Shadow of Mordor 2 "revealed" by mo-cap actor's CV

Middle-Earth:Shadow of Mordor: Power of Defiance

The orc-bothering Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the big hits of 2014, and so the fact that a sequel might be in development may not come as a planet-shattering surprise. And the appearance of a Shadow of Mordor 2 “Stunts/Acting” credit on iStunt, discovered by Nerdleaks, is by no means an official announcement that a new game in the series—“More-dor,” you might say—is being made. But it's a pretty good sign.

IStunt is similar to IMDB, but dedicated to stunt coordinators, they being the people who do the things in movies that actors either can't, won't, or aren't allowed to handle themselves. Entries list physical traits, from basic stuff like height, weight, and physique, to more profession-specific details, like who the person can double for and what “unique traits” they have. (Michael Stone, for instance, can remove his front teeth.) And naturally, they also list past work, which in the case of Lauren Mary Kim includes motion capture work for Blur on Shadows of Mordor 2.

Blur would presumably be Blur Studio, a CGI studio with numerous movie and videogame credits including The Division, The Elder Scrolls Online, Dishonored 2, and the fantastic Prey 2 cinematic that made its cancellation such a letdown. It's the kind of outfit a publisher might hire to whip up a cinematic trailer—a trailer of the sort that WB rolled out at E3 in 2014, for instance.

Kim has since made her iStunt profile private, but Nerdleaks has a screen capture, and a video of her mo-cap work from 2015 is embedded below. Shadow of Mordor studio Monolith, meanwhile, continues to work on an “unannounced project.” Make of it what you will.

Thanks, GamesRadar.

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.