Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will head into 2021 without various online capabilities as Warner Bros. has decided to cut the game's online features as of December 31.
The title, a Game of the Year contender following its release in 2014, won the award the following year, as well as a number of other accolades amid critical acclaim. Shadow of Mordor's success saw to a sequel in the form of Middle-earth: Shadow of War, which also earned rave reviews.
Online features had very little to do with the game's success yet they were pretty valuable. In spite of that fact, Warner Bros. is taking them away, having announced as much via notices posted on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam. The publishers also announced closures of the Nemesis Forge and Vendetta Missions, while Leaderboards and the WBPlay network will become obscure as well.
Note: certain features for the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor videogame will no longer be available beginning Dec. 31, 2020. Affected Features:
- The Nemesis Forge feature will no longer be available. Therefore, players will no longer be able to transfer their in-game Nemeses from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor to Middle-earth: Shadow of War.
- Vendetta missions and Leaderboards will no longer be available.
- WBPlay will no longer be available, but the epic runes “Orc Hunter” and “Gravewalker” will automatically be awarded to all players
per PlayStation.com
The Nemesis Forge came to the game post-launch and was released alongside Shadow of War as a means of transferring top Nemesis and Followers from the Shadow of Mordor to its sequel, thereby providing connectivity between the two titles. Transfers between games will cease to function on December 21, which leaves owners with some time to make the necessary switches.
Vendetta missions allowed for the claiming of power, valuable runes and general experience as online players could chase an orc captain who killed someone on their friends list.
Leaderboards and the WBPlay network likely won't be missed all that much, especially with Warner Bros. keeping the best part of the latter as players will be awarded the Orc Hunter and Gravewalker runes.
It's still unclear how various achievements will be kept after the aforementioned online capabilities are switched off but we imagine there will be other runes handed out for free as a result.
Shadow of Mordor is available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Shadow of War is among the free PS Plus games for the month of November.
Source: PlayStation.com