How the Nemesis System Creates Stories

The Nemesis System in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a unique villain generator. But in the sequel, Shadow of War, it's a full on story generator. Here's how it makes narratives that are interesting, meaningful, and memorable.

=== Before you watch ===

Content warning: Blood, Gore, Violence

=== Sources ===

[1] 2015 D.I.C.E. Summit - Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor's Michael de Plater | YouTube

[2] Helping Players Hate (or Love) Their Nemesis | YouTube

[3] Upgrading the Nemesis system for Middle-earth: Shadow of War | Gamasutra

[4] Nemesis Characters, Nemesis Forts, Social Vendettas And Followers In Computer Games | Justia Patents

[5] SEGA Sues Fox, EA over Simpsons Road Rage | IGN

[6] New Batman Game From WB Montreal To Feature Nemesis System With Multiple Factions – Rumor | WCCF Tech

[7] Rumor: Harry Potter RPG Gets ‘Dark,’ Uses a ‘Nemesis’ Rival System | The Escapist

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
01:40 - Orcs Build on Player Actions
03:29 - Going Beyond Death
07:19 - Hierarchies and Relationships
11:15 - Narrative Brickwork
12:13 - Iconic Enemies
14:09 - Strong Emotional Connections
16:30 - More Storytelling Secrets
18:32 - Creating a Story
19:24 - Why isn't the Nemesis System Used More?
20:59 - Conclusion
21:59 - Patreon Credits

=== Games Shown ===

Middle-earth: Shadow of War (2017)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014)
RimWorld (2013)
Crusader Kings III (2020)
Spec Ops: The Line (2012)
Hades (2020)
Burnout Revenge (2005)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
The Walking Dead: Season One (2012)
Mass Effect 3 (2012)
The Simpsons: Road Rage (2001)
Crazy Taxi (1999)
Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (2018)
Watch Dogs: Legion (2020)

=== Credits ===

Music from Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War OSTs, property of Warner Bros.

== Subtitles ==

[ReXaZz]

Imagine if a mafia or gang-related games use this kind of system for the hierarchy. So you climb up from the bottom, intimidate other members or enemy and eventually became the boss.

[smilemore]

Early on in the game I let a slave orc kill me just to see what would happen. He became a captain. I thought this was cool. The story took me away from this area for a really long time. When I came back he was overlord. I felt weirdly proud of him. It was the one fort I never took.

[chief]

Broke an Immortal orc once and he got stuck in a loop. I shamed him so much he wanted to die but couldn’t. Then he developed a “fear of the Gravewalker”, so he would show up randomly, beg me to kill him then realize he is supposed to be scared of me and run away.

[buggytheprophet]

The nemesis system being patented and not used is one of the greatest sins in gaming history

[SuperWiiBros]

I really would love to see this Nemesis System applied in other studios, it has so much great potential

[muzzyage]

Great usage of Stitch and Maku to explain the procedural generation possibilities of the Nemesis system.

[blanketboi]

"Small chance to cheat death" Yeah well tell that Hoshu the Survivor, who has come back so many times I'm convinced he's immortal

[calamisia]

Small chance to cheat death? In Mordor, I killed a orc named "... the Unkillable" over 7 times and he kept coming back until his face and body were covered with metal plates, scars and others. He really lived up to his name

[VideoGameAnimationStudy]

The research undertaken for this is as mind boggling as the Nemesis system itself.

[BikoFactory]

I guess the real treasure was the orcs we killed along the way.

[TonyPajamaz]

The nemesis system is so good that I still remember the name of my rival from the first game and he even showed up in the second game because I played both on PC and it used my save file info. Shout out to Nuruk the Painted and his one shot poison throwing spears. You were the best rival I could ever hope for ✊

[silentoverkill]

You forgot to include that in the opening parts of the game there was a mission where you had to face your nemesis from the first shadow of war game. Meaning that in order to progress the story you had to kill your biggest rival one last time. The fact that it remembers your rival from the last game and FORCES YOU to put that story to rest in order to complete the game is insane. The nemesis system is truly special.

[PRMAN]

SOW had one of my favorite gameplay moments to this date. I raided a fortress and the Orc Warchief taunted me with my "spy" held hostage and executed him in front of our army. Only I never put a spy in his fortress. He killed his own captain and made the takeover easier for ME. It was fantastic. The nemesis system rules

[DarshanBhambhani]

I still remember in my original playthrough of Shadow of Mordor, there was this uruk called Zunn Blackheart that would always come and fight me. Zunn and I would exchange battles, sometimes of me killing him and other times the other way around. Zunn would ambush me in the wild, and his body parts being replaced with more machines as the days gone by and of me killing him multiple times. Eventually at the end of the story before I fight the Hand, Zunn fought me for the one last time and I finally cut his head off.

What a glorious system, this

[vincenturquhart]

player interaction score: aka they turned plot armour into a gameplay stat

[aidanedwards]

Ar-Karo’s story sounds compelling, a rise in power, from a simple trooper, to a powerful captain, to an undying monster, to a faithful companion, to an immortal overlord

[nedmurry]

The number of voice lines in this game must be truly massive.

[agraciotti]

I can't even imagine the amount of work of the dubbing people to record so many lines for a game!

[zacharychristy]

"Design director Bob Roberts says there's a knob we can turn."

Yes, please tell me about the Bob Rob Knob.

[MusingSprite]

I love the nemesis system.

One time i was attacking my nemesis, aka my punching bag, and about t shame him for the fifth time. BUT, then a captain ambushed me to tell me he was betraying me. And then 3 other captains showed up immediately after him to say they were betraying me too.

I died by them, and then spend a few hours hunting them down one by one and shaming them down to humiliating obscurity, who all either die by accident or instant mortality weaknesses.

Love it.