Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor brings the Black Hand to Gamescom

Shadow of Mordor

Monolith has rolled out a new trailer for Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor at Gamescom that takes a closer look the singularly unpleasant minion of Sauron who murdered Talion's wife and son.

I'm still not entirely sure why Talion, the central figure in Shadow of Mordor, finds it so difficult to die, but it's a little clearer now why he's so hell-bent on killing everyone else. "Where was your bravery when we bled your wife, and gutted your son?" the Black Hand asks. And in Middle Earth or anywhere else, those are some serious fightin' words.

Speaking of fighting, there's a good deal of that in here too, but that's not too much of a surprise, is it? This is a game about chopping men and monsters into tiny bits and pieces, after all. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor comes out on October 7.

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.