Monolith Productions made survival horror tense and fun on the Xbox 360 and PS3 with F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins. After making a free-to-play shooter and a MOBA, they’re back with an ambitious console and PC title set in Middle-Earth.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a new video game set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The game’s plot is not based on any of the writings from Tolkien, but rather an entirely new plot written by Christian Cantamessa – lead writer on Red Dead Redemption.

In the first gameplay trailer for Shadow of Mordor, we’re introduced to what makes the game so ambitious – the Nemesis System. The Nemesis System allows enemies to remember past encounters with the player character and have that inform their behavior. In the demo, we’re given the example of an orc that’s far more violent towards the player character thanks to a previous run-in that left half his face covered in burns.

Since this is a video game, Tolkien’s lore doesn’t matter. The game lets the player character – a ranger – use wraith powers to take control of enemies, instill fear in them and see the world that only the wraiths and those who wear the one ring can see. Tolkien diehards will probably cry foul, but it looks like a lot of fun.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is scheduled to launch later this year on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Image via xbox/YouTube