There are quite a few reasons why I burned out on Middle-earth: Shadow of War: the dull story filled with gloomy and angst filled characters, the potato of a main character, or the repetitiveness of the gameplay. However there is one major reason for why I dropped off from the game. In Shadow Of War you play as Talion whose goal is to create an army so that he can gain control of Mordor and defeat the dark lord Sauron. To gain your army you must use the magical powers of your wraith friend, Celebrimbor, to break the minds of orcs and force them to be loyal to your cause. Yes, your character, who happens to be white, must enslave members of a race of beings who are clearly sentient to do your dirty work. It's a bit fucked up.

Even the game seemed to know that this was fucked up. Characters within in the story will condemn Talion for enslaving the orcs and Celebrimbor, your shitty wraith friend, will give "the ends justify the means" speeches anytime Talion feels like backing out. While Tolkien has described them as soulless beasts it is never made clear how sentient the Orcs are within the Lord of the Rings novels or movies. However in this game outside of their physical appearance they might as well be humans. They are shown to have their own types of art, music, poetry, dancing, they love their relatives, they love animals, they display every emotion that a human would. There are multiple factions of Orcs that all have their own cultures. Yet, to keep the game going you must force these beings into magical slavery. The orcs will make you painfully aware that they know they are being forced into your service but can do nothing about it. Even though there aer Orcs that willingly join Talion's army, at no point are you given an alternative gameplay mechanic to recruit new orcs (unless you want to count getting them from lootboxes).

There were moments where I wished I could stop fighting them and just go out for some beers with these Orc homies. I'd even go out to the club with the Orcs that have spiders growing out of their faces. They were that damn likeable. Where is my Persona game except with these Orcs? I want social links with these dudes. This growing fondness for the orcs caused me to lose a lot of enjoyment in continuing the game as the enslavement mechanic is central to how the game works. So I stopped playing it less than a week after it came out.

However with the release of the new expansion, Blade of Galadriel, they have sparked my interest in the game again by changing how you interact with the orcs. Your new protagonist Elantriel , the elf woman who aids Talion in the main story, makes it loud and clear that she will not enslave the Orcs when told she needs an army but she will recruit them all the same. No longer do you use magic to break their minds and enslave them even though Elantriel has the power to do so. Now you simply do quests for them to prove your loyalty. From helping a Troll who is an egotistical but lovable construction worker fend off some ghuls so his men can continue building a fortress to defeating a trio a drakes to recruit the old sniper who is still loyal to the old Dark Lord, Morgoth and sees Sauron as an usurper. Simply by making it so I actually gain their loyalty instead of forcing them to my side, I am enjoying Shadow of War again. Will I likely get burned out from the repetitive gameplay loop, maybe, but I won't feel like a massive asshole for being a slave master. Now maybe let me date these orcs in some sort of visual novel, call it Dream Orcy. I'm sure it would be very fun and very good.