Tolkien's Middle-Earth universe is rich, fertile ground for all manner of expanded media beyond the books, as the wealth of movies, spin-offs and video games have shown over the years. And despite being a non-canon story, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor proved that there's even more room to go beyond the books, with unique tales within the same world. As such, Shadow of War picks up where the first game left off, looking to expand the narrative with its new and improved Nemesis system, creating even more unique stories in which Talion and his army of orcs go beyond the confines of Mordor, to other iconic regions of Middle-Earth. It's a system that means Monolith is "enormously expanding the palette of stories you can have," according to the developer. We spoke to VP of Creative on Shadow of War, Michael de Plater about expanding the narrative and where it'll take us outside of Mordor, as well as new characters, returning characters, building the new Nemesis system with fortress assaults, loot, gear, weapons and more, among other things. Check it out in our interview video below. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will be out for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on 22nd August in North America and 25th August in Europe. Source: Xbox Achievements