Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor Review

Written: 12-03-2024

I played Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor around when it was first released, and 10 years later it still holds up very well. The combat is fun, the nemesis system is incredible and it is a good Lord of the Rings game. All in all a good package that I would highly recommend.

My main issue replaying was that the game felt a little two easy after playing the sequel on the harder difficulties. This meant that I didn't get as many fun moments from the nemesis system this time around. I remember in my first playthrough I would be trying to do various missions and this one archer orc would always seem to find me and snipe me. So I decided to hunt him down, killed him by throwing him into a fire and then he returned with burns. At this point I could brand orcs so I turned him to my side and he became one of my most powerful orcs. The nemesis system with the branding mechanics is one of the only things in games capable of that sort of emergent gameplay. The other small problem is the game has a very slow first half which feels even slower when you know how great the second half is.

Other than these things, the game is great, the graphics hold up well, the combat, and systems are fun too. This was the first time I played the DLCs for this game and they are also quite fun if a little more experimental than the base game. I would suggest giving them a go too. This game comes highly recommend and the sequel is also great now all the microtransactions have been removed.