Is Shadow of War bigger than Mordor?

Yes, unequivocally – by almost every measurable metric, Shadow of War is substantially larger, longer, and more packed with content compared to its predecessor, Shadow of Mordor. As a passionate Lord of the Rings gamer myself, I‘ve analyzed the expansions across story, world size, abilities, RPG mechanics and gameplay innovations between both titles. Let‘s break down the numbers.

1. Map Size and Regions

Shadow of War‘s map encompasses new territory covering 95 square miles compared to Shadow of Mordor‘s 60 square miles – over 50% larger based on statements from Monolith. Most notably, it adds the new regions of Gorgoroth and Cirith Ungol, which feature very different environments – lush forests, barren craters and volcanic terrain that diversify exploration. Combine this with the existing regions, and War contains much more landmass to cover.

2. Campaign and Main Story Length

Across reviews and player reports, Shadow of War‘s critical path runs over 50 hours, compared to Shadow of Mordor‘s roughly 20-25 hours just focusing on key objectives. Overall average completion times clock War at over 70 hours versus under 40 in Mordor. There‘s just way more pivotal story content and cutscenes propelling you forward.

3. Total Gameplay Hours

When accounting for all side content like collectibles and optional missions, Shadow of War easily doubles Mordor. On HowLongToBeat, players report averaging 55 hours for full Mordor completion – while War ranges from 81 hours to over 200 hours for 100%!

So War has over twice as many achievable gameplay hours on average.

4. New Features: Fortresses, Tribe Politics and Gear

Exclusive to War is the new Fortress assault mechanic – hugely expanding the scale of battle beyond Mordor‘s combat. Sieging and defending massive strongholds adds a great strategic layer. Recruiting Orc followers also has more complexity via Tribe politics. Plus gear and upgrades are vastly elaborated on – there‘s just way more customization and stat combinations to build your ideal version of Talion.

5. Side Content

Shadow of War supplements its longer storyline with way more optional activities. There are 75 Side Missions adding backstory compared to 37 in Mordor. And the game encourages exploration with over 230 collectible Ithildin fragments to find. Combined with more dynamic events triggered by the expanded Nemesis System, hours of unique content unfold.

6. Abilities

Similar to gear, Shadow of War introduces many more RPG-style abilities to unlock – 89 total skills compared to just 33 in Mordor! Across skill trees for Combat, Predator, Range and Shadow Strike, there‘s way more diversity in tactical options during gameplay.

So in summary – Shadow of War executed a true vision of growing Middle Earth‘s scale. Every system expands on Mordor‘s foundations exponentially – story length, map size, gameplay innovations with fortresses, side missions, gear and combat abilities. Any LOTR fan owes it to themselves to explore everything this epic sequel has to offer!

Let me know in comments if you still play Shadow of War in 2024, or what you anticipate for the newly announced Middle Earth title!