Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is one of my favorite games of all time for one massive, outstanding reason.
The Nemesis System
To this date, I have yet to encounter anything as dynamic, fun, unpredictable, and exciting in a story driven combat game as the Nemesis System. I have over 300 hours in Shadow of War, and out of that 200 hours were spent after I had completed the main campaign and 2 DLCs, completing every collectible and questline. 200 hours after the game was essentially "completed".
The experience of how your character interacts with the uruk enemies and how the enemies interact with you and each other is simply spectacular. An example out of dozens I could give: I return to Nurnen after several tours of duty in the other provinces, holding off numerous sieges and having to replenish and restructure my army's ranks. Upon my return, I face an all out insurrection in my ranks. Three of my captains and a warchief all decide to betray me in a coordinated ambush to start a full-on UPRISING against me. In the process, they bring one of my still loyal captains out and kill him in front of me. In total, I've just lost 5 captains in an instant and gained 4 new enemies. The next 2-3 hours were spent systematically hunting down every one of these traitors and punishing them in different ways.
One I outright killed in the first battle. He got off easy. One I forcibly re-recruited and demoted. The other 2 I shamed into absolute despair. One's mind broke and I killed him, only for him to cheat death and return for more punishment. The last one I forcibly recruited so I could execute him by making his head explode. Through all this, I put the fear of Mordor through the rest of my ranks, and there has yet to be another uprising like that since.
The orcs (uruks and ologs) remember everything that happens to them. They remember if you threw them off a cliff or burned them. They remember up to a point how many times they've killed you or how many times you've had to run from them. They even call each other by name and have rivalries and alliances within their own ranks. Sometimes a warchief will step down from his high place to defend one of his favorite bodyguards. Sometimes an assassin will track you from one province to another and ambush you when you least expect it.
And the best part? None of this was scripted. All of this happened after the main campaign was long, long over. The Nemesis System rewards the creative and adventurous player with amazing encounter after another.
If you're a fan of Lord of the Rings fighting and stealth games.
If you like exciting and interesting AI enemies with personality and unpredictable behaviors.
If you're a sick bastard who enjoys killing, torturing, and mind controlling the evil.
Look no further. Buy Shadow of War.

What I love most about this game is that your encounter with every single orc has the potential to turn into an epic story.
There was this time when a berserker decided to bury his axe into my stomach, and he was promoted to a captain. Upon respawning, I decided to track him down and re-arrange his face with my sword. Our brief encounter ended with him being thrown off a ledge and falling to his death, I thought nothing of it at the time.
Little did I know I would encounter that same orc time after time again, the dude just wouldn't stay dead. Regardless of the injuries he sustained, he would always be back. I recognised this orc's admirable endurance for punishment, so naturally I decided to dominate him.
He served as my bodyguard for many hours, and we went on countless conquests together. We attacked and defended forts, cut down enemy captains whilst adding others to my army. This orc began as a grunt, and has risen through the ranks, becoming a captain, an epic captain, and finally a legendary warchief. His bloodlust seemed endless, and unfortunately that was the case.
Recently I was wandering around Gorgoroth and tracking down an enemy captain. The fight was brutal but eventually his head was separated from his body, and his supporters fled. I was low on health and learned a valuable lesson moments after as my favourite orc decided to betray me.
Perhaps it was my fault, I'd aided this orc in all his encounters and made sure he was victorious. I assigned him as a warchief, helped him become legendary, and inadvertently deluded him into thinking he could take on the Bright Lord.
His followers were slaughtered, and I regretfully executed the masterpiece I had created. Or did I? Perhaps he survived his fatal injuries like all the other times. If so, I look forward to introducing him to my Drake.

Is Shadow of War worth buying in 2021?
Short Answer: YES!!
Shadow of War is one of the most enjoyable game I have ever played
Even after all these years I still go back to play it again once in a while. This game doesn't end when the story is over. It's absolutely worth getting, especially on sale. The online portion is still played by many. It’s not pvp though so don't expect that. The Online conquest is a sort of pve game mode but the forts which you can attack are set up by actual people, so you'll never really find the same setup all the time. You can send your overlord on an online pit fight or you fight against other people’s fortresses that they've stocked with, usually, their best orcs. Online vendetta is similar but is more like missions where you are going after an orc from other players’ game who has killed them. You can also defeat and recruit orcs from other players forts. The same way, if any of your precious orc unfortunately dies in any of these online conquests you will lose them for good.
The Nemesis System and combat gameplay are what keep me coming back
The combat is similar to the likes of Assassins Creed and the Batman Arkham games but much better in my opinion. The abilities, combos etc are really fluid and satisfying. It’s not just hack and slash, you have to use your brain before going after different types of orcs. Higher tier Orcs will have multiple immunities, rages and strengths along with certain weaknesses. You can have to exploit them in your advantage, by tracking down a Worm. For example, there are orcs who are immune to arrows, executions, fire etc. Fortress captains tend to have more strengths than weaknesses, so you have to be careful with that. You have to plan your ambush/attack and prepare before joining a fight.
Thanks to the unique, intricate & superbly designed content generator named ‘Nemesis system’ I never got bored at finding interesting AI orcs with personality, unpredictable behaviour and catchy, comedic/provocative dialogues. Not to mention certain death defying orcs who just would not stay dead. No matter how much punishment they go through they still sometimes resurrect and ambush. You might think that the best thing to do here is dominate and recruit them but they can still betray you later!! The Nemesis System also rewards creative and adventurous players with new story lines and breath-taking encounters one after another. The system even turns some orcs into truly memorable enemies.
Furthermore
The game’s visuals and landscapes are sublime. The story can easily rival the masterpiece that is The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This story driven game also has some intriguing plot twists that is worth mentioning.
The in game unlockable gear sets including rings, bows, swords, armors, cloaks, daggers, hammers, masks are quite remarkable. I didn’t have to grind very hard to get them.
While playing the game I became addicted to fighting Orcs, hunting them down, confronting those that betrayed me or killed my Captains. After levelling up and acquiring new sets of skills/abilities I felt a sense of unique and divine Godly power….it’s hard to describe with words. I also formed a bond with Talion not just to avenge the slaughtering of his whole family but through his morals and belief in a better world – a better Mordor.
DLC
There are two DLC available which are slightly different as you play different characters (Eltariel & Baranor) in them. You get Nemesis expansions: a number of new Tribes, new orcs, tribal weapons, legendary gear sets, new fortress & regions and obviously new missions. They tie this game’s story nicely with the earlier story of Shadow of Mordor.
Any gripes?
Although certain aspects of the game like brutal killing, torturing, and mind controlling the evil can be fun for many people but might be little too much for certain faint hearted ones 😂
Conclusion
In my honest opinion, even if you are not a big fan of Lord of the Rings or not much familiar with it, it’s a pretty safe bet you'll get your money’s worth in Shadow of War definitive edition.

👪Player Bases:
☐ Kids.
☐ Everyone.
☑ Mature.
☑ Casual Players.
☐ Pro players.
⛺Graphics:
☐ Potato.
☐ Bad.
☐ OK.
☑ Good.
☐ Beautiful.
☐ Masterpiece.
💸Price:
☑ Full Price.
☐ Wait For Sale.
☐ Refund It If You Can.
☐ Don't Buy It.
☐ Free.
🚀Requirements:
☐ Minimum.
☐ Medium.
☑ Fast.
👉 40 fps on medium with a GTX 1050
☐ Super Computer.
💀Difficulty:
☐ Easy.
☑ Medium.
👉 Difficulty I felt when playing on Nemesis
☐ Hard.
☐ Very Hard.
☐ Death March.
⌛Game length:
☐ Really Short. ( 0 - 3 hours)
☐ Short. ( 3 - 8 hours)
☐ Medium. ( 8 - 16 hours)
☐ Long. ( 16 - 25 hours)
☐ Very Long ( 25 - 50 hours)
☑ Extremely Long (50+ hours)
👉 ~65h on the main game
      ~5h for The Blade of Galadriel
      ~3h for The Desolation of Mordor
☐ Endless
📖Story:
☐ It Doesn't Have One.
☐ Horrible.
☐ Bad.
☐ Average.
☑ Good.
👉 The story in Shadow of War is pretty good and also ties well with the LOTR movies!
☐ Fantastic.
🎬Cinematic/Art:
☐ It Doesn't Have.
☐ Horrible.
☐ Bad.
☐ Average.
☐ Good.
☑ Like Watching A Movie.
👉 The cinematics were amazing, impressive visuals and beautiful scenes which allows you to make great screenshots
🎵Music/Sound:
☐ Horrible.
☐ Decent.
☐ Average.
☑ Good.
👉 Except for the ending song which I really loved, most soundtracks were good but forgettable imo.
☐ Amazing.
🎮Gameplay:
☐ Terrible.
☐ Bad.
☑ Average.
👉 Shadow of War has practically the same combat mechanics as Shadow of Mordor. The combat system is pretty entertaining but also repetitive.
The new things are conquering and defending forts, I had a lot of fun doing those but then again it's always the same thing so it can be boring after 2-3 times.
Also unlike SoM where you couldn't change your gear but just upgrade them, now you can unlock new swords, bows with different stats and attributes, upgrade them etc.
☐ Good.
☐ Fantastic.
🐞Bugs:
☐ Game Itself Is One Big BUG.
☐ Game Breaking Bugs.
☐ Lots of bugs.
☐ Few Bugs.
☑ Nothing.
👉 Well there is one extremely rare bug that I haven't encountered myself but is very annoying if you get it. The details are in the comments
📝Final:
☐ Terrible.
☐ Bad.
☐ Average.
☐ Good.
☑ Great.
☐ Fantastic.
🌐Others:
Multiplayer: ☐
Singleplayer: ☑
👉Not multiplayer but you can do online siege (attack other players fortress) and send your overlord on an online pit fight.
💯Final Score:
8/10

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a sprawling game with copious amounts of content, systems, and progression paths. It is enough to keep you occupied for weeks and, fortunately, most of it is done very well.
I should mention I played this game well after the microtransactions had been removed. These were, by all accounts, egregious and ruined the portion of the game based around building your armies. As I did not play during this time, I cannot account for these issues.
The previous entry, Shadow of Mordor, was a surprise hit, coming out of nowhere to be a game based on a legendary IP that was actually good, unlike most games based on existing IP. It benefited from virtually no expectations, but in this sequel, expectations were high. Fortunately, almost every system has returned bigger and better, with a lot of extras thrown in.
You are once again Talion, the Gravewalker, a man banished from death due to being joined with the dead Elf Celebrimbor. The story is what you would expect - you are meant to free Mordor from the threat of Sauron and the Nazgûl - but this time you are aided by Shelob, the spider demon. This is not unlike being aided by Gollum in the previous game, where an evil or at least morally ambiguous character provides help. There are, of course, some humans that help out as well, in addition to some Orcs that provide comedic relief. Ultimately, while the story is decent, it is forgettable and serves as window dressing to the gameplay.
The game world is split up into several regions that each have a set of outposts and a fortress, as well as a number of collectables and challenges. The main story quests thread through these regions, but the bulk of the game's content is controlling these regions and building up your army.
Not long into the game, you gain the ability to dominate Orcs and add them to your ranks. The goal is to use these to overthrow the Orcs controlling the outposts, and then eventually lay siege to the fortress and kill its overlord. Once this is done, you can then defend against sieges and lay sieges from this fortress.
Orcs you dominate can be improved with a currency or made to fight against other Orcs in pit fights. This can be entertaining, but the pit fights are often too long, boring, and the AI does ridiculous things. You will often stare at your Orc, or the opponent Orc, while he does absolutely nothing except yell and jeer. I am not sure how, after many patches, this was never fully resolved.
Talion can be improved far more this time around. There are more abilities and a massive gear system, with gem slotting. The gear can be fun to chase, but I did not find it very important. I played on Nemesis difficulty, which was the hardest when the game released but has since been surpassed, and while there was a high degree of challenge, once you master countering and how to react to foes, what gear you are wearing matters less and less. Eventually, I stopped caring about the gear.
The Nemesis system itself, which describes how the Orcs and you interact, is richer than ever, as are the variety of Orc captains you will face. There are more speeches, more visual variety, and more things Orcs can have strengths or weaknesses to. For the most part, this is good, though some combinations of traits can make some Orcs far, far too tedious to kill. For example, some Orcs can be functionally immune to ranged attacks, stealth attacks, and standard combat moves, as well as things like fire, which limits how you can even attack them to a narrow band of choices. If you get the right mix, and the Orc can also heal himself, for example, some fights are such a slog you may as well not even bother.
If you are looking for a well-executed open world game, this will fit the bill. In particular, if you enjoyed its predecessor, there is more to love here. However, I found myself enjoying this less than Shadow of Mordor, if only because it surprised me less and demanded so much more of my time. Thus, I would still recommend the first game to newcomers and this sequel to those who just want more of the first.

I wish I could just vote yes without writing something about the game because nobody will read it anyway o.O It's just Shadow of Mordor but better. If you liked the first one you'll definitely enjoy this one!

it really makes you feel like batman