Middle-Earth: Shadow of War – Desolation of Mordor DLC Review
When Shadow of Mordor first released, those who played it were blown away by its depth, combat, traversal, and of course the incredible Nemesis system. It was a sleeper hit that captivated gamers, and by the time Shadow of War was released, everybody knew what this incredible game was. Despite having some loot box issues out of the gate, Shadow of War released to great reviews – currently sitting at an 80 on Metacritic while we here at COGconnected scored it at 94. With so much going for it, the DLC was sure to take the model we loved and expand on it, yet the final DLC – Desolation of Mordor – failed to supply anything of substance, instead offering more of the same with some artificial longevity thrown in.
While you do take the reigns of another character – Baranor – who has some unique controls and features, the DLC as a whole simply fails to draw the player in and instead makes poor use of game mechanics to drag out the story as opposed to relying on quality content. Curious what we mean? Have you been thinking of picking up the DLC for yourself? Check out our thoughts below.
The final DLC for Shadow of War, Desolation of Mordor, puts players in the iron clad shoes of Baranor – the captain of Minas Ithil, as he unites with Torvin to take on a new orc threat in the East. Being a human with no ring of power and no wraith abilities, Desolation of Mordor is built around more of a rogue-like model with no way to cheat death. Dying in the game will result in a substantial loss of progress that – instead of feeling like a proper mechanic instead comes across as a shoe-horned way of extending gameplay hours.
Shadow of War: Desolation of Mordor is available for download now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. For more information, check out the game’s official website.
