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Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™
Experience an epic open-world brought to life by the award-winning Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth™: Shadow of War™.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
62 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“SoW is SoM, but just better. If you liked the first game, then you might like the second one. It successfully evolves the Nemesis System into something grander, offering a strategic layer that makes you feel like a true…”
“Middle-earth: Shadow of War delivers an outstanding experience, earning a well-deserved 10/10. The gameplay is fluid, dynamic, and highly engaging, while the story offers a compelling narrative that keeps players…”
“Most obvious strong point is it's nemesis system, a one of a kind story-maker. Not only does the game look good, but the gameplay is addictive, immersive and fun. You can easily lose track of time and not get bored.…”
20 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“I cannot advise enough to STAY AWAY from this game. It is the most invalidating experience of any game I have ever played. I sunk hours to see the end of the campaign, just for it to drag its feet further. The entire…”
“SoW is SoM, but just better. If you liked the first game, then you might like the second one. It successfully evolves the Nemesis System into something grander, offering a strategic layer that makes you feel like a true…”
“Middle-earth: Shadow of War delivers an outstanding experience, earning a well-deserved 10/10. The gameplay is fluid, dynamic, and highly engaging, while the story offers a compelling narrative that keeps players…”
13 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Most obvious strong point is it's nemesis system, a one of a kind story-maker. Not only does the game look good, but the gameplay is addictive, immersive and fun. You can easily lose track of time and not get bored.…”
“💯 Yes, I finished the game — here’s my honest review. Middle-earth: Shadow of War — Review by JesterVince ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐…”
“It's a fine sequel to Shadow of Mordor. This time around they included an FoV slider, thank goodness! In general it's slightly slicker and prettier than the original, but not a gigantic improvement. The Nemesis system…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“I really wish they would make another one of these i go back and play it constantly because nothing can beat the nemesis system. Really wish it wasn't trademarked until 2036”
“Gameplay Mechanics - 9/10 Graphics and visuals - 9/10 Storytelling and narrative - 8.5/10 Sound and music - 8.5/10 Replay ability and longevity - 8.5/10 Innovation and originality - 8.5/10 Protagonist - 8.5/10…”
“Man this game is the best thing to come back to when you're bored and sick of other games nothing will ever beat the uniqueness of this game wish they did more with the nemesis system they're throwing it all away but…”
10 of the 104 reviews raise this.
“Game is slow in the prolouge and some of the Fight pits are annoying but other then that its a great game would recommend this 100% can buy full price but would wait for a sale since its around $8 CAD also the AI in…”
“Bought this game across two different platforms and would gladly do it a third time. Banger game through and through, no notes. <3”
“Genuinely one of the best games you can possibly spend money on. Once you get past the slog of the first Act of the game and the game opens up properly, it really opens up. The moment you start building your own army…”
11 of the 104 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I cannot advise enough to STAY AWAY from this game. It is the most invalidating experience of any game I have ever played. I sunk hours to see the end of the campaign, just for it to drag its feet further. The entire…”
“They took shadow of mordor and adding nonstop level gating and repetitive randomly generated tasks to it. This game does not respect your time. It's just a big repetitive grind.”
“this game sucks so bad i dont have words for it, its some of the most 0 effort games i have played in a long while autoaim melee ? sprint on spacebar??? did you devs ever play a game, maps horrible designed just tunnels…”
10 of the 104 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I am in disbelief, because the common consensus seems to be that SoW is better than the first game. I... just.. what.. First of all the atmosphere is almost dead. Everything is in pastel colors and enemy taunts are like…”
“Most obvious strong point is it's nemesis system, a one of a kind story-maker. Not only does the game look good, but the gameplay is addictive, immersive and fun. You can easily lose track of time and not get bored.…”
“Play the first game and ignore this slop. The story and beginning cutscenes for the first 20 minutes are a solid hook, but moving into Act 1 is possibly one of worst introductions a game could have. Excruciatingly slow…”
9 of the 104 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“I am in disbelief, because the common consensus seems to be that SoW is better than the first game. I... just.. what.. First of all the atmosphere is almost dead. Everything is in pastel colors and enemy taunts are like…”
“this game sucks so bad i dont have words for it, its some of the most 0 effort games i have played in a long while autoaim melee ? sprint on spacebar??? did you devs ever play a game, maps horrible designed just tunnels…”
“Play the first game and ignore this slop. The story and beginning cutscenes for the first 20 minutes are a solid hook, but moving into Act 1 is possibly one of worst introductions a game could have. Excruciatingly slow…”
9 of the 104 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“I cannot advise enough to STAY AWAY from this game. It is the most invalidating experience of any game I have ever played. I sunk hours to see the end of the campaign, just for it to drag its feet further. The entire…”
“this game sucks so bad i dont have words for it, its some of the most 0 effort games i have played in a long while autoaim melee ? sprint on spacebar??? did you devs ever play a game, maps horrible designed just tunnels…”
“Play the first game and ignore this slop. The story and beginning cutscenes for the first 20 minutes are a solid hook, but moving into Act 1 is possibly one of worst introductions a game could have. Excruciatingly slow…”
5 of the 104 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“They took shadow of mordor and adding nonstop level gating and repetitive randomly generated tasks to it. This game does not respect your time. It's just a big repetitive grind.”
“It's repetitive and somewhat difficult to play for ppl who are prone to motion sickness. But it's mostly fun and fluent gameplay.”
“I liked it, the nemisis system is amazing in this game and a real shame that its patented and is not being used in any WB games, or allowed to be used anywhere else. Only downside with this game is that it gets pretty…”
Counted across 104 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 88.9% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“This game is a banger and anyone that tells you otherwise has bad taste. Thats not an opinion thats a fact”
— a player, Steam review · 43 hrs played“Fantastic game, looks great and plays great with controller. my biggest gripe (and maybe this is because i played on a harder difficulty idk) is that enemies respawn way to fast. Like if I'm clearing out a huge fortress and meticulously stealth kill every orc on one side of the…”
— a player, Steam review · 79 hrs played“This was the first Lotr game I ever played, and the feeling of controlling my army and riding dragon in the game was truly amazing”
— a player, Steam review · 53 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Adventure, RPG |
| Player tags | Open World · Action · RPG · Singleplayer · Fantasy · Adventure · Third Person · Violent · Stealth · Gore · War · Story Rich (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · In-App Purchases · Steam Cloud · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Japanese * , Polish, Portuguese - Brazil * , Russian, Arabic, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 72 |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS *: Windows 7 SP1 with Platform Update Processor: AMD FX-4350, 4.2 GHz / Intel Core i5-2300, 2.80 GHz Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: AMD HD 7870, 2 GB / NVIDIA GTX 660, 2 GB DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 70 GB available space Additional Notes: X64 required