Michael Crider
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was released in 2014, and it was easily the best video game set in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe up to that point. Unfortunately it’s losing a few of its more interesting features, as publisher Warner Bros. interactive is (presumably) shutting down its support servers at the end of this year.
Specifically, the game will lose “vendetta missions,” which allowed you to hunt down the unique orc captains that killed another player’s character when they played their copy of the game. Without syncing to the server, the game can also no longer save your most hated orc nemesis, which will show up in the sequel Shadow of War if you play the game while connected to the same player account.
Neither Shadow of Mordor nor Shadow of War are conventional multiplayer games, so the vast majority of the content will remain the same, including its much-loved nemesis system of dynamically-generated orc captains you can “recruit” for your own army. Any new copies of the game sold for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One should remain playable.
Still, it’s a shame to see some of the game’s most unique features chopped out as Warner Bros. reallocated its resources. It’s not all bad news: all players will have access to a couple of epic power-up runes, Orc Hunter and Gravewalker. Shadow of Mordor is $10 on Steam right now, and if you haven’t played it, you absolutely should.
