Former Exec Reveals How ‘Batman: Arkham’ Helped Create ‘Shadow of Mordor’s Beloved Nemesis System
When Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was released back in 2014, it quickly became a hit game. The critics praised it and the fans loved it, making it one of the best Lord of the Rings games of all time. In fact, even today, it is considered a beloved classic that has withstood the test of time.
One of the biggest innovations that the game introduced was the Nemesis System, which made interaction with NPCs more realistic. The AI used actually gave them the ability to memorize previous encounters with the main character, so when they would meet again, it had more depth and was more realistic, seeing how the consequences of the previous encounter lingered on.
But, did you know how the Nemesis System actually came to be? We mean, why did Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor have it in the first place? Well, former executive Laura Fryer revealed the whole story in a recent video:
In case you don’t have the time to watch the whole thing (but we advise you to do it once you have the time), the gist comes down to the experience with the Batman: Arkham Asylum game.
Namely, when the game came out, it was a massive hit and it sold great. But after a while, the sales stopped, despite the fact that more people kept playing. The company then realized that the game had no replay value at the time, i.e., players finished it and then resold it to other people, who could get it for a lower price. At the same time, the publisher was losing money on this.
“How do we create a singleplayer game that is so compelling that people keep the disc in their library forever?,” Fryer said the company asked themselves at that point. And the result of that was Monolith’s Nemesis System, which received a lot of praise when it was used in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
A remixed system was supposed to be used in the now-canceled Wonder Woman game, and it’s a shame that we won’t be seeing the innovative system receiving an upgrade in that game.
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