Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
What It Is: For starters, it’s a game with a needless title; everyone can grok that it’s a Lord of the Rings game simply by having the word ‘Mordor’ on there. No one cares about Mordor, New Jersey anymore. Other than that, it’s one of the more recent fantasy games to come out so close to The Witcher 3. Also based on a classic set of fantasy novels (in this case, the Lord of the Rings franchise), Mordor is set in between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings during Sauron’s rise to power. You play as Talion, a ranger of the Black Gate who ends up dead alongside his family at the hands of the Black Hand of Sauron as part of a failed ritualistic sacrifice. Talion ends up bound to a Wraith with no memory of who he is, but the two of you decide your best course of action is to kill the Black Hand and get some answers.
Why You Should Play It: Shadow of Mordor came out last year to basically unanimous praise, and for good reason. The story itself may not be entirely engaging–don’t worry if you forget who the bad guys are, or if Talion and Celebrimbor bore you to tears with just how dark and grim they are–but it’s the Nemesis system that carries it. The land of Mordor has an Orc hierarchy, from captains all the way up to war chieftains. You can use your Wraith abilities to find out weaknesses for each of them, and the info is essential in taking them down. It’s a constant power struggle that’s dependent on you while also not entirely guided by your actions; you can wipe out three Orc captains, but once you die trying to go for your fourth, your killer will take all three vacant spots. The Nemesis system is ultimately what makes Mordor so fun; once you make that first crack in the Orc hierarchy, you’ll want to keep playing.
