SHADOW OF SKYRIM: NEMESIS

Elder Scrolls, meet Shadow of Mordor.

- Chris Livingston

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE November 11, 2011

PUBLISHER Bethesda Softworks

DEVELOPER Bethesda Game Studios

LINK bit.ly/3AdLBIK

THE BIGGEST CHANGE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE

I wonder how many people, monsters, and animals I’ve killed in the hundreds of hours I’ve spent playing Skyrim. It’d be impossible to count up all the dead bandits, goblins, wolves, trolls, draugrs, falmer, vampires and yes, even occasionally city guards and innocent bystanders. Heck, I don’t even have much of a sense of how many dragons I’ve slain, or what their names were. That’s the problem with being a hero bristling with weapons and a long to-do list to complete: the finer details of exactly who I’m fighting and killing tends to become one big blur.

That’s not just a problem in Skyrim but in many other games, but there was one RPG that had a fascinating solution, a way to make anonymous enemies memorable. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor had a nemesis system. When you were defeated in battle, the random orc or uruk who killed you became your nemesis. They were promoted, rising in Sauron’s ranks. They gained a nickname and notoriety. They became more challenging to fight, with individualized armor and new abilities. And the urge to find and defeat them was a strong one. It turned what began as an encounter with an anonymous orc into a personal vendetta. Few things are as motivational as a grudge.