Middle-earth: Shadow of War

 Xbox One
Middle-earth: Shadow of War Image
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81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
4.8

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 442 Ratings

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  • Summary: Experience an epic open world brought to life by the Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Go behind enemy lines to forge your army, conquer Fortresses and dominateExperience an epic open world brought to life by the Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Go behind enemy lines to forge your army, conquer Fortresses and dominate Mordor from within. Experience how the award-winning Nemesis System creates unique personal stories with every enemy and follower, and confront the full power of the Dark Lord Sauron and his Ringwraiths in this epic new story of Middle-earth. In Middle-earth: Shadow of War, nothing will be forgotten.… Expand
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Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Shelob Reveal Comic-Con Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. TheXboxHub
    Oct 27, 2017
    100
    Monolith has something for everyone here, and just like Gollum with his ‘precious’, you’ll be hooked after a little taste of the power you can possess in Shadow of War.
  2. Attack of the Fanboy
    Oct 12, 2017
    90
    Middle Earth: Shadow of War is bigger and better than its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. If you don't mind the repetition found in most open world games, there's a robust strategy layer here that combines with a great combat system to offer hours and hours of Orc slaying, army building fun.
  3. XboxAddict
    Oct 30, 2017
    90
    Monolith Productions has an absolute sensational game in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, and while there will be some detractors, the story, and game as a whole, is a masterpiece of craftsmanship that would make J.R.R. Tolkien proud. It has quality development that takes everything fans know and love from the first game, and improves and expands on it making Shadow of War a game that could easily hold contention for "Game of the Year". It is a must have purchase for anyone that enjoys quality gameplay mechanics, beautiful visuals, stellar sound, and a story that holds its own in a lore that is highly protected by its fans all across the globe. In the world of The Lord of the Rings, Monolith Productions has become the one developer to rule them all.
  4. Xbox Achievements
    Oct 5, 2017
    85
    A textbook example of how to make a great sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War takes the first game's template and expands upon it in a meaningful and interesting way. The result is a follow-up that's not only a lot bigger, but it's also a lot better. It talks the talk, and yes, it also Orcs the Orc.
  5. Trusted Reviews
    Oct 12, 2017
    80
    Its storylines run the gamut from deftly handled through to daft, and ludicrous liberties are taken with Tolkien’s characters and lore...All the same, none of this matters because Shadow of War doubles down on everything that was already brilliant in Shadow of Mordor for a good 30-40 hours of stupidly absorbing stealth, action and warfare.
  6. VideoGamer
    Oct 5, 2017
    80
    It's a shame the story is so strangely paced, but you hardly need it. Fortress Assaults are great set pieces, and there's a lot of fun to be had with the upgraded Nemesis System alone.
  7. Giant Bomb
    Oct 22, 2017
    60
    This core action and the complex systems that underpin it are fun enough to play around with that it's a real shame that so many issues exist around the edges of this package, because those issues eventually started to diminish my enjoyment of the game's good parts.

See all 38 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 109
  3. Negative: 47 out of 109
  1. kris2fur
    Oct 12, 2017
    10
    Lol
    I'm playing on nemisis difficulty, I never paid a cent in, games brilliant and I'm super powerful now.
    Microtransactions didn't ruin    Lol
    I'm playing on nemisis difficulty, I never paid a cent in, games brilliant and I'm super powerful now.
    Microtransactions didn't ruin nothing.
    I earned 6k mithril last night 5hr session.
    If you are putting money into this game you probably aren't any good at it.    … Expand
  2. neomoonsevin
    Apr 9, 2023
    10
    Awesome game I like it I was never a fan of lord of the rings games in the past but I like this game because it's a 3rd person brawler
  4. Kraekin
    Oct 24, 2017
    9
    Quite a good game actually. all I see here are people complaining about micro transactions, how about this? dont buy them. Its not like theyQuite a good game actually. all I see here are people complaining about micro transactions, how about this? dont buy them. Its not like they advertise them constantly to you during gameplay to annoy you, or make the game impossible to play without.

    The game itself is very fun, maybe slightly repetitive, but then again with this type of game it would be almost impossible to not get a bit repetitive. Most games these days have a hard time grabbing my attention but this one sure did.

    I highly recommend this game!    … Expand
  5. SuperkenGaming
    Oct 27, 2017
    7
    Middle Earth Shadow of War
    Lacking Soul
    I’m about to break most of your hearts, I didn’t like shadow of war as much as every other reviewer…    Middle Earth Shadow of War
    Lacking Soul
    I’m about to break most of your hearts, I didn’t like shadow of war as much as every other reviewer…
    As to me this game feels like a soulless cash grab
    Shadow of War is the sequel to the much better middle earth shadow of Mordor..
    You once again play as Talion who sets out to bring balance to middle earth...
    As a less personal story compared to the first... the game struggled to keep my attention with its story or world…
    Basically Shadow of War feels like more of the same with none of the heart…
    It’s a cash grab riding off of the success of the original…
    The world is much larger this time, but bigger isn’t always better as every area in this game feels generic and unmemorable…
    Back are the assassins creed like syncing point that lets you scout out this games collectables to unlock new moves in the skill tree…
    Skill wise there isn’t anything special…
    You’ll easily have every skill unlocked by time you reach the end of act 3 which takes around 19 hours.. and is the base of this games story…
    skills for the most part unlock moves you had in the first game though they have 1 of 3 modifiers that take away their annoyances from the first game like allowing celebrimbor to counter attacks while you’re doing a ground finish or add an elemental effect to a special attack like poison or fire for example…
    There’s also a really cool weapon and rune system here where you can craft runes to give you boosts like xp or life drain.. and each rare, epic, and legendary weapon or clothing item has a challenge attached to them that will unlock a perk… giving a little personality to each
    These items of course picked up off of orcs with the same rarity
    Getting rid of the annoyances is the best shadow of war does, you’re now able to run extremely fast taking away the annoying fleeing enemy moments and there’s a cool double jump added to the parquor making you feel like you’re a super hero running through the game..
    Which honestly may be the reason I feel this world is so forgettable…
    I’m able to get around it so quickly that I never had the opportunity to notice or care about my surroundings…
    a new change that I’m not a fan of is the fact that special moves are now tied to a meter instead of attack chains… of course this meter is the only way to make this games boss encounters work... but I felt like I was less in control and that building up uninterrupted attack chains was unrewarded…
    a mix of both systems in the next game if one comes would be cool… where successful chains fills the meter at a faster rate than were given here….
    There’s also an eleven rage meter that lets you unleash multiple attacks while invincible, but this meter takes so ridiculously long to fill up that it might as well not even exist... I used it probably 4 times my entire time playing because I would save it as a just in case thing…
    The nemesis system is back once again but this time the game from the jump is focused on domination after the first act...
    It’s up to you to go and capture 4 towers to get to the end of the games story…
    though I found myself gaining followers naturally through story, I didn’t have to do much hunting towards the end…however in the first few hours, this domination thing is annoying as you’re only able to capture orcs at your same level or lower…
    you’re able to humiliate them and lower their level.. But all this does is make them run away and forces you to have to go find them again somewhere else…
    this to me felt like the game just wasting the players time...
    I see no harm in letting the player just take the orc at a lower level and letting them move on..
    With your orcs you can command them to kill other orcs or prove themselves and become the bodyguard of a warchief... you can assign an orc to be your bodyguard to help you in combat…you can also go capture the bodyguards of warchiefs and have them betray… making their battles easier as you can take out each warchief individually to lower the level of a fortress greatly with each one…
    While you’re doing these hunts and gathering intel for the weakness on your next target you have to be warry of how you treat your followers, as they’re able to betray you as well…
    and once you feel you’re ready to take on a fortress you assign your orcs to positions, you give them weapons and armies to increase your odds of success and you charge in to take what’s yours…
    The review has a bit of a negative tone, but Shadow of War is a really good game….
    Its more of the really great shadow of Mordor with deeper systems and less annoyances…
    But to me it also has less heart and soul…
    This is an enjoyable experience.. But a very forgettable one…
    I give Middle Earth Shadow of War
    a 7.5/10    … Expand
  6. iamevilhomer
    Oct 12, 2017
    2
    Haven't even played it but you know what? You can't forgive the level of greedy micro transactions like this in a single player game...Haven't even played it but you know what? You can't forgive the level of greedy micro transactions like this in a single player game...

    Don't take this review seriously in the sense that I haven't played the game and hardly did any research... But I know for a fact that the micro transactions in this game are on a level of butt ****ery that's beyond any form of mercy. So **** this game! I guess I could give it a 5 or a 4 or a 0 or whatever... Who cares? It's a bad game...    … Expand
  7. Longliveyourmom
    Oct 24, 2020
    0
    I left a 4 on here because I hit level 62 and all I kept experiencing were spiders on online forts. Well thank COVID for keeping me boredI left a 4 on here because I hit level 62 and all I kept experiencing were spiders on online forts. Well thank COVID for keeping me bored enough to get to level 80. I've been focusing on the single player conquests and an issue I've frequently crossed was the game never loading after a victory. Like it's just showing the loading icon and that's it. For 15 minutes before I restarted. Seriously though last straw was a 40 min siege that saw me running back and forth reviving my allies. I lost one unfortunately but I kept it going, this was level 700 siege. Well come the end, guess what happened. It just kept showing the loading icon after I killed all warchiefs. And guess what happened when I restarted. The guy I lost was alive and I had no rewards. 40 min wasted. F this game… Expand
  8. Super_Sincero
    Oct 11, 2017
    0
    Eu sou de uma época onde se comprava o jogo e vinha completo, sem a necessidade de nada adicional. O tempo passou, e evoluímos. Agora éEu sou de uma época onde se comprava o jogo e vinha completo, sem a necessidade de nada adicional. O tempo passou, e evoluímos. Agora é possível prolongar a história daquele jogo que você não quer que acabe nunca, um exemplo clássico é o GTA V, The Witcher 3 entre outros. Mas no meio disto tem empresas que só quer ganhar dinheiro e lança um DLC qualquer e já era. Mas neste ponto é possível ignorar o DLC e pronto.

    Mas as empresas vendo isto não pararam por ai, criaram o Loot Box, caixas para adiantar sua vida no game. Mas hoje em dia está sendo usado de forma demasiada. Não vou citar os jogos...mas vamos falar deste que pra mim é um absurdo.

    Colocaram este sistema dentro da campanha do jogo. Chega um ponto na história, que você não consegue ir pra frente e o que dá a entender é que você precisa comprar estas malditas caixas. Pra que isto? Sabe o jogo é bom, mas este sistema de loot box mal utilizado acaba com a experiencia no game.

    Por este motivo esta nota. Se tem uma coisa que está irritando esta geração são estas malditas caixas !

    Tirando isto o jogo é nota 8 até onde joguei.    … Expand

See all 109 User Reviews

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Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
9
#9 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

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