Shadow of Mordor went on to become a surprising hit when it released in 2014, and becoming the second successful translation of a popular Warner Bros. property to video games, after Batman. And this year, we are getting the sequel to the game, with Shadow of War.

Speaking to Gamespot, Monolith creative VP Michael de Plater discussed the pressures that come with developing a major AAA game on such a scale. “Probably some people would disagree, but I think stress for us is generally a really positive thing because our whole studio is devoted to one game,” he said. “That assumption is like, basically, if we fail, we’re doomed. It’s all or nothing, which is really exciting and really motivating. That was very clear on Shadow of Mordor; that was the situation. “This is our first go in this genre. If we don’t succeed, no one’s gonna give us another chance.” I think we feel exactly the same.”

When the high pressure that such a mindset would inevitably result in was pointed out, de Plater agreed, noting, “Yeah… it’s super stressful, but there’s not a lot of triple-A games or triple-A studios, so I think you have to have that mentality that you’re either doing something great or probably no one’s going to want to give you the large sums of money it takes to try and do that again.”

Shadow of War releases later this year for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Hopefully, Monolith can retain everything that made the first game great, while also building upon the significant flaws that it did have, too.