10 Popular Video Game Mechanics The Industry ABANDONED

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's standout feature was its much-ballyhooed Nemesis System - a mechanic which tracks the player's interactions with Uruk enemies throughout the game.

For instance, Uruks who survive an encounter with the player will return later in the game and remember their previous fight, possibly even sporting injuries from it, while those which kill the player will be promoted to captaincy.

On the flip-side, players could attempt to trigger infighting among the Uruks' ranks in order to destabilise Sauron's army.

It was a terrifically creative mechanic which merged gameplay with story and world-building in a meaningful way, and yet has only been used in a substantial capacity in one other game - 2017's sequel Shadow of War.

Despite the mechanic's obvious potential across a bevy of game franchises and genres, developers have mostly steered clear of imitating it, likely due to Warner Bros. aggressively pursuing a patent for Nemesis, which was finally granted in 2021.

Outside of Assassin's Creed Odyssey's mercenaries system - which, generously, was a severely dumbed-down facsimile of Nemesis - it's nowhere to be seen.

This proves all the more frustrating given that Warner Bros. hasn't bothered producing a Shadow of War follow-up or doing anything with the Nemesis system since its release six years ago.