Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor – The Bright Lord DLC

It’s time to send Guy back, back to Mordor, in the land of darkness where shadows lie…

Shadow of Mordor was my game of the year for 2014, and the latest batch of DLC is full of the Uruk slayin goodness I love.

‘The Bright Lord’ is its own self-contained Campaign which focuses on the back story of Celebrimbor, the Elvin Wraith who later, in the main game gives Talion his supernatural abilities.  He has Saurons ‘Ring Of Power’ and must use it to ‘brand’ all of Saurons Uruk so they will help him seek vengeance on the dark lord.

Planning within the Nemesis System is still a key element, and branding Uruk Captains to help you bring down Saurons ‘level 25’ Warchiefs is crucial. Combat is still the beautiful mix of counters, combos and finishers, however just killing all the Uruk won’t help your cause. They must be ‘branded’, to fight alongside you in what are at times very challenging scenarios.

Celebrimbor has far less health than Talion and he has no focus ability (time slow-down), so combat feels urgent and deadly, which is a refreshing change-up from a fully levelled-up Talion. The only way to turn the tide of battle is to ‘brand’ the Uruk soldiers while in combat. This in-turn charges the ‘Ring Of Power’ to give Celebrimbor a super-powerful period of unlimited finishers, branding and invisibility.

The glimpse into how Celebrimbor fell to become a lost Wraith bound to the fate of Talion is wonderfully told, and even though this is ‘just’ DLC, it has all the detail and quality voice work that made Shadow of Mordor such a great title. Overall, The Bright Lord is far better that the previous DLC pack, The Lord of the Hunt. It’s a good 5-6 hours long and demands gamers learn a wee bit of new stuff and use planning and tactics to succeed. It’s a fantastic experience.