Middle-earth: Shadow of War Review (Gorganthos)
A backlog exists for a reason.
Originally I picked this game up when the lootbox fiasco was overturned and a hefty discount was placed during a sale. I managed to get 16 hours into it, was bored stiff from the uninspired and piecemeal story (won't get into the lore debate), and frustrated by the combat and movement systems to the point I couldn't take it anymore. Flashforward to a week ago and a short term memory later, I decide to clear it, only to get to Stage 3 of the Shadow of War (which use to be 10 stages) and declare defeat. What was the straw that broke the camel's back? Realizing the next few hours of grinding coins to upgrade defenses just for a single cutscene I saw back when the lootbox fiasco was still going on, and an achievement.
There is very little about this game I can honestly defend. Combat works when in smaller groups or facing one or two special enemies, but falls apart when your inability to lock on screws you out of an easy kill (stealth from above, constantly being drawn to attacking allies instead of the enemy) or prevents you from reliably reacting to enemy inputs due to anti-vaulting traits on bigger enemies/monsters, or enemy hitbox sizes preventing you from rolling (due to you being dragged to the closest enemy over the clearly open space between them). The Nemesis system, while impressive with the amount of names and voice lines generated, is just a randomizer to help smoke screen how little story there is and even less meaningful gameplay options outside of those interactions (worse yet, more competent studios will never get the chance to show what the system could really do with it). The randomizing of perks can also lead to many battles just taking forever due to all of the ability and attack defenses, which wouldn't be an issue if the level scaling actually felt like it was working properly and your weapon perks didn't feel completely useless. This leads to the overwhelming bloat of the equipment stats, needing to unlock their perks, becoming out leveled quickly (not sure how many times you can upgrade) and trying to maintain a proper counter to most of the proofs just to keep fights from becoming four minute slogs.
Conquest fights are a major time sink throughout the game, with the entire second act basically preparing you for the process in the third act. The required attack and defense stats needed to effectively survive the end game (I cannot image the grind needed back when it was 10 stages, bad enough now with farming the coins needed to buy fort upgrades and upgrade warchiefs) will take up the bulk of your playthrough. It wouldn't be as terrible if there was something else to break up the routine, but there isn't. There is no story (probably a blessing given how shallow it was in the second act), there is no side content (unless you buy the DLC, which boils down to a story on the levels of Rings of Power (Blade of Galadriel) and a time attack mode to conquering a new region (Desolation of Mordor)), and the crippling feeling of a mobile game with how repetitive it all gets. I wouldn't be as tough on it if the combat issues and movement problems weren't compounded so much during the attack and defense segments, when you can be facing upwards of four or five enemy special orcs with their proofs conflicting with each other and making basic movement a nightmare (or leaving you unable to target an ally who is bleeding to death right at your feet due to the Olog captain standing behind him with the bigger hit box).
This is basically what the game is: a tutorial to conquests and then the conquest defense arc. If you enjoy awkward combat and have no interest in the loose liberty of the story, you might find some enjoyment in making up stories with what the Nemesis system throws at you. I cannot recommend this game even with that, because eventually the sameness of the encounters and how much the controls can fight back at you at times sets in, and you look at how many more orcs you are expected to capture, and realize there are other games out there that will respect your time more. Even on a sale, I can't recommend it. Not all of the games in your backlog need to be finished.