The Nemesis System Will Impact Siege Battles
Siege Battles are a big new feature of Shadow of War, letting you take over enemy strongholds as your own and reap various benefits. As you might expect, the Nemesis system will play a role in this as well. Each Nemesis Fortress is protected by various Orc Warchiefs, who each have their own unique skills, abilities, and weaknesses. Of course, the different enemies you face will change what kind of approach to combat you want Talion to take. However, it also changes the flow of the overall battle.
Enemy chieftains each come equipped with a defensive perk to buff up their Fortress, things like strengthened walls to make it harder to breach, or Savages in battle that you can’t dodge over. At the same time, when you start a Siege you’ll be taken to an overview screen, where you can select the perk/units you want your own chieftains to bring into battle. There’s a significant degree of customization here, as you can select from three different unit types for each Chieftain.
Shadow of War also gives you freedom on how you want to approach each Siege Battle, if you want you can head right into battle and face down all the enemy Chieftains at once. Or you can systematically eliminate each Chieftain before the battle, making your siege easier.
In my demo, the chieftain I had taken down and the choices I made before the siege made the battle quite easy for me. My units stormed the fortress and eliminated the enemies’ Warchiefs and forces with little help needed from me. Meanwhile, the presentation that we were shown featured a battle where Talion got completely overwhelmed by a horde of enemies and multiple Warchiefs.
It’s clear that all of your choices and actions within the Nemesis System will compile into a unique experience for each player. Whether that variation can be spread throughout the entire game, however, remains to be seen.
