Target Leaks Shadow of War, Sequel to Shadow of Mordor

Every once in a while a game comes around that surpasses nearly every expectation for it. Batman did it with Arkham Asylum in 2009, Rocket League did it in 2015, and Shadow of Mordor did it in 2014. It was unique in that it came out in the middle of a console generation switch, and still garnered critical acclaim.

Early Sunday morning, Target leaked the sequel to Shadow of Mordor, titled Shadow of War, on their website through an error in their search system, complete with cover art. A quick blurb about some of the features was available before Target took down the results.

The game will come in both regular and gold editions, with the gold edition including the Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion, The Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion,  The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion, The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion, and a Gold War Chest. Based on the page entries, the Nemesis Expansions include a new Orc Tribe featuring new enemies, followers, missions, abilities, weapons, Fortress and wilderness updates, and a Mythic Gear Set. The Story Expansions introduce a new campaign, playable character & abilities, side missions, enemies, allies and more.

For those who didn’t play Shadow of Mordor, you should really go revisit it. It plays like the Batman games from Rocksteady Studios, but allows you to challenge the pecking order of Sauron’s growing orc army with the Nemesis System. Certain orc’s carry certain ranks, and as you defeat them, they are removed from the board. This allows each encounter to feel a little more varied from standard beat em ups like Assassin’s Creed. Oh, and if an orc kills you, he increases in power and moves up in rank.

WB Games sent out a ‘Save the Date’ for March 8th for an upcoming game announcement. While many people speculated that the game announced would be a new iteration of the Batman Arkham games, I am pleasantly surprised that Shadow of Mordor is getting the sequel it rightly deserves with Shadow of War.

UPDATE: WB Games has officially announced the game, and has released a cinematic trailer.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__N7mt5Clwg]