What We Know So Far
In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, we see the return of Talion and his wraith companion Celebrimbor as they take the fight straight to Sauron and his dark army around Mordor and beyond. As the follow-up to GameSpot's 2014 Game of the Year, the developers at Monolith Productions have significantly enhanced the game with a much larger scale in combat and exploration, an expanded loot system, and an extension to the incredible Nemesis System in the recruitment of allies. Though the game saw a rather unexpected delay recently, the developers are confidant that it will be worth the wait.
Below you can find articles highlighting important details we know about the game thus far:
- Middle-earth: Shadow Of War Release Date Delayed
- Nintendo Switch Not Getting Middle-earth: Shadow of War
- Shadow Of War Dev On Creating Mordor Sequel: "If We Fail, We're Doomed"
- New Middle-earth: Shadow Of War Trailer Shows Off The Open World
- Xbox Is A Marketing Partner For Middle-earth: Shadow Of War, Dev Talks Project Scorpio
- Shadow Of War's Dev On New Nemesis System, Movie Connections, And Larger World
What's Confirmed For E3
Though nothing has been directly confirmed yet, we can expect to see the game on stage at the Microsoft press conference, as Xbox is now a marketing partner for the game. Though it was just announced back in March, WB Games have been surprisingly generous with details about the game and has released a sizable amount of video footage for the game. And given that the game will be out later this year, it's likely we'll see more generous helpings of footage and impressions from the game.
What We Hope To See At E3
Given its stance on recontextualizing Tolkien lore and showing off sides of the world that are rarely seen in the films and books, it would be really wonderful to see more characters from the source material in Shadow of War. The one thing going through the back of every Tolkien fan's mind is who else is going to show up in this game? Of course, this game is about Talion and Celebrimbor's story, and the developers have their own fiction to work on, but it would be a really special moment to see one of the characters from the films show up during Middle-earth's E3 showing.
If that's too much to hope for, then what WB Games and Monolith Productions can really do is show off more of the open-world gameplay. Given the expanded scope, and how the enhanced NPC systems are also getting a buff, it would be really exciting to see how those systems come to blows in epic fashion. Tolkien's universe does the epic scale well, and it would be very satisfying to see it within the context of Shadow of War, which is looking to be more ambitious than its predecessor by a country mile.
