Go in there, sneak around, and shank orcs from the bushes with the Middle-Earth collection on Switch 2.
I was never and have never been a big High Fantasy or Sword and Sorcery fan. I understand that is weird since a.) I’m a huge nerd and b.) I yell about Disney cartoons all the time and more than one lean hard into that but it’s just true. Lord of the Rings have never been on my radar. I never read the books, I watched the Extended version of Fellowship and saw Return of the King in theaters (look, there’s a story on why I saw that one in particular in theaters but it’s irrelevant) and that’s pretty much my only exposure outside of what I’m about to talk about here.
Originally releasing in 2014 and now available on Switch 2, which is what I’m playing here, Shadow of Mordor was a smash hit out the gate and you can instantly tell what games had been popular by the time they conceived and starting working on it. Gameplay is one part Arkham and one part Assassin’s Creed. Shadow takes you on a journey of revenge with an elven ghost co-pilot across Mordor as you fight and meet what I can only assume for the most part are iconic characters from the books. I know Gollum and Sauron and stuff. And I know the spider lady was controversial at the time. I think it says a lot about these games that I REALLY enjoy my time with them despite having virtually zero connection to the universe.
A good game is as good game and the Nemesis system in these games (This also includes Shadow of War in the pack which, full disclosure I only started and fiddled with to make sure it worked and wasn’t a mess) is so incredible. The way it keeps you on your toes and gives minor characters a potential purpose going forward is such a grand idea that it’s a shame that corporate nonsense has kept it out of any other game. It lived and died in these two titles.
The Switch 2 ports are solid. Nothing seems to be particularly busted. You always worry about lighting and stuff in these remasters but everything seems fine. Locked in at 30FPS might be a deal breaker I guess? But the original PS4 and XBONE versions were too. You get all the DLC and that’s pretty much it. The online stuff for War isn’t there but that’s to be expected and the only Switch 2 feature here is gyro aiming.
Overall this is a fantastic package of games that doesn’t swing for the fences but it doesn’t need to. Just go in there, sneak around, and shank orcs from the bushes.
This review is based on a Switch 2 code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher.
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