WBIE (Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment) has finally secured the patent for the Nemesis system. This means that they’ll no doubt be working on a new game that uses it. Whether that game is part of the Shadow of Mordor storyline remains to be seen. I think that with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum on the way, it’s unlikely that we’ll get another game in the Shadow of Mordor series this soon. What is for sure is that we’ll be getting more games with the phenomenal Nemesis system in, something that greatly improved gameplay in both of these Lord of the Rings games.
The Nemesis system is a simple concept that dramatically changes gameplay. In the Shadow of Mordor games, you could kill enemies left right and center. However, if one killer you, or got away, the Nemesis system would take over. After a while, you might encounter an Orc who suddenly has an immunity to fire and a metal mask because of your last encounter. The system can upgrade them over and over until they’re nearly unbeatable.
So many Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War playthroughs are unique because of the way in which people play. Different play styles generate different enemies, and they’re all pretty random. Of course, there are patterns and limits, but the combination of possibilities really does mix the games up so much that no two playthroughs are the same.
The system was patented, which is why we’ve not seen it in other games. It wasn’t possible for other developers or publishers to use it. However, Ubisoft did make something pretty similar in their Mercenary system for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, though it’s not as in-depth as the Nemesis system is.
I would love to see a superhero game with the Nemesis system built-in. I think you could create some truly fantastic villains from the actions of a hero throughout a story. The only question is where the system will go from here. Hopefully, it won’t sit on a shelf unused for years to come. The dream of course, would be for a new Shadow of Mordor game that uses it to release for modern consoles.
