WB Games figured out that some of the best advertising money can buy is simply putting the game in players' hands. And that's exactly what the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor publisher has been doing for the past couple weeks. Starting with a jaw-dropping $4 price tag on the recent Steam Sale, then holding onto that -80% discount while setting up a Free Weekend this July 7-9. The publisher's full court press is working. Shadow of Mordor gained upwards of 750,000 new owners since the end of last month, myself being one of them, and the Free Weekend will undoubtedly secure some more owners.
Which sets people up perfectly for this video's announcement. Middle-earth: Shadow of War (a game that's still inexplicably not called Shadow of Wardor) will bring your most powerful nemesis and your most loyal companion forward from Shadow of Mordor into Shadow of War. With this tool, called the Nemesis Forge, the sequel will pilfer your saved games, identify your #1 enemy and #1 ally, and bring them along for the ride. Awesome.
I'm only two hours into Shadow of Mordor, but already I'm seeing why this one ended up on so many game of the year lists in 2014. Several orc captains have already been promoted on the battlefield for, ahem, killing me. But that just makes me wanna go HAM on these greenskins once we meet again. I'm gunning hard for these dudes. While the textures are pretty enough, I still think a lot of the level design looks randomly and poorly generated. But it doesn't detract much from this fantastic Nemesis system.
With this many new owners of Shadow of Mordor, that will only put the upcoming Shadow of War on that many more radars when it launches October 10 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The video doesn't specify this, but you'll likely have to stick to the same platform on both games for the Nemesis Forge to work. So, keep that in mind when you click the buy button; don't start on, say, PC and then hop over to PS4 for the sequel if you want this Nemesis Forge thing to work.
