Middle Earth: Shadow of War Announced for August Release

Warner Bros. has announced a sequel to Middle Earth: Shadow Mordor. Middle Earth: Shadow of War will launch this August.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the biggest hits of 2014. Heck, even Yahtzee said it was “quite good.” For the last three years, there have been occasional rumors that a sequel was in the works, but you can forget all of those, because Warner Bros. announced this morning that the sequel is real, and it’s releasing in August.

Titled Middle Earth: Shadow of War, the sequel was announced with a trailer that definitely caught our attention here at The Escapist.

As you can see, Talion has returned, and with Celebrimborn’s help, he’s forged a new Ring of Power. the official description says, “Middle-earth: Shadow of War features an original story with the return of Talion and Celebrimbor, who must go behind enemy lines to forge an army and turn all of Mordor against the Dark Lord, Sauron.”

We’ve obviously advanced in the timeline, because Sauron is back, and not just as a fiery eye atop a tower. This cinematic trailer doesn’t reveal much as to what we can expect from gameplay (although it’s not likely to change dramatically from the first game). Luckily, we won’t have long to wait, as Warner also announced that there will be a gameplay trailer released on March 8.

The game is already available for pre-order, and will come in four different editions. Pre-ordering the standard edition gets you a legendary Champions War Part and the exclusive epic Sword of Dominion. Move up to the Silver Edition, and you’ll add the Slaughter Tribe Nemesis Expansion, Outlaw Tribe Nemesis Expansion and a Silver War Chest. The expansions add a new Orc Tribe that brings new enemies, followers, missions, abilities, and weapons. They will also add content to the Fortress and wilderness, as well as a Mythic gear set. The Gold Edition adds even more content, including The Blade of Galadriel Story Expansion, The Desolation of Mordor Story Expansion and it replaces your Silver War Chest with a Gold one.

But the granddaddy of them all is the Mithril Edition. Not only does it give you a bunch of exclusive lithographs, a premium case with a magnetic Ring of Power on it, a copy of the soundtrack, a cloth map, stickers, and both gold and silver war chests, it also includes everything from the gold and silver editions. Oh, and there’s also an amazing looking 12 inch tall bronze state of a Tal-Goroth Balrog fighting a Carnan Drake that you might be interested in as well.

Here’s some more good news: We’ll be getting our hands on Shadow of War this fall. Warner Bros. says that the game will be released for PC, PS4, Ps4 Pro, and Xbox One on August 22, 2017. It will also include support for Project Scorpio once the new Microsoft console launches in holiday 2017.

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