Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is clearly a Lord of the Rings game, so why isn’t called so in the title?
The game, which is set some time between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, appears to incorporate many design elements from the Peter Jackson movies, yet Warner Bros. Interactive strangely eschews any connection with the movies.
Nowhere is this more obvious then in the choice of prefacing the Shadow of Mordor with “Middle-earth” instead of “The Lord of the Rings” like in past Warner Bros. Interactive titles.
In an interview with Eurogamer, lead designer Bob Roberts reveals that the title choice was a deliberate attempt to get the game recognized as being a separate entity from the movies.
“One of the things, our goals from the beginning was not to make a movie game--not to just rehash the same events over again,” said Roberts. “So just trying to make the best game we can, and make it clear that this is its own thing, it’s its own story, it’s its own experience.”
“We’re not just rehashing a movie. ”
Indeed, Shadow of Mordor features a completely new protagonist, Talion, and the former-elf-turned-wraith Celebrimbor, who was mentioned in the books as the maker of the Rings of Power, but barely featured at all in both the books and the large screen.
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Another purpose of leaving out the Lord of the Rings tag was so that players of the game who know nothing about the book and movies can better follow the story.
“If this is your entry point into Lord of the Rings--if you’ve never seen the movies or never read the books--this will make sense; you'll be able to start here,” said Roberts.
“And then, hopefully, all the other stories you see beyond that once you dig into the rest of the world will be enriched by that.”
Beyond Shadow of Mordor, Roberts said that the studio will release a DLC that will “tell new stories,” particularly that of Celebrimbor, whom will be available for play.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will be out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30 in North America and October 3 in Europe.
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 editions will be out on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe.
