Sometimes I struggle to come up with great titles for my posts and simple titles will do the trick, right? After all, you all understand what this post is about and that's what matters. One of the first games I played as a real gamer was Shadow of Mordor. Let's take a look at it.

Overview

I think it's a game with impressive graphics and if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you need to try this game. I'm not saying you can find Middle-earth here, but there are references to it. I haven't played many games of this kind, but there are realistic Orcs and Uruks like in the movie. Some of the characters from the movie are in the game as they are in the movie. For example Gollum! I would have quit this game much sooner without him (just kidding). I think he also has an important role in the movie and I think our main character is inspired by Aragorn.

The gameplay was summarized for me by @pusen. The game tells you which button to press all the time. An attack is coming, use right click. Is another attack coming? Roll. I know that's one of your favorite things, man, and I rolled a lot in this game. You can mark missions on the map, which is nice. I don't want to get lost in the open world. By the way, yes, you have an open world and you can go wherever you want and take on whatever creatures you want. There are no limits. Of course, when you encounter very powerful creatures, they will destroy you in one go. So be ready for that. So the game is not as easy as you think.

Gameplay Details

The game has an army system. What does that mean? Your enemies have ranks in Sauron's army. I'm not talking about ordinary orcs, they all have their own level and have their own strengths, fears and weaknesses. If you assess them correctly, you can defeat them more easily. But here's what happens when you are defeated. The commander you defeat increases in rank and becomes more powerful. Also, the leaders you kill are replaced by others. So you should fight as much as possible without dying. Is this possible?

I don't think so. Because there are different missions to complete in the game. Really challenging missions. For example, you have to kill one of Sauron's top commanders, but he doesn't travel alone. He's surrounded by a few other lower-ranking commanders and a lot of ordinary orcs and archer soldiers. When you get between all of them, the battle is chaos. I've fought against 30 people alone and won, but you can't fight 5-6 leaders at the same time because they are really strong. Some archer bosses can kill you in a single attack. Of course you get one last chance.

There is a mechanic called last chance. You can dodge the attack of your enemies even if you have very little health before you die. I won't explain how, but it's really easy. There are other mechanics in the game, for example, right now I have a mechanic where I can turn my enemies to my side, and not just ordinary soldiers, but the most powerful leaders closest to Sauron. I've done it a couple of times, it's part of a quest in the game.

You can walk anywhere you want in the game, but you can also fast travel to certain points on the map if you want. You just need to go there once beforehand and that's it. I think that's a great feature because sometimes you want to walk everywhere but sometimes you want to get there fast. There are wild creatures called Caragor that you can use while traveling. Of course you can't have them whenever you want. You have to jump from above and get them on your side.

How Much Have I Played and Will I Continue?

I've played the game for about 20 hours, I've finished about 33% of the story and I must say it's enjoyable, so I'm thinking of continuing. I don't know if I'll make it to the end, but I'll do my best. Right now I'm stuck on a very difficult mission, maybe I need to go back and strengthen my character in side missions to complete it. I think you can easily spend 50-60 hours in this game.

Music, Atmosphere, Map, Side Quests

I think the game's soundtrack is very good, but I would recommend turning it down a bit. It gives you the feeling of the middle world. I can say the same for the atmosphere of the game. Everywhere you look you enjoy because there is a different view everywhere. There is nowhere on the map that is empty. Everywhere there is a challenge, a side quest, a horde of orcs and so on. They balanced it well. The content of the side quests is also sufficient. Not all of them are perfect, there are definitely missions that need to be improved, but that's normal.

Final Thoughts and Rating

As I said above, if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you should try this game. Of course, I don't know how accurate it is to say this without trying other Lord of the Rings games. If there is a better Lord of the Rings game than this game in the comments, please send your recommendations! I would like to take a look at them. I will give this game 8.5 out of 10. I think it is a very enjoyable game, it can be played for a long time and the price is not too expensive. But I recommend you to buy it on sale because there are great discounts. I got it on sale, and I can't lie, I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan and that's why I rated it a little bit higher.

Bonus Screenshot Section

Here you can see the landscape photos I took in the game. I didn't want to spread them all in the post.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you liked it. Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section. Especially if you've played this game, let me know what you think so we can discuss it. Take care and have a great day!

Play More, Live More!