Story
Of course, the story of Shadow of War is different, it is a sequel after all, but even the way it’s told differs. Shadow of Mordor was similar to something like the Force Unleashed, in that it told an original story within the Lord of the Rings that takes place between the trilogy and the Hobbit. Although its story started out fairly strong, it felt a bit wandering, and fans were generally unsatisfied by the abrupt ending that lacked any kind of challenge. Without spoiling anything the final boss battle of Shadow of War has indeed been improved, and there’s even quite a few other exciting battles peppered throughout the game.
However, there are positives and negatives here, depending on how you view Shadow of War. On one hand, Shadow of War seems much more concerned with its story , taking for time for exposition and setup, and by and large dropping in more cutscenes than Shadow of Mordor did. There’s also more story attached to side objectives, like how you get lore and glimpses of Shelob’s past from collectibles. This does lead to a downside, however, as Shadow of War plays things fast and loose with the Lord of the Rings series.
The game isn’t afraid to take generous liberties with the series. For example the decision to make Shelob a shapeshifter that can turn into a woman. While the story of Shadow of War isn’t going to go down as one of the all-time greats, it’s definitely fun and the pacing is better than in Shadow of Mordor. However, it’s easy to see that some Lord of the Rings fans might not particularly care for the liberties taken. Shadow of War does create an original story within the Lord of the Rings universe and has plenty of lore to match it, but whether or not you like the direction taken is up to you.
