In order to progress through the Shadow Wars stages you had to defend your forts against attacking captains which you did by either A, killing them which gave you loot or B, dominating them which gave you a lot of followers and which was by far the fastest way to progress through the stages (aside from just lowering the difficulty settings). They were never necessary for act IV either, in fact they were a colossal waste of time. They added microtransactions which I never felt were necessary for the first 3 acts at ALL If you like good visuals, enacting sweet vengeance upon your killers, and a combat system that makes you feel like an absolute badass you can’t go wrong with this game, particularly if you play it through a subscription service like Game Pass. And because you’re in full control of when to end it, none of this ultimately taints the SoW experience as a whole. After having put in 42 hours on the first 3 acts, it took me 40 minutes of the epilogue to realise I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. And even though a lot of that grind has been eliminated, it still feels like a pointless effort to go through just to get to a 3 minute cutscene (unless, of course, you absolutely can’t get enough of Orc battles and fortress conquests). The post-epilogue grind is the clearest example of how Warner Bros intended to milk its user base. To me, SoW finishes at the end of Act III. Even with a couple of frustrating mechanics, this was easily one of the best gameplay experiences I’ve had in recent years.Īll of this stays true until the end, provided you correctly decide when that ‘end’ should be based on what you favour. Once you get the hang of it, walking in Talion’s shoes can make you feel like a god. The aspects that shine the most amongst the game’s strengths are the movement and combat, which are fast, slick, brutal and stylish. The story isn’t the main aspect in this game, but to be honest, after the opinions I had read about it, I was expecting a lot worse.

The grind around Orcs and armies can feel repetitive, but all in all it ends up being quite enjoyable. The relatable world, lore and characters make this a no brainer for anyone into the Tolkien universe, and the original Nemesis system gives a ‘personal’ feel to the whole experience. The truth is that now, in 2021, with the loot box drama gone and all the issues ironed out, Shadow of War is a great game to play. The old /r/patientgamers Essential Games List Please use flair to display what games you’re currently playing, not a punch line, username, tag, URL, or signature. New, mobile-friendly spoilers can be posted using the following formatting: Want to play online in a dead gaming community? We expect you to know these rules before making a post. Please click here to see our current rules. We no longer maintain our posting rules in Old Reddit. Join our Discord Join our Steam Group Follow us on Twitter Posting Rules Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases. A gaming sub free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game.

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