When comparing Assassin's Creed Odyssey vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the Slant community recommends Middle-earth: Shadow of War for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Middle-earth: Shadow of War is ranked 93rd while Assassin's Creed Odyssey is ranked 133rd. The most important reason people chose Middle-earth: Shadow of War is:
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Specs
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Pros
Pro You can choose between a male or female protagonist
For the first time in the Assassin's Creed series, you can pick whether you want to play the entire game as the male protagonist, Alexios, or the female protagonist, Kassandra. Alexios and Kassandra are siblings living in Ancient Greece -- they used to be spartans, but now they live out their lives as mercenaries, taking down mysterious plots or just killing whoever's necessary for the money. Through dialog choices, you get to choose their personalities: whether they're funny and sarcastic or more serious and to-the-point. While the main story mostly plays out the same no matter which sibling you go with, certain scenes read differently depending on whose point of view you experience them from, so you might want to play through the game a second time to see the changes for yourself.
Pro Intense combat that relies on your skill and strategy
The combat in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is really up-close-and-personal. Wielding weapons and shields, your skill with blocking and parrying is as important, if not more, than landing strong blows. Enemies are relentless and aggressive in how fast they attack; parrying them is especially satisfying because of how tough they are. Chaining your defensive moves into attacks that take your opponent off-guard is great, rewarding you with some awesome finishing animations. Taking your time to read your enemies before going after their weaknesses pays off in the end.
Pro Cool naval combat against rival ships out on the open seas
You get to navigate out in the open waters to get from place to place, getting hands-on with the full mechanics of steering your ship while firing off cannons at surrounding enemies. Using the directional indicators to line up the perfect shot is incredibly satisfying as you take down one ship after another, sending them sinking in flames. There's a full crew aboard with you, helping to give plenty of liveliness to your surroundings as they shout in anger and cheer in victory as you go along, with dynamic weather like raging storms that adds to the realism and intensity. It's a lot of fun and serves as a nice way to break things up from normal missions on-foot.
Pro Massive open world set in Ancient Greece
The in-game map is absolutely gigantic. There are so many places to go and so much to do in the world, easily giving you over 70 hours of content. Exploring the rolling hills and ancient cities of Greece and the nearby Mediterranean Sea is such a joy because of how lush and beautiful everything is. Wandering around often surprises you with new side quests to find off the beaten path, with new characters to meet and history to learn about in whichever area you find yourself in. And there's just a ton of other mythological secrets and fun diversions to discover as you adventure throughout the world.
Pro Your choices affect how side quests play out
There are some well-done instances where your decisions have real consequences with the side quests. Depending on how you interact with side characters, if you're polite to them, or if you choose to be mean and uncaring, this will change how they view you. If you cross the wrong people, it could have dire effects on certain locations, and some of the characters can outright die if things end up spiraling out of control. It's up to you to find out how everything plays out depending on how you role-play as Alexios or Kassandra.
Pro Character connections make for a compelling experience
Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders.
For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother.
Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Pro Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood
As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Pro Satisfying combat
Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations.
If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow.
If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc.
Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Pro You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion
As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while.
For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs.
Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands.
Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Cons
Con Other than with side quests, your choices don't mean much
It's cool that Odyssey offers plenty of dialog choices, but they don't have as much of an impact on the game as a whole. The choices you make don't fundamentally change what happens during the main story. It would have been nice to see the side quest variations on a bigger scale, with more drastic changes and consequences depending on how you handle things. Beyond those side quests, any other choices you make feel like filler: too many lost opportunities.
Con Leveling up can be a chore, bottlenecking exploration
The one thing that may keep you from adventuring as much as you want: levels, including your own and your enemies. It can take a while to gain enough experience points to level up, cutting you off from that one area you want to explore that's filled with higher level enemies. Going on side quests is one of the best ways to level, but you may find yourself questing for hours just to gain enough levels, especially in the late-game.
Con Voice acting sounds weird at times
The voice acting is usually pretty solid, but when it isn't, you will probably notice. Some of the side characters' accents are really bad and obviously fake, to the point where you might not even understand what they're saying. Alexios' voice acting also isn't as strong and consistent as Kassandra's, with times where he sounds off compared to his sister. It can be quite distracting when someone just doesn't sound right.
Con Can get repetitive
The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Con Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay
Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.