Middle-earth: Shadow of War's Online Modes Revealed

08/07/2017 11:16 am EDT

This morning we were treated to a detailed explanation of Middle-earth: Shadow of War's online modes courtesy of Eurogamer, who recently took a trip down to Monolith's Seattle studios to go hands-on with the game. Shadow of War's online modes will come in two flavors: Social Conquest, and Vendettas.

You can think of Social Conquest as an asynchronous tower defense mode of sorts. You'll set up and fortify a fortress with various captains you've collected, as well as an overlord. If you have some in-game currency at your disposal, you'll be able to set up additional fortifications as well. These weren't detailed, but we expect these additional fortifications will come in the form of orcs, trolls, ballistics, and the like. Once you're finished setting up your fortress, you can upload it online where players will attempt to invade and overtake it.

Likewise, you'll get the chance to peruse other players' bases and attack them as well. You don't have to set up your own base in order to participate in Social Conquest if you don't want to; you can just invade to your heart's content. You'll be tasked with storming the base, taking out or branding your opponent's forces and, eventually, taking out the overlord. If you're successful, loot, experience, and various other rewards will be yours.

Vendettas are also making a return in Shadow of War, and have been beefed up a bit. To avenge your pal, you'll be transported to his or her version of Mordor, with all of his or her nemesis data in place. In order to draw out your target you'll have to complete some sort of sub-objective first -- you know, kill a bunch of orcs or blow up a catapult or something. If you succeed in taking our your buddy's slayer, both of you will be rewarded, and your friend will receive a notification informing them of your heroic deed. Pretty sweet!

So what do you think? It sounds like Social Conquest will provide pretty much endless variety for those of you who enjoy the whole "storming the castle" shtick, and you and your friends will be rewarded handsomely for avenging your deaths.

If you still haven't played Shadow of Mordor, you can grab the GOTY edition with all DLC right now from Bundle Stars for $3.99. Find the listing here.

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.