Our screens from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

We're working on the review as you're reading this.

Published 2014-09-26

Over the last few days we've been hard at work playing Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor on PS4. The review is in-bound, but we thought we'd share 50 or so images of our adventures thus far to give you some idea of what's on offer.

Shaka the Brave

The Nemesis system that sees you develop rivals and exploit the Orc hierarchy is one of the highlights of the game - here you can see some of our rivalry with Shaka the Brave.

Two sides to Mordor

The first part of the game takes place in the corrupted wasteland we're already already familiar with, while the second part plays out in a lusher, greener part of Sauron's lands.

More Nemesis stuff

A lot of different rivalries brewing here as you get a peek of both the internal strife amongst Orcs and our own issues (bottom left is going to be something special with three captains and a warchief).

Play as a Wraith

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<bild>As Talion was denied death he was somehow bound to a Wraith and this partnership comes in handy as the Wraith can interrogate and read Orc minds (for intel), track certain things and perhaps most importantly use the time slowing Focus for some elf-shots to the heads of Orcs.</bild>

Combat

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<bild>Just some moment to moment action - typically it's far more crowded with enemies.</bild>

Beast Riding

<bild>You will be riding Caragors...</bild>
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<bild>...and stomping Orcs riding Graugs. Orc flesh is apparently yummy.</bild>

Characters

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<bild>We're not going to spoil the story by explaining who these characters are, but suffice to say you'll recognise some while others resemble characters we know and love from elsewhere in the fiction.</bild>

Branding

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<bild>Branding is an ability you learn in the second half of the game, it allows you to gain control over Orcs and lead them into battle.</bild>

Diversions

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<bild>There are lots of diversions in Shadow of Mordor, including the various skills, abilities and runes to unlock, artefacts to collect, challenges to complete, and pushing flaming carts (oops, that's part of the main story actually, but feels like a bit of a diversion).</bild>

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