After Warner Bros. Shut Down Shadow of Mordor Developer Monolith and Canceled Wonder Woman, Fans Lament the 'Wasted Potential' of Its Nemesis System
Yesterday’s shock news that Warner Bros. had shut down three studios and canceled its Wonder Woman game sent shockwaves throughout the industry and the gaming community at large. And as the dust settles on yet another devastating round of cuts, fans of Monolith Productions’ much-loved Nemesis System are lamenting its "wasted potential."
The Nemesis System began life as part of Monolith’s well-received 2014 action adventure game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. It fuels randomly named enemies in Sauron's army that are generated uniquely with each playthrough of the game. Each nemesis has their own personality and will rise or fall within their social structure as the game progresses. They are affected by protagonist Talion's actions, and each will react differently to Talion's incursion into Mordor, be it fight, flight, or some other reaction.
With 2017 sequel Shadow of War, Monolith sought to improve upon its Nemesis system by increasing the variety of emergent stories and their emotional impact. Warner Bros. had confirmed the Nemesis System was set to return for Monolith’s Wonder Woman game, although it was light on the details.
Announced in December 2021 with a brief teaser trailer and description, Wonder Woman was a single-player action adventure set in a “dynamic” open-world in which players became Diana of Themyscira in an original story set within the DC universe.
With Monolith’s closure, only two games will have made use of the Nemesis system, a fact not lost on fans who are already pointing to the end of Warner Bros. vice-like grip on the Nemesis system patent.
>WBG patents the nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor in 2021. Makes it so no other game company can use a similar system
>Annouces a Wonder Woman the same year
>No info for 4 years
>Cancels the game by shutting down the studio making it https://t.co/VLqRHS37VZ pic.twitter.com/xzj9gAe5po
"I don't understand one iota how WB handled this Nemesis System debacle," said redditor birminghamsterwheel. "Two games, the
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