At this point, I have decided to not keep getting annoyed at the cavalier attitude with which Shadow of War is treating the lore of Tolkien’s world, and instead to look at it as its own thing instead- a modern AAA action adventure fantasy game in the vein of Assassin’s Creed. That has made me far more receptive to how, well, unusual the game’s marketing is in the context of the larger world it falls into.
For instance, check out this brand new trailer for the game- it is tonally so off from what J.R.R. Tolkien’s works are like, that you would get severe whiplash if you went into it expecting something like his books. That said, the tone aside, the trailer does highlight the emergent, personal stories that can arise as a result of the game’s Nemesis system, which debuted in 2014’s Shadow of Mordor, and returns in the sequel.
Shadow of War will launch in October, for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game will be Xbox One X enhanced.