14 DAY TRIAL // Monolith, the studio behind the recently launched Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor open world action adventure experience, wasn't worried about the comparisons some people made with the Assassin's Creed titles, as it was confident that, when people started playing the game, they’d form their own opinion.
Shadow of Mordor is the latest in the pretty long line of video games set in the Lord of the Rings universe created by famous author J.R.R. Tolkien and made even more popular by the movies directed by Peter Jackson.
While many titles were of arguable quality, Shadow of Mordor really stood out when it launched earlier this week, earning almost universal acclaim thanks to its polished mechanics, the innovative Nemesis system, and the pretty gorgeous graphics exhibited on powerful platforms like PC, PS4, or Xbox One.
Assassin's Creed comparisons didn't bother Monolith
The game also dismantled any comparisons made with the Assassin's Creed series from Ubisoft, especially since many drew parallels from the adventures of Talion the Gondor Ranger to those of Ezio or Edward Kenway.
According to Monolith's Lead Designer, Bob Roberts, the studio was certain that, once players got their hands on the game, all such comparisons and parallels would fade away and people would realize the great experience offered by Shadow of Mordor.
"I don’t know if vindicated is the right word, because we always knew what it feels like to play," he told IGN. "Once people get their hands on it, they stop worrying about the comparisons and it totally feels like its own thing."
"There’s so much new going on there thanks to the Nemesis System and the way we combined all the elements to make the world come to life. So we never really got that criticism once people had a chance to play it. As soon as we started showing it, it became clear we had nothing to worry about."
Protagonist Talion respects the LotR lore
Roberts also touched on the subject of the all-new protagonist, Talion, who is a fresh character introduced in the Lord of the Rings universe. He emphasized that lots of Monolith employees were huge Tolkien fans and wanted to respect the lore of the universe.
"There’s always going to be different interpretations as it’s big, complicated stuff but we’re doing the thing that we think is the most authentic to his work, themes and ideas. He looks at death, deathlessness, the corruption of power and so on," he explained.
"Even if we introduce a new character he never wrote about, for the most part people aren’t as worried about Talion the Ranger never having existed previously. There’s some elements people are more comfortable with and we’ve just tried to make it relevant to everything we’ve seen, including his letters to his publisher."
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is now available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One and will receive different DLC packs in the future.
