This week saw the first (small) look at the new and upcoming Hobbit-themed cosy life sim Tales Of The Shire, plus the news that Embracer group is splitting into three, including a Middle-earth And Friends group. We thus use this as an excuse to spend some time talking about The Lord Of The Rings games we'd like to see, plus our favourite Rings games from days gone by (and also Gollum, and also we do impressions of Gollum).
Nate has been playing an impressive number of games, including one that did not allow him to invent the stick and therefore hampered his progress. We also talk about AI NPCs again, because one of them tried to get James drunk. Plus: some lovely recommendations to round off your weekly pod (one of them is a long life meat product).
]]>A new mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim draws inspiration from the Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor series by turning regular enemies into powerful Nemesis versions if they kill you. Rather than simply die and reload a save, you'll respawn elsewhere in the world, ready to hunt down your new named Nemesis. They might even loot your gear and use it against you.
]]>Monolith's Lord Of The Rings games Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor and Shadow Of War are fun action stealth 'em ups that deserve praise just for their combat. What really makes both worth mention though is the nemesis system that turns procedurally generated baddies into your own personal antagonists the more you encounter them. Why haven't more developers tried their own take on the nemesis system in the last six years? Because Warner Bros. patented it, turns out. That sucks.
]]>Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor has lost some of its online features as a result of what publishers Warner Brothers say are "changes with our network". Among the features no longer available in the third-person orc stabber are the Nemesis Forge and Vendetta missions. Mordor is a six year-old game, but it's always a shame when bits of things we bought break off, isn't it?
]]>If you're an avid Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor fan, I have some bad news for you. Warner Bros. are removing all of its online features, so you only have until 31st December 2020 to enjoy them before they disappear forever.
]]>Hubbish bubbish, rhymes are rubbish, eye of newt and blah blah blah. Gosh, magic is a chore. If only we had a catalyst to... Oh, hello reader, what are you doing here? Well, as it happens, yes, you can help me out. Just stand over here while I scratch these runes around you. I’m trying to summon the 9 best magic spells in PC games, you see. Stand still, please. You won’t feel a thing.
]]>Let us wish a blessed Good Friday to all the Catholics in the house. Now, get out. Your fish-sharing magician cannot compete with these 9 videogame characters who see death as nothing but a passing nuisance. These 9 heroes of reanimated flesh. These 9 unkillable beings of limitless power and mystery. Where is your precious Holy Spirit now, loser? Look at these 9 luminous freaks who have monstered sinew and reality to their will. Read my list feature, disgusting mortal, and repent.
]]>The human race evolved the facial expression known as the “smile” because we needed a way to silently communicate satisfaction to other members of our species. So we decided to bare our teeth at one another and squint. This stuck, and now even the characters of your favourite digital storyderby are doing it. It’s sort of disgusting, and yet… you know what, I like it. Here are the 11 best smiles in PC games.
]]>Today's Humble Bundle - probably the PC gaming deal of the day - contains a lot of grimdark Bat-biffery, and a few surprises on the side. Seven games for (up to) $12, mostly comics-themed, but with some underappreciated stuff in there. Plus, the incongruously bright Bastion and the wildly weird and happy Scribblenauts Unlimited, all capped off with the complete edition of Batman: Arkham Knight (which I reckon has grown past a lot of the flak it caught at launch) at the top tier. Below, trailers both cheerful and bat-grumpy, and some thoughts on the games included.
]]>I'm not sure if Valve's latest promotional wotsit on Steam knows whether it's coming or going. On one hand, it's nice that the Spring Cleaning Event (running until Monday, 28th May) is nudging players into trying out games they may have bought in sales and never touched, but pairing that with nine simultaneous free weekend events does somewhat undermine the message.
Ah well, it's an excuse to play videogames all weekend. Can't grumble about that. Plus, there's an actual free game giveaway running - take a peek within. Oh, and yesterday's big Steam giveaway is still live until tomorrow, so try that too. Oh dear, there's just too many games.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Nothing does revenge quite like Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War [official site]. But more games really really should.
When Shadow Of Mordor came out in 2014, no one was really expecting it to be good. But it was great. And the greatest thing about it was its Nemesis system. Because your character is already dead, and possessed by a grey, grey ghost, getting killed by an enemy was not your end. Instead you woke up at a respawn tower, with vengeance on your mind. The orc that killed you would automatically be given a promotion, a ranking among the orc leadership in the area, and greater abilities. He'd also be given a personality, strengths and weaknesses, and most of all, a name.
]]>Have you heard the one about Humble making a new Bundle? It's a good one. Rather, it's a Very Positive one.
Following on from the original 'Very Positive' Bundle back in May this year, Humble has brought the idea back for another go - in the Humble Very Positive Bundle 2, funnily enough. The collection of games brought together here all feature Steam ratings of 'Very Positive' or above and while we can't always rely on those ratings as proof of a game's intrinsic qualities, as recent happenings have taught us, rest assured these games are quite good.
]]>Sometimes you set out to write a themed entry of the Steam charts around anagrams, and end up posting videos of octopuses. You know how it is.
]]>Shadow of Mordor [official site] has one of the most satisfying combat moves in gaming. It’s a simple double counter, performed by tapping the counter button twice when separate enemies attack you at the same time. You, the ranger Talion, block one attack. To deal with the other you summon an undead elvish Lord called Celebrimbor, who springs out of your body in wraith form to parry the shocked orc’s sword and pummels them into the ground. Every time it happens part of me wants to jump from my seat and whoop.
]]>Middle-Earth: Shadow of War [official site] expands on its predecessor's innovative Nemesis System and its believable NPCs take us one step further away from the static worlds of most open world games. I've been thinking about how that works, and why so many games make me think of The Truman Show.
]]>As the Steam Summer Sale closes, here's the last of the charts influenced by the discounts, before they return to being exactly the same as they were before the sale, and indeed during it.
So this week we're going to dig into the history of these familiar names, revealing some secrets of their pasts that many may not already know.
]]>When Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] arrives in October, players will be fight alongside their worst enemy from the first game with their dearest friend. Warner Bros. today added the 'Nemesis Forge' to Shadow of Mordor, which can transfer your top Nemesis and most loyal follower over to the sequel. The Nemesis system was the most exciting idea of Mordor -- and one that far too few games have copied, both Adam and John will tell you -- as random foes became unique recurring loathed enemies, changing and growing after each fight.
Oh, but if you haven't played Shadow of Mordor, good news: it's free to play in full this weekend, and on sale with a big discount too.
]]>As we learnt last week, the Steam Summer Sale feels like the sort of thing that should enliven the charts. Nothing can enliven the charts...
Apart from me!
]]>The Steam Summer Sale is here to rescue us from the same old games! Hooray! Hooray! Hoo-whatnow? Oh for crying out loud, the usual games are all on sale too, aren't they?
]]>The Steam summer sale is in full blaze. For a while it even blazed so hot that the servers went on fire and all the price stickers peeled off the games. Either that or the store just got swamped with cheapskates looking for the best bargains. Cheapskates like you! Well, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up some recommendations - both general tips and some newly added staff choices.
Here are the things you should consider owning in your endless consumeristic lust for a happiness which always seems beyond reach. You're welcome.
]]>Open worlds are dynamic. Sometimes they live and breathe. Occasionally they are systemic. Their stories and incidents are emergent.
That's what the voices say, from stages and in trailers, but the pictures tell a different tale. Anthem's big reveal felt like a series of echoes rather than a glimpse of the future, Assassin's Creed: Origins is sprinkling loot and stats across Egypt, and even Metro has sandbox ambitions now that it's making an Exodus to the surface. But what we've seen is more scripted than the teleprompted speakers at one of these E3 press conferences.
Putting the witty, system-led smarts of a Middle-earth: Shadow of War video on the same stage as the rest almost seemed cruel.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives and PC miscellany. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
Remember when Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor [official site] came out, and everyone was all, "WOW! Everyone's going to be copying the Nemesis system! Hooray!" and then no one has?
]]>Update: Following a little leak, Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] is now officially announced. It's coming on August 22nd and yup, it sounds like more of the same but with an expanded Nemesis system. Check out the announcement trailer:
]]>This is some kind of sick joke, isn't it?
]]>We don’t do scores on RPS, but sometimes we mourn for the inability to deploy a 7/10. The ur-score, the most double-edged of critical swords, the good but not great, the better than it deserves to be, the guilty pleasure, the bungled aspiration, the knows exactly what it is, the straight down the line. One score that can mean so much.
There is one particular type of 7/10 game that heralds joy, not disappointment: the solid, maybe ever so slightly wonky action game with no interest in being anything more than a solid action game.
]]>Warner Bros. paid "online influencers," including PewDiePie, to post positive videos of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The publisher have reached a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over their alleged failure to adequately disclose these payments, as announced by the FTC yesterday.
]]>"These charts are supposed to be weekly, Meer." "I know, but I keep having to go away for unhappy reasons." "Oh OK, but you'd damn well better tell me what were the top ten best-stelling Steam games last week, or I'm going to spraypaint pictures of bottoms onto your house." "Alright, alright, here you go."
]]>I had twin criteria for this. The first was 'is it a decent game?' and the second 'does it meaningfully evoke the spirit, themes or characters of the movie in addition to having Quite Good Guns And Graphics?' The second saw quite a few games which would otherwise qualify ruled out. This year's Mad Max, for instance, was an agreeable murder-romp but it's much harder to argue that it nails the desperation or oddness of the films it's based on. Star Wars: Battlefront, meanwhile, is an OK online shooter with marvellous graphics, but it's too mechanical to 'feel' like Star Wars once you get beyond the spectacular presentation. Ah, 'feel'. That's the thing, isn't it? Does a movie game make you feel like you're a part of that movie's wider world, or is it just wearing its skin?
]]>Once a week most weeks, the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss An Issue. Sometimes it’s controversial news, sometimes it’s a particular game, sometimes it’s favourite things and least favourite things, sometimes a perennial talking point. This week, off the back of most of us being obsessed with Metal Gear Solid V, we're talking about open world, or sandbox games. Big map, go where you please, kill or don't kill - the GTA, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry formula. And it's very much a formula now. How do we feel about that? Has the promise of earlier open world games such as the first few Elder Scrolls been lost? And just why are we apparently giving MGSV a free pass given we often roll our eyes as Assassin's Creed?
]]>What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day 10 of the sale.
]]>Last night, BAFTA gathered in London to dish out sinister metal masks to a chosen few gamesfolk who had been found worthy of such an honour. I tend to be dismissive of Awards Shows, unless something that I really like wins a tiny trophy - then I'm quite happy and momentarily convinced that the world is just and right. It happened with Cave Johnson at this year's Academy Awards (I'm ambivalent about Birdman) and at the 2015 BAFTA Game Awards it happened with...Destiny as best game? Oh no. Full results below.
]]>PAGE ONE, PANEL ONE
Graham lies in a crumpled heap beneath the looming figure of DOCTOR NO IDEAS.
CAPTION: This looks like a job for…
PAGE ONE, PANEL TWO
Pip, dressed in a (heroic) frog costume, sits typing at a computer.
PAGE TWO, PANEL ONE
A closeup of a Gchat window with the text "G, are there any games which do violence as well as comics?"
]]>Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor came out last year to widespread appeal. Sure, the combat’s just a gorier, hyper deadly version of what we’ve already seen in the Batman Arkham games. Yeah, open world icon assassination was clearly lifted from Assassin's Creed. But this time those icons were orcs, with actual memories and personalities, balanced on a power structure which the player was free to tinker with.
It's great, but by the end of the game, messing with those systems felt unnecessary. You were powerful enough to just wade into the fortresses and kill your targets willy-nilly. What's held my attention instead are the extra modes added since launch (one free, the rest paid-for DLC), which allow you to play the game as something approximating a roguelike. The free ‘Test of Defiance’ is the only mode that actually limits you to a single death, but it also doesn’t randomize the enemies or require you to gather intel on them.. Instead, I’m playing the ‘Test of the Wild’, which tasks you with ‘killing all 5 Warchiefs plus all 20 Captains’. I’m only giving myself one life, and to make things more interesting I’ll only use runes which I find as I play, ignoring the haul I gathered while playing the main game. Bring it on, hordes of Sauron.
]]>Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's moment-to-moment biffing is a trick we've seen before, but it's still impressive to watch your wraith-Ranger shift and flip with seamless animations between punching one gribbly uruk and gutting another. Yet it's the Nemesis system, which gives the action context within the larger army of Sauron and world of Mordor, that makes every assassination matter so much more and which makes Middle-earth the best action game of 2014.
John: The highest compliment I can pay Mordor is to say it was 2014's Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning. Which is to say, the game I found the most enjoyable, the most effortlessly absorbing, this year. Yes, it's vapid, but that's part of its appeal.
]]>Dear Rock, Paper, Shotgun,
I miss your smile. I miss your comments on my previews wondering how much sugar I have consumed to write it and what the heck kind of quirky BS is this and whether I will or will not ever get around to writing about triple A video games for you. But I come to you today to ask you about yourself. What is it, my pretty lovelies, that you are playing right now? I would like to know. And I miss you.
Your pal, Cara
]]>Dear Video Games, Please observe what Monolith are doing with Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Recognising that its bland-o hero could be anything with two legs, two arms, and two blades, they've been releasing free outfits that turn Johnny Stabman into other people. First he became gothy villain the Black Hand of Sauron, and now we can play as a lady - Lithariel, the warrior commander met in the campaign. If your story is mostly dressing, why not let us stab-stab away as a variety of people?
Yr pal, A
]]>If you've been playing Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for a while, you're probably thinking "Hey! Why did Johnny Stabman here stop being so angsty? I miss that angst! When will he be angsty again?" Well, my friend, you're in luck. Warner Bros. yesterday released a free little DLC pack with a costume that lets you dress like a... I was thinking like a black metal lifestyler, but look how chipper and delightful the Vegan Black Metal Chef is. Why can't Johnny Stabman be more like him?
Perhaps the free Epic-level runes the pack gives you too might cheer him up.
]]>MOOOOOORRRRRRRRRDDDOOOOOOOOORRRRRRR, is the primary form of communication about Monolith's Middle-hyphen-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor. However, we managed to break free of this trapping, and instead converse about the game in ever-so-slightly more erudite form. Below Jim, Alec and John have a natter about orc killing matter.
]]>Now I've played for a large proportion of the last five days, with the main storyline completed, and a worrying number of the collectibles and side quests ticked off, I feel far more prepared to give a more definitive statement on Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor: I love it.
When I wrote my Wot I Think So Far of the game last week, I already knew it was great. Now I know it’s brilliant.
]]>I haven't finished Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor, because for whatever tiresome reasons Warner refused to give us (and seemingly us alone) code before the game’s release. This is after a couple of lengthy days spent plugging away at what is a huge, detailed, and really rather fantastic brawling action game, set betwixt Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings (and importantly, it’s fun even if you don’t care about either). Here's wot I think (so far).
]]>Middle-Earth: Shadows Of Mordor looks like quite the prospect. An open world RPG in Tolkein's universe, developed by Monolith. And you play as the best of all the classes, a ranger! It sounds rather exciting, but we've just learned that we're not going to be able to tell you if it is or not before the game's released, on the 30th September in the US. Huh.
Update: We're being informed that console outlets already have review code, after attending a special event, and will have reviews online by the 26th. It seems this is a special treat for the PC version. We will keep you up to date.
Second update: Sadly, when we asked for details as to why PC code was not available when console was, we were told by Warner, "We have no further comment... at this stage."
]]>Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor grabs the current zeitgeist like only licensed games can, cobbling together a third-person action game from bits of Batman: Arkham Asylum, bits of Assassin's Creed, bits of Michael Bay-derived editing and sound effects. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. I like some of those things! I also like punching orcs. This could be a pleasant game, and the new cutscenes-and-combat trailer (mostly cutscenes) below introduces i) some new villains ii) your motivation as the player (not-spoilers: your family are killed).
]]>While watching the latest trailer for Middle Earth: God of War-dor, I realised that I'd started to think of the Lord of the Rings references as a sort of product placement. There's a splatter of blood, a decapitation, a roaring of monsters, and then the narrator mentions something about Sauron. It's branded decapitation, y'see. In the latest video, a ranger uses 'wraith' powers to see into the minds of his enemies, seeking their weaknesses and fears. It seems like a perfect opportunity for more product placement, which is something I'd like to encourage in games as in films. The industry needs a new pair of shoes, after all.
]]>I remember when Lord of the Rings games legitimately excited me. Of course, I was roughly 12 seconds old back then and wanted to grow up to be Legolas (life experience has since taught me that Aragorn is where it's at and also that far better fantasy literature exists), but there was a time when the prospect of mowing down a million orcs like so many blades of sickly green grass seemed like an idyllic, Shire-worthy way to spend an afternoon. I wondered, then, if Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor's latest trailer would rekindle that feeling in me, that wide-eyed reverence of a youth boxed away in the basements of time. Long story short, it didn't. Kinda made me want to play Assassin's Creed, though.
]]>Huh? If there's one thing I didn't expect the next big Lord of the Rings game to resemble, it was Assassin's Creed. But that's all I could think about when watching this footage of Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor (well that, Bacon Pancakes, and this otter). It's an open-world action RPG, and when Wraith-possessed (sigh) Ranger Talion sauntered up a wall and rope-walked over a courtyard, it was right out of Ezio's* skillset. When he then used his Wraith powers (sigh-sigh) to scan the crowd, they might as well have added an eagle screech and a wink. Not that it didn't look like fun, and there's some stuff in here about a nemesis systems that you should look at, but the inspiration is incredibly obvious.
]]>The reason you're not allowed to see this new Lord of the Rings game, announced earlier today, is because it's all bound up in a multi-day slow-reveal at Big Game Retailer's In-Store Magazine, which has not as yet progressed past 'lone piece of concept art' stage. So what you're expected to do is feel a surge of desire for this "next-generation, third-person action game set in Middle-earth that explores an original story of vengeance and redemption" even though you don't have the foggiest idea what it looks like.
I was going to be terribly stroppy and refuse to post about the Monolith-developed Shadow Of Mordor until such exclusive silliness had passed, but then I read a thing that sounds rather interesting even though the general grimdark stuff was somewhat turning me off. I'll tell you what the thing is, if you'll indulge my clearly exploitative lead-in.
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