Sauron was a bit of a wrong'un if you ask me, so I'm grateful for games that let me take him on with some glimmering, fancily named elf sword. EA's The Two Towers game opened with an impressive fight against the Lord of the Rings, as did the recent, joyous Lego version. I was starting to think that Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor would be one of the few not to let you stab Sauron in his necromantic face, but I'm happy to be proven wrong with this new trailer. Shadow of Mordor has been given, groan etc, a season pass, and the things it contains have been detailed in the following video. Perhaps the most interesting Thing is a new mission that lets you "play as Celebrimbor, the great Elven king of the Second Age, and face Sauron and the might of his forces".
Firstly, here's the trailer, so we're all on the same page.
There's quite a lot to take in there, so here's a list of all the content in the £19.99 season pass. All this will of course be made available separately, when others can tell you whether it's any cop or not, but the trailer mentions that season-passers will be given a headstart on the DLC challenge modes.
- Guardians of the Flaming Eye Orc Warband Mission: Face Sauron's elite Defenders before the Black Gate and earn the Rising Flame rune
- Lord of the Hunt Story Mission: Players will gain new skills and earn unique epic runes as they hunt and tame legendary monsters of Mordor
- The Bright Lord Story Mission: Play as Celebrimbor, the great Elven king of the Second Age, and face Sauron and the might of his forces
- Early access to the Trials of War, including:
- Test of Speed Challenge Mode: You can demonstrate your efficiency in battle and earn high scores for Talion's speed in defeating your foes
- Test of Wisdom Challenge Mode: You can prove your strategic abilities, through earning points for skill, speed and efficiency
- Endless Challenge Mode: This mode will continually spawn new legions of enemies. The Runes that you will earn will provide powerful upgrades
- Access to future content: Including runes, skins and additional add-on content
Those story missions sound like the highlights of the list, particularly the aforementioned Sauron DLC, though I'm intrigued by the "legendary" monsters in the hunting one too. Is this Lord of the Rings or Monster Hunter? And where did all those giant cat-beasts come from? While our review is in the oven, have a watch of our video of the game at max settings on the Large Pixel Collider, or this trailer that tells/spoils you everything you need to know.
