10 Upcoming Open World Games We're Most Excited For

4. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Finally! An action-oriented original story Lord of the Rings video game has been a long time coming, and on October 7, Shadow of Mordor will arrive on next-gen and last-gen consoles alike. Seeming to combine the climbing and stealth of Assassin's Creed with the combat of Batman: Arkham, Shadow of Mordor will take place between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and feature a Ranger named Talion who is killed by Sauron's forces and mysteriously resurrected as a wraith. He then ventures into Mordor to get revenge on his killers and take out the evil that is slowly retaking the land. One of the most exciting things about this game (other than the premise) is something the developers call the Nemesis system, which keeps track of most of Talion's antagonists by name and rank. If one of the Orcs survives a fight with Talion and escapes, they will remember him the next time they see him and react accordingly. Talion can also send defeated Orcs on assassination missions or send them back to their superiors to spread his legend. While it is unknown what the scope of Shadow of Mordor's world will be, gamers can expect to at least be able to explore the land of Mordor at their own pace. The developers have confirmed that there will be plentiful side content to tackle, but it would be really cool if there were a lot of Easter Eggs scattered about for players to find (who else wants to explore the inside of Mount Doom?). For those eagerly awaiting the last instalment of the Hobbit trilogy, Shadow of Mordor will help hold you over.