Sztart

The best LoTR based game I've ever played. I like LoTR. Gameplay wise it's a game like many others, pretty solid but nothing special. But a good story and nemesis system make it very enjoyable to play.

I'd give it 8.5. Comparing to the base game, I don't like this story as much but it's still in the same league. Comparing to the Hearts of Stone I like this story a little bit more but the characters (especially antagonist) are not as vivid in my memory as from the other DLC, but they're not bad by any means (still topping most other games I've played). I very much like the new location and the overall vibe of the story. I only wish it had characters from the base game to tickle that nostalgic itch after finishing the base game but we did get some characters from the books and earlier games. I like this DLC ever so slightly more than Hearts of Stone.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I like the many interactions that are possible, freedom of choice, character creation, narration and the combat system - for a turn based - is not bad either.With that being said, no matter how much I try to like this game (and I was very hyped for it), I can't get into it and the story I think utterly boring. The characters are shallow and uninteresting and the lore I'd describe as the United States of High Fantasy. I feel like the game doesn't even attempt to treat itself seriously so it's hard to feel excited, scared or invested in any way.I've made 2 attempts to get into it but throughout the 2nd act I lost any will to continue (the thought of a nap unironically felt more **** in all, pretty good gameplay with some nice ideas but packed with a boring uninspiring story based on the lore made as an afterthought.

If you're grown up and have life this game is not for you. Unless you wanna waste your life and enjoy being punished like a kid in a classroom. Also, since Vanguard was introduced my game regularly crashes forcing me to relaunch it and sometimes causing me to get punished of AFKing or making me team remake (or both). For these reasons alone (and frustrating matchmaking from time to time where sometimes you stomp the enemy and next game they stomp you, without much room for counterplay - basically snowball competition) I do not recommend this game.

My biggest gaming surprise of the recent years. I didn't expect to like the game at all but I gave it a try since I got it in a bundle with other game I wanted. After following the recommendations I Played on highest difficulty stalker (a bit too hard for me, would rather play lower difficulty but still stalker mode). Game hooked me in from the first minutes and kept in me suspense for most of it, until maybe like the last 15%/10% where I started to feel bored and by the very end I just wanted to be done with it. All in all, very immersive game in stalker mode.

My favourite story to date in a video game. Easily the most cinematic game I've ever played too and definitely in the competition for the best game soundtracks I've ever heard. The combat is pretty simple but satisfying, which I can't really say about any other game I've played (because it's usually one or the other). I like the setting a lot and what they did with Kratos, making him a badass deity while highlighting his human imperfection that he needs to realize and overcome. I don't want to spoil it so I'll leave it at that but the message really resonates with me, especially at this point in my life. As for the things I don't like or could be better. It's very much a story-driven game and there's not much depth to the gameplay itself. I think that's fine since the game isn't too long but for me it's a kind of a "play once and probably not again" type of game. The enemies are not varied, you have a couple of enemy models reused across the whole game and the bosses don't feel very unique either (although they're not bad by any means). And at last, all the loot found in the game gives me heavy Ubisoft vibes. Basically just trash you find along the way put there for the sake of stimulating your neurons that you "found" something but it doesn't really fit there and - especially as you start the game - looks even kind of absurd. Aside from that I've got no problems with this game and it's one of my favourite games ever.

If I could I'd give it 9.5. The story is superb (albeit a bit long and might feel slightly stretched for some), the world is the most immersive of any game I've ever played. Characters are interesting and have depth (especially if you know them from the books) and the choices really matter. This and Elden Ring are the only 2 games I've ever played where I actually wanted to do the side quests. Usually I don't care about them since they feel repetitive and detached from the main story. Here almost every side quest has it's own story with twists and choices, and some of them can even affect the main story to an extend. The game still looks stunning even today and the soundtrack is great. My only major painpoint with this game (and not only mine I see) is combat. It's not outright bad but it's just OK. Typical Ubisoft/Batman combat without much depth or feedback. Certainly the weakest part of the game and can get boring, especially if you played a lot of games that focus on combat (Fromsoft games, For Honor etc.). Here it's mostly about the story so if you don't like heavy story based games it might not be your cup of tea. For me, however, the story, lore, characters and freedom of choices make up most of what I appreciate in a game. One other little nuisance, which isn't really that big of a deal, is the difficulty. It feels easy even on hardest settings in the base game - because of that the bosses don't feel that important or strong. The DLCs on the other hand are much harder, to the point where I smooth sailed the whole base game on the highest difficulty still wishing for more challenge, while the DLC bosses on medium difficulty wiped the floor with me. Oh, and by the way, the DLCs are really good. They're bigger than many standalone games. All in all it's either my #1 or #2 game of all time (either that or God of War (2018)).