Tuesday 16 January, 2018

This was my first time playing Shadow of War and I love it so far! The combat reminds me of The Witcher so I was able to quickly adapt to the game's mechanics. Im looking forward to getting farther into the story as I know very little right now about the characters. Although I have seen the Lord of the Rings movies (and loved them) so Im excited to see how this expands the lore. There was one thing that stuck out to me in the story so far. At one point in a main mission, the player needs to sneak into an area covered in orcs. In a cut scene, he looks from behind cover to see the orc beat up and then drag away a slave. The player's character comments on how terrible it is. And then his companion says that it provided a good distraction. Then the mission starts. As a player you don't have a choice to save the slave or not. But goes to show your companion's morals, or lack thereof.

Good Job Mckenna! You hint at some interesting ethical themes in your first two entries, one with the the orc beating up a slave as a distraction and the other being the moral choices you have to make with the nemesis system. For your future writing, consider diving deeper into these topics. For example, with the first ethical theme consider a question such as this: does the player’s lack of choice in being able to save the slave provide commentary on the amount of power you as a player have over the outcome of the game? Would having more power in this situation change how you viewed the scene? Keep it up!

Clay