Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Will be Scaled Down on Last-Gen Consoles

Talking to IGN, Monolith’s design director Michael de Plater explained the title’s “Nemesis System”, which allegedly makes every enemy in the game unique, able to remember events and grow, will be scaled down on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It doesn’t sound like the old consoles were up to the task:

“We’re very focused on the PS4 and Xbox One,) he said. (We’re focusing on the next-gen platforms, and then going to do whatever we can to get as much as possible on current-gen.

“To break it down, some of the stuff we’re pretty confident will still be very similar on current gen: the core mechanics, like combat, stealth, ranged and movements; the basic control and gameplay, that should all be really solid. What it won’t have is the same level of depth and variety and simulation within the ‘Nemesis system’.

“The story will be the same and the core gameplay will be the same, but [the ‘Nemesis system’ is] just so huge in terms of content, calculations and AI we’ll just have to try and get as much of it in as we can.”

Hopefully this actually means that the system isn’t all smoke and mirrors and will actually provide something new and substantial, because the game I glimpsed in the recent gameplay video seemed all too keen to follow paths that the AAA industry has already thoroughly explored for the last few years.