Footage Of Cancelled Batman Game That Turned Into Shadow Of Mordor Uncovered

thegamer.com:

Gameplay footage from Monolith Studios' cancelled Nolan-verse Batman game that was eventually turned into Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor has surfaced online.

Back in 2019, it was reported by Liam Robertson for Did You Know Gaming that Monolith Studios, the team behind Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and the upcoming Wonder Woman game, had previously been working on a Batman game titled "Project Apollo". That video went into great detail on why that project was cancelled, including showing off some footage of it in action.

Now, nearly five years later, a Twitter user going by the name Dageekydude has posted a thread on Twitter that compiles a ton of new footage and information about the game that was previously unseen and discovered through Did You Know Gaming, Internet Archive, and developer portfolios.

The title, named Project Apollo, appears to have taken place in the Christopher Nolan universe, as evidenced by the Batsuit being from Batman Begins and the Tumbler being featured in concept art. In the gameplay footage, Batman is shown flying through a much grimier-looking version of Gotham City than the one used in the Arkham games, albeit with gliding that looks very similar to what was featured in that game.

We also see Batman utilising a loadout system that would have acted somewhat like a skill tree and allowed him to unlock certain abilities and gadgets. The footage also shows that random crimes, similar to the Spider-Man games, would have happened as Batman explored Gotham, which presumably could be interrupted by the Bat.

The recovered gameplay footage also shows off Batman using his Detective Mode and using stealth takedowns on some basic thugs, which all seems like it was inspired by the Arkham games. The combat isn't shown within the gameplay footage, but it's said to have been similar to those games as well.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Project Apollo is that it was intended to be the introduction to