As explained by Eurogamer’s Johnny Chiodini, Middle-earth: Shadow of War’s “Shadow Wars” end game missions will be a sort of mini campaign that takes place after the game’s story is concluded. In Shadow Wars, Sauron’s army will launch a counter assault against the protagonist Talion, and attack different regions in an attempt to reclaim those fortresses held by him. Split into various stages, these assaults will see the separate regions coming under attack from enemies that become progressively more difficult to defeat.

Shadow Wars will essentially modify the the fortress assaults found in Middle-earth: Shadow of War’s main game and swap the sides doing the attacking, putting players in the position of defending and holding different capture points until all of the assaulting baddies have been either killed or conquered. Upon success, the fortress will remain in players’ hands, while failure will have it revert back to the control of Sauron and his servants. Should one fail, in order to advance to the next stage in Shadow Wars, one will need to retake fortresses that have been reclaimed by Sauron’s armies, which might also involve a rescue mission of the orc follower one has put in charge as Overlord of the particular region.

While this Middle-earth: Shadow of War mission type looks to add a solid level of depth to the title’s end game, perhaps the most interesting aspect of its inclusion is how it rewards players upon completion. As it so happens, once Shadow Wars is concluded, players will get to see the game’s true ending, which supposedly ties the events of the sequel directly into Lord of the Rings.

On top of Middle-earth: Shadow of War and its end game content, Monolith and Warner Bros. Interactive will also be offering an online Conquest mode that involves players assaulting other players’ customized forts in an attempt to rule it for themselves. So, taking all of this into consideration, it looks as if the game’s developers are attempting to keep fans steeped in Middle-earth for quite some time long after the title’s launch later this year.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is set to launch on October 10, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Eurogamer