Shadow of War Review

Shadow of War is a video-game sequel to Shadow of Mordor, both games being based off the famous fantasy book/movie series ‘The Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R Tolkien.

In the game, you play as Talion- a ranger who is hunting down and slaying orcs for revenge after his family were murdered by them. His ghostly elf companion Celebrimbor is also out for revenge and looking for the powerful one ring to destroy the series’ antagonist, Sauron. The events are set after those of ‘The Hobbit’- J.R.R Tolkien’s first book, and before the events of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.

I am a completionist in video-games. I love getting 100% of the achievements, the collectibles, the hidden easter eggs and collecting the best gear that I can find. It’s the reason I know Shadow of War is going to take me so long to complete- I can’t progress with the story until I’ve finished everything you can do in an area. It’s the same with Breath of the Wild, or any other open world RPG that I’ve played.

I had the same kind of problem in the first game Shadow of Mordor, and in this sequel, they’ve made it so that it is going to take even longer to collect everything. There is now an updated rune system, and there’s new armour and weapons with added challenges to complete that makes the armour even better. There are objects (relics) to collect that give you more of a backstory to Gondor and its inhabitants- as well as a bunch of Shelob memories. It was all a little confusing at first, but I’m beginning to get the hang of it.

I’m not that far into the game yet (even though I’ve put quite a few hours into it so far), but I’m already kind of confused about the appearance of Shelob, (remember that giant orc-eating spider from the Lord of the Rings trilogy?). If Shelob was a cool mini boss-battle (fighting a giant spider would be awesome!) I wouldn’t mind, yet Shelob is now an attractive lady who gives Talion visions of the future…

I know, it’s a little weird.

I already love the updated Orc personalities and appearances in the game. Some play musical instruments, others teleport through the shadows to ambush you, and some have cursed and poisoned weapons that can cripple you in seconds. Most of the captains of this game are truly terrifying- and my biggest gripe with them is the dialogue.

Imagine: You engage them in a duel, a duel to the death. You’ve probably slain about 8 or 9 orcs to get to this Captain, and suddenly your fighting is interrupted by a long-winded speech- some of which seem to take about 20 seconds to get through. Yes, the voice-acting for these orcs is great- but I really don’t want to spend half a minute listening to all the reasons why they are going to kill me. Still, Orcs are probably the best thing about this game. They’re goofy, they’re funny, and they’re often badass looking with brilliant voice-acting. Talion (the guy you play) is, in my opinion, a really boring protagonist. He reminds me of the Ranger Aragorn with his dark hair and clothing, and he spends most of the game moaning about saving Gondor and dying to reunite with his family. I think it would have been better to introduce an Orc protagonist instead- and get rid of Talion once and for all. Orcs fighting Orcs would have been an interesting and refreshing change from the typical fantasy storylines and I’m not talking about orcs who have become dominated and mind-slaves to the protagonists.

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