Middle-earth: Shadow of War Unveils Gameplay Video

Dragons! Anything is better with dragons in it, and developer Monolith Productions is apparently aware of that, as that's one of the first things we see on the video above

The trailer released today is a 16 minutes gameplay tour of the Lord of the Rings game Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and it displays how the new game is coming along. After a quick series of flash cuts -- some of them featuring a dragon -- the video opens up with footage of a very big world map, significantly larger than 2014's Shadow of Mordor.

Featuring landmarks such as Osgiliath, Minas Morgul, and the tower of Barad-dûr (complete with the Eye of Sauron on top darting back and forth across the land), the new game seems to take place in the entirety of Mordor -- or at least a quite sizeable portion of it. The fraction of gameplay we see concerns the newly upgraded, much loved Nemesis system, and the process of capturing a fortress with Talon's army of converted orcs and trolls.

Yes, there are trolls now.

These new capturable areas - called Nemesis Fortresses - are dynamic strongholds that must be conquered by the player in order to obtain superiority upon a whole province, and due to their size and importance, they usually feature a few Orc captains and definitely house a Warlord.

In order to capture said fortress, Talion and Celebrimbor must forge their personalised orc army and lead them to battle, which in the video culminates into a proper war siege with dozens of characters on screen. Wearing the title of Bright Lord, Talion takes a whole bunch of orcs and trolls to the mountain valley of Seregost in an effort to capture the fortress and kill one of Sauron's Overlords.

During the video, the narrator describes how the new Nemesis system goes beyond mere rivalry and revenge, and this time allows for loyalty and even friendships. The end result is an amazing demonstration of storytelling involving alliances, betrayals, and timely rescues... to the point that the video feels scripted. If that footage of interactions and dismemberment actually translates to an actual emergent gameplay mechanic, Shadow of War has the potential to be revolutionary.

No story details have been disclosed so far, so all we know is that Shadow of War is set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and after Shadow of Mordor. We do know that Celebrimbor and Talion forged a "New Ring" of power in the flames of Mount Doom, and that it plays an essential role in the story and the gameplay -- as if LotR fans weren't already pulling their hair out already.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War will be out on 25 August, 2017 for Xbox One, Project Scorpio, Windows 10 PC (Windows Store and Steam), PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.