'Shadow of War' trailer charges you with dominating the open world

By Jon Martindale May 17, 2017

Shadow of War: "Dominate the Open World" Official Trailer

Shadow of War won’t just expand upon the nemesis system and combat seen in Shadow of Mordor, it will take players to different parts of Mordor they have never seen before. From sprawling cities to swamplands and industrialized Orc strongholds, the game’s protagonist Talion and his orcish allies will have a number of new environments to explore and battle across.

“From Seregost to Gorgoroth, we will turn all of Middle-earth against Sauron,” reads the description from Monolith Productions’ latest trailer for the game. It promises that “Nothing will be forgotten,” as players traverse a varied and expanded landscape. While Mordor has yet to turn into the wasteland seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all is not well in the once fertile land.

In this trailer, we see some of the lush green that was once commonplace, but we are also treated to beautiful shots of snowy landscapes, smog-covered Orc strongholds, burning Gondorian cities, and moonlit ancient structures as players explore the foundations of the world. In typical trailer fashion, though, this one also showcases some exciting action, with a number of big set pieces and combat sequences.

A wider variety of environments will certainly be welcomed by fans of the original game. While it was an impressive title at the time, its playable locations weren’t particularly varied. Monolith seems to have gone out of its way to change that with this game, creating a wide range of locations, many of which are showcased in this new trailer.

With those environments as a backdrop, the cities, castles, and strongholds of the world’s chieftains and servants of Sauron look even more impressive, giving a new feeling of grandeur to the world.

Shadow of War will release on Xbox One, PS4, PS4 Pro and Windows 10 PCs on August 22, with a Project Scorpio release coming a little later.

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