Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor trailer summarises the basics

Hitting Orcs with swords is highly recommended.

This eight minute dash through the basics of Shadow of Mordor should be enough to get anybody up to speed with how the game works. After a brief prologue setting the Lord of the Rings scene, it gets down to some bullet-point specifics.

First you’ll learn about Ranger Talion and his wraith pal, Celebrimbor. I’m kind of surprised they’ve pre-revealed the wraith’s identity, to be honest (it happened prior to this trailer.) Discovering that your wraith chum was the guy who forged the Rings of Power would’ve surely been a strong narrative beat. Oh well.

The trailer moves on to a few other cast members, like cheeky Orc fellow Ratbag, before explaining the rune mechanic and how they can boost weaponry. Monolith’s Nemesis system then gets a segment of its own, detailing Orc hierarchies and personal grudges.

Then there’s a bit about learning to ‘dominate’ some of the creatures who inhabit Shadow of Mordor’s realm, and an indication that being able to ride around the place will be quite handy; both for speed, and for chasing down more cowardly Orc captains.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is released on 30 September for the PC. You can watch the new trailer and learn some handy facts, below.