Fight through Mordor and uncover the truth of the spirit that compels you, discover the origins of the Rings of Power, build your legend and ultimately confront the evil of Sauron in this new chronicle of Middle-earth.
User reviews: Very Positive (9,049 reviews)
Release Date: 30 Sep, 2014

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CDN$ 54.99

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Includes 2 items: Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Season Pass

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CDN$ 27.99
 

Recommended By Curators

"Would be a competent but unremarkable Arkham-style open world game about killing orcs but made special with the Nemesis system and excellent voice work."
Read the full review here.

Recent updates View all (2)

16 October

Update: Build v1636.29

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, build v1636.29
Photo Mode:

  • Photo Mode added to Shadow of Mordor. For more information, check here.
Updates:
  • Various bug fixes and improvements

ːShowdownː

138 comments Read more

10 October

Update: Build v1426.21

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, build v1426.21
Stability:

  • Fixed a source of the game failing to launch due to a corrupt VCRedist installation.
  • Fixed the issue with error message box being destroyed upon shutdown, allowing more detailed information to some players when game crashes during launch.
  • Fix for most common crash when partner of a sync-action is removed.
Graphics:
  • SLI profile for Shadow of Mordor is on the way. More information as it’s available.
Investigating:
  • We are looking in to the source of our save file loss issue. If this is happening to you, please contact Customer Support at http://support.wbgames.com/.

ːShowdownː

106 comments Read more

Reviews

“AMAZING”
9.3/10 – IGN

“Revolutionary”
5/5 – Joystiq

“Remarkable”
4.5/5 – VideoGamer

About This Game

Fight through Mordor and uncover the truth of the spirit that compels you, discover the origins of the Rings of Power, build your legend and ultimately confront the evil of Sauron in this new chronicle of Middle-earth.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: 64-bit: Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz
    • Memory: 3 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 5850
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Hard Drive: 25 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: 64-bit: Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1
    • Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7950
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Hard Drive: 40 GB available space
Helpful customer reviews
53 of 55 people (96%) found this review helpful
47.9 hrs on record
First things first.Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will NOT evade comparisions with Ubisoft's heavyweight Assassin's Creed games and even WB's own Batman Arkham series.
After a fairly long 40hour hands-on with this game,I can say its one of the bests this year.
While the game itself draws inspiration from a handful of popular games,Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor has not failed to create its own identity.

[TL;DR Version,Down below]

PRESENTATION:
Starting from the protagonist(s),Talion certainly seems like a good fit for Tolkien's universe,with his stringy shoulder-length hair,his stoic manner,and his three-syllable moniker.The story bits and indentity of a particular "wraith" have been disclosed pre-release and I prefer not to discuss it here,a story that doesn’t make total sense for hardcore Tolkien scholars,but it’s brillantly-acted and paced!
In any case,the Talion/wraith dichotomy leads to some Shadow of Mordor's slickest moments.The ghostly wraith slides out of Talion's body from time to time to talk with him and then dissipates in a vaporous sigh.When the wraith's anger becomes all-consuming,Talion's face melts away to reveal the apparition underneath.
Mordor itself is an engaging open world with a vibrant and grim setting.The burnt orange-brown cliffs and pastures of Nurn are some of the best vistas you will appreciate.They say that the devil is in the details,but in Mordor,the devil is plain to see.It is in the details that you find the glimmers of light,even though you know that no happy ending is nigh.To sum the voice performance,Troy Baker and Alastair Duncan have done an exemplary job bringing Talion and the "Wraith" to life.

GAMEPLAY:
The reason this game stands apart from other adventure games is the Nemesis System,which works suprisingly well just as advertised!Think of it as a dynamic AI that puts you in epic encounters with orcs who have studied your behavior and will react accordingly,making each battle personal.If you flee from battling an enemy captain, you’ll hear about your cowardice the next time two of you tango.If you’re defeated by one,you’ll really get raked over the coals at a followup clash.Its a particularly phenomenal concept without which the game could be terribly boring.
Mordor’s close combat involves great,gory decapitation and stabbing animations,and outside of the scripted story missions,there are few distinctly separated stealth and combat areas.
What sets the feel of Mordor’s combat apart from the Batman games is that it’s really easy to get into trouble,especially early on.If you let the uruks raise the alarm in one of their strongholds,or just happen across a few large wandering groups on the densely populated map,you can quickly become overwhelmed by more enemies than you can hope to handle.Picking out the shield bearers and berserkers who are immune to frontal attacks and killing them first becomes tough to do when you’re completely surrounded and it goes downhill from there.

[ONLY FOR TL;DR SPAMMERS]

PROS:
+Well-realised open world with great art style
+Great characters complete with top-notch voice acting
+Surprisingly challenging combat
+Loads of references for Tolkien scholars.
+Nemesis system
+Storyline seems intriguing,BUT...

CONS:
-...the narrative just feels dull at times.
-An utterly disappointing finale.

VERDICT:
If you've been burned by one of those big-budget massively hyped games that released recently,come to Mordor and you won't walk away disappointed.
Sure,it isn't a perfect game by all means,it has its share of flaws but it's strengths overweighs those.
A far better and impressive game than many would’ve imagined,not just in terms of its action and LotR authenticity – but in bringing a genuinely new idea to gaming.
Posted: 20 October
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243 of 373 people (65%) found this review helpful
27.4 hrs on record
Don't hate me for not recommending. I have my reasons for it.

This is my first review ever. Please read and rate it as a review.



26 hours and 8 minutes, 100% playthrough. 51/51 achievements.

For such a great game, that is too short playtime for 100%. I don't like the idea of games being unfinished when published. Game itself costs 50€ (bought it for half the price) and the rest is unlocked by buying a season pass or buying all the DLCs separatedly.

The game basically has unlimited amount of "boss fights" with the nemesis system. Once you face an enemy captain with a great set of strengths, you're going to be screwed. Cutting casually through hordes of normal enemies is enjoyable up to some point. Facing a boss enemy who can actually kill you with one strike if you mess up gives me the vibes.

The good:
+ Nemesis system.
+ Gameplay is awesomesauce
+ Music
+ Nemesis system.
+ Graphics
+ Worked great with mouse and keyboard while I hated to play Assassin's Creeds without a gamepad.
+ Nemesis system.

The bad:
- Story
- Short main questline (though I wouldn't see that as that bad thing when the story was mediocre)
- Clearly unfinished in my opinion
- The additional stuff starts repeating itself, bonus objectives counter that a little (I think I failed one bonus objective during the whole game)
- Out of lore monsters. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy battling graugs. I'm not 100% sure about this since I've only read the three LotR books and The Hobbit, but I don't think caragors, ghûls and graugs are part of the LotR lore. I had this feeling in the back of my head for the whole duration of the game.
- The final boss fight. MAJOR SPOILER WARNING:
Hit spacebar twice, click Sauron's knee once. Watch cutscene. See credits. LITERALLY.
Were they even trying?

I enjoyed the game. I wouldn't have played it for 26 hours if I didn't. I just wouldn't recommend it (especially for that full price) when the game feels unfinished. This is the first time ever I'm feeling like complaining about DLCs. I've bought Borderlands 2 season pass gladly, I've had premium for BF3 and BF4. Those felt like complete games when I played them. From my point of view DLCs should be supposed to add additional content to the game. Not to finish it or fix it.

In short: Great game, definitely worth playing. Just don't buy it for full price. It's not worth the money.
Posted: 20 October
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17 of 21 people (81%) found this review helpful
55.6 hrs on record
Wow, I was really worried that this game was going to be a dissapointment, but it turned out to be so much more than I ever imagined it could be. The graphics are lush and beautiful and I didn't see any glitches throughout my entire playthrough. The fighting is fun and you can switch things up on the fly and kill an entire fort's worth of never ending spawning orcs once you get the hang of utilizing all of your moves, and there are a bunch of moves. I love the super powered talent for each tree (3 total) of fighting styles. 15 seconds of mayhem once you have killed enough orcs using the style you are charging the bar for (3 seperate bars), and the bar stays charged until you use it.
Within those 15 seconds you have unlimited:
- normal and fire arrows (once you unlock the fire arrow talent) and focus, which slows time down to a crawl
- dispatch (execution), combat drain/brand, wraith flash, and wraith stun
- stealth with non detectable invisibility with ability to dispatch and drain.
The nemesis system is deep enough to keep you working on it to figure out what killing a captain will due versus using him to send a death threat, versus using him to become a bodyguard to a warchief, versus using him to try to kill that warchief and possibly losing him and his men if he is killed. There is enough story to keep you wanting to play and complete each type of side quest, with the slave quests culminating in a nice coup d'état against the orcs. The more slaves you rescue from enslavement, the more are willing to help you fight in an area where you rescued others previously.
They and your branded orc do tend to get in the way of your strikes seldomly, but it is easy enough to overlook a few hits to your allies while fighting off a captain or warchief or band of roving orcs. I really like the two mounts you can use, carragor (a dog like lion that can kill you pretty dang fast) and the two types of graugs (a 30 foot tall cave beast that can stomp and swipe and pick orcs up and eat them for health). I strongly advise unlocking the ability to use shadow strike to insta-mount them instead of doing the quick time event to mount them. You can use shadow strike from pretty dang far away. The only way to unlock that though is to go through almost all of the Hunter quest line with the dwarf.
The animation for the CG movies are impessive and well done, drawing and fleshing out the characters with enough talent to make you feel a connection with them. I would have prefered a little more to the last fight, something along the lines of the Fate/Zero anime to really give the struggle to reach the end game and the act of besting the generals of Sauron a little more emotion and impact.
I feel like if I was to show this game to a 16 year old me, I would probably think the future is amazing and I would have my mind blown. Even against todays best titles, this is one to cherish and share. Going into my top 10 favorites list of all time.
Posted: 18 October
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14 of 18 people (78%) found this review helpful
45.8 hrs on record
Absolutely amazing! Proof that not all stealth games are boring. Combat is fantastic, the graphics are superb and the gameplay is adaptive and addicting. The world looks and feels great, marking targets and hunting down captains can consume you for hours, nevermind the side missions and collectables. Perfectly combines Hand to Hand, Ranged and Stealth combat with a nice selection of skills and abilities to make combat fluid and cinematic. I particularly like the vendetta missions where you are given an oppurtunity to avenge one of your online friends,adds an extended play/replay value. Highly recommend!
Posted: 18 October
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11 of 13 people (85%) found this review helpful
12.1 hrs on record
It's a fantastic experience in most ways, and the fact that it's a new IP shows a really well polished game and most of the time feels like its the second or third installment in a franchise.

Only negative point is the world could've been bigger with more variation, but i'll guess and hope we'll see that in the next game where we get to experience the rest of middle earth in an as detailed version as this is.

Buy it!
Posted: 21 October
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14 of 19 people (74%) found this review helpful
50.7 hrs on record
The Assassin's Creed game for those sick of Assassin's Creed games.

Watch as Desmond accesses the memories of his ancestor Celebrimbor.

Enjoy new mechanics like the Nemesis system and old favorites such as unintentionally running up walls.

Power. Revenge. Control. Orcs.

Click Add to Cart and block out a weekend or two.
Posted: 20 October
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10 of 12 people (83%) found this review helpful
19.7 hrs on record
Finally an open world game that doesn't want to drown you in side activities and meaningless quests.
Sure there are some of those, but the fact that I was able to 100% this game doesn't mean that it's short, I enjoyed every second of it, and at the very end I feel very satisfied with the experience.
Some games try to add too much content and ends up creating a grinding experience, this felt just right.

The combat is fun and rewarding and looks fantastic, the gameplay although very close to another known franchise, still finds a way to feel fresh and different enough to enjoy. The nemesis system is really a great new mechanic that I hope many more games will feature in the future.

The story was enjoyeable although not spectacular, but the gameplay more than makes up for it.
Posted: 18 October
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30 of 51 people (59%) found this review helpful
21.8 hrs on record
Batman + Assassin's Creed = This.
Posted: 17 October
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6 of 6 people (100%) found this review helpful
57.1 hrs on record
This is the awesomest game of of recent times, just mind blowing. There is simply no flaw in this game and if you don't buy it, then you are missing out a great experience, Don't hesitate to buy it and immerse yourself in the amazing gameplay that would keep you enthralled for hours. 10/10.
Posted: 25 October
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7 of 8 people (88%) found this review helpful
62.8 hrs on record
Totally brilliant!!! Its like being in your own sparticus movie only with orcs and orcs are just tew kewl.
Love the way they all seem to have different personalities, some even track you across the lands and turn up to ambush you where you are in trouble.
Graphics are ace, new abilities actually change the game, eg you can learn to convert orcs to create your own army or ride giant ogre type creatures.

While its new it will probably be the best gaming experience you have had this year, but you can currently complete the game in about 50 hours and then there seems little point in continuing.
Needs some sort of longer term goal, more maps, more abilities, just MORE....





Posted: 18 October
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5 of 5 people (100%) found this review helpful
12.4 hrs on record
Not just an awesome Lord of the Rings game - a fantastic game in general!
Posted: 25 October
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5 of 5 people (100%) found this review helpful
10.5 hrs on record
I'm not sure if anyone has said this but THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST GAME OF 2014 imo.
If not, the bar is definitely set by this game for the upcoming AAA titles to be released at the end of 2014 (I am looking at you Unity and Dragon age).
I mean seriously, graphic looks awesome, gameplay is a combination of batman arkham's and assassins creed's, which I tought was incredible.
Secondly, No bugs, no glitches, no shenanigans that interferes with the smooth gameplay.
The Price is definitely justified for such a quality game.
Note: Throat Slicing might get addictive. beware!!!!!
Posted: 25 October
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6 of 7 people (86%) found this review helpful
24.6 hrs on record
Shadow of Mordor is easily recommendable. It features excellent, fluid combat with high animation quality and brutal executions, imparting a real sense of power to the player. The highlight of the game is the rather unique Nemesis system, a system that tracks the rankings of every Orc captain and sets up many possibilities for organic storytelling. Furthermore, in large part due to the excellent audio quality (great voice acting, music & combat sounds) the game does a solid job at feeling like a Middle-earth game. The one downside is the repetitive nature of the game, due to the lacking difficulty and unvaried environmental design, but if you are looking for an excellent action game that's all about massacring Orcs and toying around with their political status... then Shadow of Mordor isn't one to miss.

Full review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FGlQKIot8A
Posted: 23 October
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7 of 9 people (78%) found this review helpful
28.7 hrs on record
This definitely is the best game set in Lord of the Rings universe. I played Return of the King on PS2 and that was really fun at the time, and War in the North was an ok game but certainly lacking in many areas. So being the best LotR game isn't exactly a hard thing to do, though Shadow of Mordor is actually a very good game.

A lot of people have compared this to Assassin's Creed but I'd say this is much closer to Batman Arkham games, though all these games do share a lot of similarities but still are very unique and do what they do really well.
What SoM does extremely well is the Arkham style sneaking and combat, and at parts even better thanks to nemesis system and how it changes the game. You counter with Y(played on controller) like in Arkham, and you also can do instant takedowns once hit streak is high enough. Talion also has a cool bow that later on gets the ability to teleport to the target and kill the orc instantly, this is really fun to do. Stealth also works like in AC, you can climb stuff, take down enemies etc.

Nemesis system is the innovative part of the game. Orcs have kind of this hierarchy with chiefs at the top. Later on when you get all the powers at your disposal, you can really start taking down this hierarchy and through branding, taking over enemy orcs, you can infiltrate the enemy and build your own army. This is really interesting as every encounter is different, I was genuinely surprised how much variation there is, as in no repetition at all as every orc I encountered was different, had different skills and the way to approach them was different. You can also buff the enemies up by issuing death threat through one of the orcs, the orc you death threat powers up significantly but also gives chance to drop a epic rune that you can fit in your bow, sword and dagger to power them up with different perks.

There is a lot more to the nemesis system and how it works, it's really something that has to be experienced as it's different from anything else, some true innovation and something other devs most likely will be taking note of, at least I hope so.

SoM is solid game and I do recommend playing it just for the nemesis system and combat/stealth elements. But the story, world, characters etc. just left me disappointed, I didn't really care for anything happening and the interactions between characters were awkward and not well build. I wanted so much more from this as this is set in Lord of the Rings universe. There was so much more they could've done and made something much bigger, but I just feel like they played it way too safely.
Posted: 18 October
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7 of 9 people (78%) found this review helpful
27.8 hrs on record
One of the best games i have played to this day, and i have played many.

I was first sceptical to buying the game as i have seen plenty of other similar sequels to big series, but after watching different gameplay videos, i decided to buy it on PC.

As it was controller supported, i managed to convert my PS3 controller into a Xbox Controller playing the game with Xbox Buttons but it was still fun.

Reading some reviews they talk about newer Assasins Creed and Batman games where a lot of combat and if i can say parkour system is taken from, as i have not played Assasins Creed for many years from Assasin's Creed 2, and i have never played Batman games, i really enjoyed the gameplay.

I initially made a save slot and played for roughly ten hours, during this gameplay a lot of time went to try to eliminate all orc Captain's, which in fact the system is brilliant, as you challenge different orc leaders or captain's, when they die someone else take their place, as well with a lot of frustration from getting killed on my first try, it also introduces something completely new to me the nemesis system which is awesome.

If you get killed in the game, the time advances and you can see Captain's challenge eachother and take higher positions, you feel the game progresses by the actions you do. As for other gameplay aspects i really enjoyed the jumping, climbing and combat which took me back several years when i enjoyed the Assasin's Creed Series. Stealth killing orcs from ledges, awesome combat with cool combat finishers really made the game cool.

I started a 2nd save with more of a serious gameplay where i wanted to collect everything, and now after playing trough the whole game, i have around 17 hours on my save two, where i now have 100%, just collecting, roaming trough and killing orcs, doing side-missions, unlock abilities and upgrades just made the game complete. Exept the final boss-fight, i really enjoyed the game, and i would recommend it to others, buy it. It's worth its money.

9/10
Posted: 20 October
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7 of 9 people (78%) found this review helpful
28.1 hrs on record
Fight through Mordor and uncover the truth of the spirit that compels you, discover the origins of the Rings of Power, build your legend and ultimately confront the evil of Sauron in this new chronicle of Middle-earth.
Posted: 24 October
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4 of 4 people (100%) found this review helpful
14.9 hrs on record
If you love the Lord of the Rings and you want to kill "some" orcs in Mordor and you like the big open world areas and brutal final kills you will love this game. I am a big fan of the Lord of the Rings and i think this game is amazing. I just commend this game for you. Best RPG game in this year. The graphics are really cool.
Posted: 24 October
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4 of 4 people (100%) found this review helpful
37.8 hrs on record
It's pretty good, but be warned that the story is kind of short and not that great.
The Nemesis system is fun and improves through the course of the game.
There's not a lot to do when you finish besides getting the achievements. You end up killing orcs over and over again until they're all under your control, then you have to kill them all and start over.
Having said all this, the game is fun and I'd say it is worth the £30.

7.5/10
Posted: 25 October
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4 of 5 people (80%) found this review helpful
8.1 hrs on record
Well good
Posted: 25 October
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4 of 5 people (80%) found this review helpful
5.5 hrs on record
Only played a little bit so far BUT WOW AM I IMPRESSED. I GOT MY MONEYS WORTH IN THIS GAME. COMBAT FLAWLESS 9.5/10 story from what i can see will be amazing the saruouns army ranking system and fights 8/10 THE EPIC ABILITIES 10/10 ALL TOGETHER I GIVE THIS GAME A 9.5/10 BUY BUY BUY
Posted: 25 October
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