16 Essential Open-World Video Games Coming In 2017 & 2018

6. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War

Remember Shadow of Mordor? 2014 might feel like a very long time ago, but at one time we assumed Monolith's revolutionary-feeling Nemesis system would then make its way into every third-person action game under the sun.

Well... nope!

Instead it's been left to the masters to display the next evolution of having any enemy NPC turn into a story-based antagonist, though with Shadow of War, the scale of conflict has been expanded hundredfold. Rather than pillage small groups of orcs or take on a Warchief and their followers, you'll literally be commanding armies as you conquer the entirety of Mordor.

Just how are so many minds being moulded to your whim? Well... because your ghostly alter-ego Cerebrimbor has created another One Ring. As you do.

Look, just... don't think about it too hard. Monolith clearly aren't.