The Rise and Fall of Shadow of Middle-Earth

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J.R.R Tolkien’s genre-defining The Lord of the Rings has been translated to video games nearly three dozen times. Beam Software took the first swing with The Hobbit Software Adventure in 1982, developing a text adventure wherein players followed Bilbo Baggins on his quest to reach the Lonely Mountain. This revolutionary experience set the stage for the next four decades of licensed games based on Tolkien’s works, with some releases leaving more of a lasting impression than others. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor occupies the same upper echelon, due in large part to the groundbreaking Nemesis System whose complex inner workings turned enemy NPCs into user-specific villains. The title’s 2017 sequel, Shadow of War, stumbled in its execution of an even more robust iteration of the signature mechanic.

Shadow of Mordor capitalized on the success of the Batman: Arkham series, which showed publishers that licensed games had outgrown the perceived need for movie tie-ins as players would happily invest time and money into original stories featuring their favorite characters. While WB Interactive Entertainment learned the right lesson in this regard, many have argued the opposite with respect to how the company handled the microtransaction boom that rocked the industry throughout the late 2010s.

Shadow of War, in particular, became mired in controversy for its intrusive in-game purchasing options. Such drama severely tainted the otherwise well-made sequel, thus the momentum gained by Monolith Productions’s award-winning efforts years prior ground to a screeching halt overnight. Worst still, the developers never redeemed themselves since the Middle-earth follow-up unexpectedly represented their swan song.

This is the rise and fall of Middle-earth.

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