Shadow of Mordor certainly butchered LOTR lore (genuine fan fiction, would have been better as its own thing), but other than poor storytelling it was a good game with its Nemesis system being unique—having random orcs promoted after killing you was hilarious. The more I played and unlocked new abilities, the more I got into it and had a great time zipping around the map. Being a little aged now, it wasn’t what I’d consider pretty in terms of visuals, but nothing beat killing those orcs.

The first time I played I got overwhelmed in a few minutes by a Captain that just kept calling reinforcements. It was a fairly valuable lesson, stealth obviously the way to go. When the time came I was able to brainwash, it hit a whole new level of enjoyment.