So WB Games did their best to put me off with a tiered release, pre-order bonuses and sodding microtransactions in a single player game. It’s hard to overlook and I wouldn’t blame anyone for boycotting the title, although it would be a shame in my opinion, especially if you enjoyed the first.

Shadow of War does what a good sequel should do, by fixing the things that didn’t work and improving on those that did. One of my biggest issues with Shadow of Mordor was in the lacklustre environments and SoW improves this no end by creating more interesting and varied locations to run, climb, jump and stab in. The wonderful nemesis system has also been enhanced with the orcs given more character and variation in abilities, making fighting them even more fun. There are also a number of scripted orcs and the new conquest system which is fun and adds more depth.

There are a few problems other than the loot boxes, one being the usual map full of side missions that can start to grate (an arkham-creed staple) and another being the surprisingly narrow fov that can make fighting in close quarters difficult. I’m also not too enamoured with the two ‘token’ good characters but the story is entertaining enough and other than that it’s just nit-picks. I’m not at the end game yet so have no idea if the rumours of grind are true, but I wouldn’t be surprised because so far I have had no compulsion to purchase a loot box.

So WB Games did their best to put me off with a tiered release, pre-order bonuses and sodding microtransactions in a single player game. It’s hard to overlook and I wouldn’t blame anyone for boycotting the title, although it would be a shame in my opinion, especially if you enjoyed the first. Shadow of War does what a good sequel should do, by fixing the things that didn’t work and improving on those that did. One of my biggest issues with Shadow of Mordor was in the lacklustre environments and SoW improves this no end by creating more interesting and varied locations to run, climb, jump and stab in. The wonderful nemesis system has also been enhanced with the orcs given more character and variation in abilities, making fighting them even more fun. There are also a number of scripted orcs and the new conquest system which is fun and adds more depth. There are a few problems other than the loot boxes, one being the usual map full of side missions that can start to grate (an arkham-creed staple) and another being the surprisingly narrow fov that can make fighting in close quarters difficult. I’m also not too enamoured with the two ‘token’ good characters but the story is entertaining enough and other than that it’s just nit-picks. I’m not at the end game yet so have no idea if the rumours of grind are true, but I wouldn’t be surprised because so far I have had no compulsion to purchase a loot box.