Warner Bros. shows deep preview of combat in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Warner Bros. hasn’t produced a critically acclaimed Lord of the Rings video game yet, but it’s taking another crack at it with the original story and concept of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. It’s going to be a bloody mess in an unrelentingly dark world, much like Warner Bros.’ recent Batman games.

The story-based open-world game builds upon the lore that served as the backstory to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it relies upon brand-new characters and settings that weren’t dramatically shown in either the books or the Peter Jackson movies. It’s a big risk in that respect, one that could pay off handsomely if fans buy into the extension of Tolkien’s fiction.