Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor trailer recaps what you need to know

Shadow of Mordor

We all know that one does not simply walk into Mordor. But if that's the best plan you can come up with and you're determined to stick to it—say, as the hero of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor—then this trailer will give you a pretty good idea of what you've got to look forward to.

Some (or quite possibly all) of this material has been released previously, but if you, like me, haven't been paying particularly close attention, this is a great way to catch up. It touches on everything from how Talion ended up in his in-game predicament, to how he's going to get out of it: Weapons, runes, enemies, the Nemesis system and more. The opening is very Peter Jackson-y, too, which I think is a nice touch.

As noted in our Shadow of Mordor Large Pixel Collider video, our review hasn't gone up just yet because the review copy of the game was a little bit late in arriving. But it's coming—and in the meantime, you've got a couple of pretty sweet videos to look at.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor comes out on September 30.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.