Middle-earth Shadow of War latest news: release date & trailers

Shadow of War is the new sequel to Shadow of Mordor. Read the latest news about the Shadow of War gameplay, platforms, price and UK launch date.

There’s good news for Tolkienistas, because Warner Bros. has confirmed that it’s working on Middle-earth: Shadow of War, a sequel to the 2014 hit Shadow of Mordor. Like that game, it’s set in the Lord of the Rings universe as inspired by Peter Jackson’s films, and will once again see you tasked with thinning the ranks of Sauron’s forces.

Shadow of War was revealed in February 2017, and since then we've found out more about the gameplay and story - enough to make this one of our most anticipated upcoming games. Still, this is where you’ll find everything we know so far about Shadow of War’s release date, price, platforms, and gameplay, and we’ll keep updating it as we find out more.
When is the Shadow of War release date?

Middle Earth: Shadow of War UK release date: 10 October 2017

Despite initially announcing that Shadow of War would be available in the UK on 25 August 2017, developer Monolith Productions announced in early June that it has pushed the release date back by 7 weeks, until 10 October 2017. In a blog post, the company explains that it is "committed to delivering the highest quality experience" and that in order to do that, it has made the decision to delay the launch to make sure "Shadow of War will deliver on that promise".

In terms of platforms, Middle Earth: Shadow of War will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game will also be part of the Play Anywhere scheme, which means if you buy a digital copy from Microsoft you can play it on either Xbox One or PC, with your save data transferring between them.

There will also be an enhanced version released with Xbox One Scorpio support, but naturally that won’t come out until the console does some time later in the year.

What is the storyline?

The first announcement trailer for Shadow of War showed off the game’s story, which picks up shortly after the end of Shadow of Mordor, between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, still following Talion and Celebrimbor.

They’ve forged a new Ring of Power, and are going behind enemy lines into Mordor to try and spread dissent and undermine Sauron, turning his own army against him. It looks like that will involve fighting a Balrog, the Nazgul, and maybe even Sauron himself along the way, while building up an army and fortress.

You can see the story in more detail in the story trailer released just before E3 2017, which shows off the new ring, the core cast, and some pretty spiffy action sequences:

What are the gameplay features?

While the announcement trailer teased the game’s story, there was little (well, zero) gameplay on display, but luckily Monolith released a 15-minute gameplay video just a couple of days later. The clip shows off a major expansion to the first game’s innovative Nemesis system, which saw named NPC enemies respond to and pursue the player character across the game.

 “The robust personalization from the first game is now applied to the entire world where the environments and characters are all shaped by player actions and decisions, creating a personal world unique to every gameplay experience,” Warner Bros. said in a press release.

One of those new additions is Nemesis Fortresses, which “allow player to utilize different strategies to conquer dynamic strongholds and create personalized worlds with their unique Orc army.” The gameplay footage shows the player working through a procedurally generated fortress, choosing tactics to approach the battle, directing your own troops, and facing big threats like traps, war chiefs, and even dragons along the ways.

One of the main dynamic additions are Followers, members of your army with their own names, backgrounds, and characters. They can be loyal or betray you and become your enemies, creating varied stories along the way, while you can choose which of them to bring into battle, and which will have the most power - and thus influence - over your forces.

You can watch the first gameplay footage right here to see the new Nemesis features in action: