Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Gameplay: High Fantasy Assassin's Creed

[Cognimancer]

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Gameplay: High Fantasy Assassin's Creed


Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor blends familiar stealth gameplay with an impressive system of unique, procedurally-generated enemies.

If Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129576-Middle-earth-Shadow-of-Mordor-Announced-Original-Story-in-Tolkien-Universe] isn't on your radar yet, you might want to fix that. The game's first few minutes of gameplay footage may remind you of a few recent titles, but it mixes several interesting new ideas into its tried-and-true core mechanics. One of the most impressive of these new ideas is the Nemesis system: your assassination targets are part of a procedurally generated command structure, and your interactions with them will result in a series of encounters unique to your session.

Shadow of Mordor revolves around a Ranger of Gondor called Talion, waging a one-man war against Sauron and his army of Uruk-hai. He can't quite do it alone, though: you'll target Orc leaders and work your way up the chain of command, assassinating threats and using your borderline fan-fiction Wraith powers to enthrall others. Subverting the Orc infrastructure is key to your success in the long run, since every war chief you dominate allows you to use his underlings as double agents behind enemy lines.

The Nemesis system is equally intriguing: enemies will learn your reputation, and your past encounters will shape the way they react. In the video, Talion has evidently encountered his target before, and left him with a grievous wound. The next time they meet, that personal history is evident in the Orc's appearance and dialogue. Right now it doesn't look like much more than a gimmick, but keep in mind that this is a pre-alpha version of the game. Expect to see all these systems grow much more robust by the time of release.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is slated for release later this year for PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Source: IGN [http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/23/orcs-are-no-longer-the-scariest-thing-in-mordor]

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[cricket chirps]

When i read about this in GameInformer it quickly became my most anticipated game. I'm sure the "unique enemies" and "personal interactions" will all be part of just one big pool of possibilities that will repeat or run out eventually but that is still one of the coolest features I've seen a developer put into a game.
Count me among the excited skeptics.

They are also supposedly making the AI in the game compete for positions in the chain of command. As well, apparently your character resurrects when defeated but time passes/jumps each time you do. So if you start messing up a lot, your failures could move others up the ladder and change the game. It all sounds like a huge scope but hopefully its a working, fun, and structurally sound giant scope.

 

[Fox12]

As much as I hate AC, I have to admit this looks vaguely interesting. I love LotR, and the proceduraly generated enemies could be a really cool mechanic.

 

[Canadish]

Pre-Alpha my ass. Not fallin' for that line of bullshit again after the Rome 2 fiasco.

You weren't kidding about the Assassin's Creed thing either, I swear they've pinched the same engine and animations. Having eagle-vision on top of everything was the icing on the cake. Although, there seems to be more focus on assassinations than in Assassin's Creed...

Looks interesting anyway, it seems they're not just farting out another cash-in brawler title.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Pre-Alpha my ass. Not fallin' for that line of bullshit again after the Rome 2 fiasco.

You weren't kidding about the Assassin's Creed thing either, I swear they've pinched the same engine and animations. Having eagle-vision on top of everything was the icing on the cake. Although, there seems to be more focus on assassinations than in Assassin's Creed...

Looks interesting anyway, it seems they're not just farting out another cash-in brawler title.

The tie-in games for the Xbox/PS2/Gamecube generation were actually really fun, I think. You're right about Conquest though, which was one of the more crushing disappointments for me in recent years.

 

[The_Darkness]

Hey, it's Assassins Creed - but, you know, with some actual Assassinating!

And it's in a fantasy setting, with some sweet graphics, a combat system which looks vaguely Arkham-esque (not a bad thing), though if that's all procedural then I'll happily eat my hat. There's a reason that procedural plotlines usually don't have voiced dialogue...

Okay. Excited now. And I don't even need to worry about getting a new console for it.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and wait for the reviews...

(Did the white hand magic thing remind anyone else of Saruman?)

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Interesting gameplay. Sure it looks like AC, but there's some other interesting things added in that I think make it quite worth playing... definitely going to keep this on radar.

 

[Baresark]

Assassin's Creed when it was about actually assassinating. I'm looking forward to this game, it looks very interesting.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Assassins Creed 5: Assassin of Mordor.

Anyway this does look very interesting indeed. I'm just hoping they put plenty of depth into the game and not just stick in some arbitrary plot points that you may or may not get, but who cares. I'd hate to see these kinds of ideas go to waste.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Seems interesting, but they better have a good explanation on how the main character can have a Wraith sticking to him and not, you know, die. Or be evil.

To become a Wraith you kinda need to have been brought back to life by dark sorcery. Or get fatally stabbed with a Morgul blade. Or be a ringbearer and have succumbed to the will of Sauron. All of these would put you firmly in the evil camp. The mind control thing also seems closer to the Barrow-wights, dark spirits sent by the Witch-King. Again, evil.

Maybe I'm being anal about this, but it just bothers me to have something which has always been shown to be on Team Mordor go with the other side.

 

[Outcast107]

Seems interesting, but they better have a good explanation on how the main character can have a Wraith sticking to him and not, you know, die. Or be evil.

To become a Wraith you kinda need to have been brought back to life by dark sorcery. Or get fatally stabbed with a Morgul blade. Or be a ringbearer and have succumbed to the will of Sauron. All of these would put you firmly in the evil camp. The mind control thing also seems closer to the Barrow-wights, dark spirits sent by the Witch-King. Again, evil.

Maybe I'm being anal about this, but it just bothers me to have something which has always been shown to be on Team Mordor go with the other side.

From the way the main guy talks, I doubt he is a good guy. Most likely someone just wants to get back at Sauron. Which doesn't really mean a "good" guy per say. Though it was just a few bits and pieces of dialogue so who knows really.

 

[DalekJaas]

Whats with the design for Sauron's eye? It looked fine in the movies why change it?

And how can their be Uruks? Is an Uruk different from Uruk Hai? I wish these games would stick more to the films in terms of their design choices. I don't really like the human possessed by a wraith thing, I don't think there is a precedent for that in Tolkien's lore.

This game should feature the Mouth of Sauron shouldn't it? Hopefully same voice actor and design from the movies.

 

[Incomer]

Seems interesting, but they better have a good explanation on how the main character can have a Wraith sticking to him and not, you know, die. Or be evil.

To become a Wraith you kinda need to have been brought back to life by dark sorcery. Or get fatally stabbed with a Morgul blade. Or be a ringbearer and have succumbed to the will of Sauron. All of these would put you firmly in the evil camp. The mind control thing also seems closer to the Barrow-wights, dark spirits sent by the Witch-King. Again, evil.

Maybe I'm being anal about this, but it just bothers me to have something which has always been shown to be on Team Mordor go with the other side.

Weren't the undead guys who went with Aragorn to save Minas Tirith also wraiths? :] I think all you need to become wraith is to be cursed before death. And they seem to have free will so if one of them feels like sticking around and messing with the Mordor for whatever reason then we have explanation I can get behind.

Also after a long time we might get a main protagonist who's not a peace loving good hearted paragon of light... YAY!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

This does look promising, if it can fulfill the promises they are putting out about it. Although I'm not sure how my Lord of the Rings inner nerd will be able to handle the storyline. Fanfiction Wraith powers indeed. And in all this time, he's the only one that's ever been able to do this? And we're supposed to believe that Sauron is frightened of this person who we've--SLAP!! No! Stop doing that! Enjoy the possibly that this game has to offer.

 

[BobblyDrink]

This actually looks incredibly appealing. Can't honestly wait to give it a go!

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

As much as I hate AC, I have to admit this looks vaguely interesting. I love LotR, and the proceduraly generated enemies could be a really cool mechanic.

Ditto, not a fan of AC, but I wouldn't mind an AC style game in LOTR setting.

 

[Hagi]

Whats with the design for Sauron's eye? It looked fine in the movies why change it?

And how can their be Uruks? Is an Uruk different from Uruk Hai? I wish these games would stick more to the films in terms of their design choices. I don't really like the human possessed by a wraith thing, I don't think there is a precedent for that in Tolkien's lore.

This game should feature the Mouth of Sauron shouldn't it? Hopefully same voice actor and design from the movies.

Uruk just means Orc. Uruk Hai means Orc Folk, a term reserved for the soldier class within Orc 'society'.

No clue about the possession thing though, but you're probably right on that one.

 

[Floppertje]

yesyes, stealing is bad, that's definitely AC coding in there... Now let me play! That looks awesome! And hey, maybe ubi DID give them permission to use AC's assets. They're the ones who own the property so they can do whatever they want with it.

 

[Roofstone]

It comes out for xbox 360? Yay!

Welp, I am gonna go pre-order it all at once.. Seriously, this looks funkier than disco Stu! And I mean that in a good way.

 

[BrotherRool]

It really hurts me that they use the same style of animation as Assassins Creed. Lord of the Rings just doesn't fit braggarts in the same way. Having a ranger do the assassins-strut feels wrong. They should be making themselves smaller, trying to blend into the world around them, not puffing out their chest and striding forward