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Sequel to ‘Shadow of Mordor’ arrives this August

'Middle-Earth: Shadow of War' officially confirmed, out this August

Warner Bros. and Monolith Production have officially announced Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, the sequel to 2014’s critically acclaimed Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

The announcement comes just hours after retail giant Target accidentally listed the game for pre-ordering on its website, complete with its title and box art.

Hero Talion will make his return, as will his ghostly companion Celebrimbor, and the game will feature an “expanded” version of the Nemesis system seen in the original game, which pits individual enemies against Talion in battles that alter their personalities and motivations. Environments and other characters will now also be shaped by player decisions. Big baddie Sauron will also appear after his defeat at the end of the previous game.

Multiple special editions of Shadow of War will be available. The Gold Edition will include four expansion packs as well as some in-game currency. The new expansions gives players the chance to play with new characters and abilities, and will include new side missions and enemies. Two of these expansions are also included in the Silver Edition, while the “Mithril” Edition bundles the Gold Edition’s contents with an enormous statue, steelbook, soundtrack, map, lithographs, ring, stickers, and leaflet.

More: Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor Review

The first game, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor surprised critics and gamers by bringing a fresh spin to the Lord of the Rings franchise. Many felt that it translated the gameplay and feel of the Batman: Arkham Knight series to J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy world. While the combat wasn’t perfect, and the ability to run away from any battle did kill some of the immersion, overall the game was great. Currently the game sits at an 84 on Metacritic.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will launch for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on August 22. The Xbox One and PC versions support the “Xbox Play Anywhere” program, and support for Project Scorpio will be added this holiday season.

Updated on 2-27-2017 by Gabe Gurwin: Added official confirmation from publisher.

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Imad Khan
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Imad has been a gamer all his life. He started blogging about games in college and quickly started moving up to various…
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Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an exceptional action-adventure game, and with its Shadow Wars epilogue, it can easily take you about two dozen hours to reach the final cinematic. But if you're still not ready to leave Tolkien's world, the game's expansion pass has plenty of content to keep you busy.

The Slaughter Tribe expansion will be the first add-on for expansion pass owners -- as well as those who purchased the game's $100 "Gold Edition" -- and contains the titular tribe of orcs as well as all-new missions. Hunting down the tribe can also earn you a new Legendary gear set, and the expansion even introduces a new fortress to conquer. The Slaughter tribe is particularly aggressive, and will launch ambushes on Talion -- you'll be able to fight them in November.

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While Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor ends with a bit of a whimper, Shadow of War draws out its endgame with a long epilogue designed to test every skill Talion has learned up to that point. The 10-stage chapter, called Shadow Wars, becomes available after completing the game’s final story mission, The Bright Lord, and focuses entirely on the game’s siege missions. Tasked with defending fortresses in four different regions, Talion must maintain his orc army, and outfit each building with a number of hazards to keep the orc hoards at bay. Should he be struck down, or find the fortress overrun, he will need to launch a counter-attack and retake it.

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Defending

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Middle-earth: Shadow of War expands on its predecessor Shadow of Mordor in nearly every way, including strategic siege mechanics, a more complex combat system, and more varied orc war chiefs to fight or "dominate." All of this makes the game more engaging but all these systems can be overwhelming for newcomers. Over dozens of hours, we have spent time mastering Shadow of War and we’re here to help if you’re just getting started. Here is what you need to know to go from a beginner to the master of Mordor.
Combat
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