger fights and more gore

Middle-earth: Shadow of War — 18.6 h played Score: 8 / 10 (Recommended but not essential) The Nemesis System still delivers the most dynamic, personalized villains in any open-world action game, and the fortress-assault layer makes those rivalries feel meaningful. But repetitive regions and B-movie story beats prevent it from reaching true classic status. ### What made it worth the time * **Evolved Nemesis drama** – Uruk captains remember every humiliation, come back with counter-traits, and sometimes betray you mid-siege. Turning an orc who once executed me into my personal bodyguard never gets old. * **Fortress sieges** – Recruit an orc strike team, breach walls with graug artillery, duel the overlord in the throne room. Tactically swapping bodyguards mid-siege rewards all the Nemesis grooming. * **Fluid Arkham-style combat** – Still the slickest melee in a Tolkien game: perfect-timed counters, elemental gear, wraith finishers, and just enough punishment to keep you on your toes. * **No more loot-box grind** – 2019 Definitive Edition patch removed microtransactions and rebalanced Act IV’s Shadow Wars, so the late-game no longer feels like a cash grab. * **Follower banter & betrayals** – Orcs sing about your exploits, then sometimes back-stab you for drama points. It’s procedural storytelling done right. ### What held it back | Issue | Why it matters | |-------|----------------| | **Recycled map layout** | Five regions share similar outpost templates; once you’ve cleared one, the wow factor drops fast. | | **Lore-light blockbuster plot** | Talion’s broody arc and Celebrimbor’s one-liner rivalry won’t win Tolkien purists; emotional stakes feel Marvel-lite. | | **Gear menu clutter** | Gems, gear tiers, and perk slots stack on top of a sprawling skill tree—manageable, but busier than it needs to be. | | **Performance dips in big sieges** | Huge orc waves can drop below 60 fps on an i7-11700K / RTX 3090 at 1440p Ultra. | ### Final verdict If you love the idea of building your own orc hit squad and storming fortresses they once defended, Shadow of War (Definitive Edition) is still an easy recommendation—especially now that the microtransactions are dead. Accept the recycled outposts and pulpy plot, and you’ll find one of the most replayable action sandboxes of the last decade.

This game is amazing. A really well driven story game. Great gameplay mechanics. They need to make a sequal where they remake the whole story and add him as a nazgul

Great, cheap now, for more or less 100 hours game really worth it

Good game -combine both and you will have a much better game

A person can get stuck in a level ad infinitum. That is a problem. I have started to figure out the game, but for some reason, I was a bit slow. I've enjoyed fighting the various bosses, although some can be maddeningly difficult to defeat. But, just as with David and Goliath, each boss has a weakness that can be exploited.

Good story and creative gameplay especially with the orc pvp arena

Put quite a few hours into this game over multiple accounts and consoles, might be my favorite game oat👍