When Shadow of Mordor debuted 3 years ago, players found a sandbox split in half, and although it was not a small stage, it was not a gigantic world either. If you wonder how big will be Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, we have news for you, as it seems to be a huge world.
Thanks to an interview with GameSpot with Monilith’s Creative Vice President, Michael de Plater, we can know that the game will be an open world that will have different dimensions, as you can go through the main story or explore the world to find secondary missions.
“There is a main story that’s going through that’s a lot bigger than we had last time,” he said. “All side stories now also have their own character arcs and their own cinematics. So you’ve got the main story to pursue or the side stories to pursue or the exploration of the world and that sort of history. Or the RPG systems and the loot and the gear. The fort assault itself is really one corner of each one of the regions or areas of the world. It’s very much an open-world sandbox.”
Regarding the size of the stage, de Plater commented that Shadow of War will be huge, as it will feature different areas and regions inspired by the lore of The Lord of the Rings. In addition, it seems that the stage will be transformed depending on “the culture of the Orcs”.
“It’s huge. The thing is, it’s enormously large with multiple dimensions. Every single one of those areas, one of those regions, whether it’s Minas Ithal and then Minas Morgul, or Cirith Ungol, or any of those. They’re a lot larger, and they’ve got a lot more depth and detail and verticality,” said de Plater. “Then they have outposts, which are like what we had in Shadow of Mordor. But then over and above that they have the fortress that controls the whole region. Then the Orc culture, depending on the state of that, really does affect and change the ambience and the life in the sandbox, and the enemies you’ll encounter.”
“There’s this whole sort of new dimension by which we can make the whole world dynamic,” he continued. “We’re still testing and determining the overall size of the game, but it’s so much bigger.”
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will debut on August 22 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
