The Terror Tribe is just one of many orc factions based in Mordor. According to Warner Bros. all orcs are now a part of a tribe and every tribe has its own style and theme. Tribes feature their own spheres of influence within the Middle-earth: Shadow of War open world, based around the game’s towering fortresses and the Overlords sitting in their throne rooms. This new layer of orc society gives the game’s Nemesis System one more tool to work with.
Despite Warner Bros. claim that orc tribes are unique and stand out from each other, it’s difficult to tell exactly what makes the Terror Tribe special. The trailer flashes grisly words like blades, blood, and pain, but for the most part the orcs in the video look much like others shown in previous trailers. There does seem to be a sort of skull motif on several orcs’ armor, but that might just be a coincidence. One theory could be that the Terror Tribe could act as an introductory tribe to help players get used to the game.
Creating diverse, memorable orcs is one of Middle-earth: Shadow of War’s major priorities. Several orcs have been introduced so far that have unique personalities or are voiced by celebrities. Splitting orcs into tribes will provide additional nuance to this priority, though exactly how tribes will factor into Talion’s war in Mordor will require some additional detailing. Yet the idea of being able to “recruit” certain unique Orcs only from tribes that are interesting to you is a fun idea.
Of course, Warner Bros. could absolutely be exaggerating the tribes’ system’s importance in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. A tribe could simply refer to the orcs in a specific fortress and the surrounding areas, and perhaps those orcs within may not be unique at all, instead just being randomly generated like in Shadow of Mordor. However, should this tribe system reach its potential then it could add an interesting dynamic to the game entirely.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War releases on October 10, 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
