Middle-earth: Shadow of War launches on Xbox One and Windows 10

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

Pick up your sword, dagger, and bow: it's time to get back to some orc slaying.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the follow-up to 2014's critically acclaimed Shadow of Mordor, is now available on Xbox One and Windows 10. If you're ready to assume the role of Talion in your fight against Sauron's army once more, you can pick up Shadow of War at Microsoft now starting at $59.99 (opens in new tab).

Shadow of War returns to Middle-earth, with the story building on the events of the first title in the series. Talion now has more powers at hand, complete with a new progression system, to take on Sauron's forces. The highlight of the first game, the Nemesis system, is back once more, allowing enemies to learn and adapt based on previous interactions with Talion. In Shadow of War, however, this has been expanded even more to give your decisions more weight across the whole world.

One of the biggest changes in Shadow of War is that you can now recruit orcs as your followers after defeating them in combat. This adds a bit of extra calculation to the Nemesis system, as you have to decide whether it would be more in your interest to kill or recruit enemy orcs. By recruiting orcs, you gradually build up an army of allies to help you take on the enemy fortresses that make up another large part of Shadow of War's new addition: Siege Battles.

What's new in Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Shadow of War seeks to take everything that was good about Shadow of Mordor and make it bigger and better. To top things off, the game is an Xbox Play Anywhere title if you purchase it from the Microsoft Store, meaning you only have to buy it once to play on both Xbox One and PC. And if you're planning on picking up an Xbox One X, Shadow of War will run with enhanced visuals and at 4K.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is available now starting at $59.99.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

4 Comments
  • There is an issue on my PC where it will download the game, but not finish the install. Not sure why and have seen nothing. Works great on Xbox
  • I'll wait for a sale...maybe a used game sale. I don't like the way this was set up to promote microtransactions. It was the biggest release of the year for me, the only big release I wanted all year, and WB just did too much to kill it by treating it like a phone game with that stuff. RNG gambling pay-to-win multiplayer is not my bag.
  • The game is nothing like that.. Learn before u speak
  • Having same installationsl error on windows store version. Will download but not finish install. Gives me an error, haven't seen a fix.