- In 2014, the developers at Monolith Productions created Shadow of Mordor, a Tolkien game, where you played as a random ranger (the guys Aragorn ran with for a while) who gains the power to revive from death by Celebrimbor.
- The game featured a brilliant game mechanic called the Nemesis system. If an orc killed you, not only would that orc remember you, they’d be promoted within Sauron’s army gaining new abilities and commanding their own squads. If you defeated an orc but failed to kill him, that orc would remember you and seek personal revenge. Some promoted orcs would gain rivalries with others and infighting could occur.
- Shadow of Mordor became famous for the Nemesis system, as players saw the rest of the action game as a distraction from the real game: operating from the shadows to build the career of their favorite orc nemesis and create a true archenemy to have a proper showdown with. Sabotaging other orcs, purposely dying to their nemesis to hone the ultimate enemy, etc.
- Shadow of Mordor was a resounding success. Monolith returned 3 years later with Shadow of War, featuring an even more complex Nemesis system that allowed players to recruit and train their own orc army and even send them to infiltrate Sauron’s orc army. Enemy orcs with experience vs the player also start learning the player’s habits and attempt to counter them in battle.
- Shadow of War wasn’t received as well as Mordor, but the improved Nemesis system carried the game. At the time, many were convinced the Nemesis system would be a major step forward for enemy AI in games when more developers would learn how to replicate it.
- That doesn’t happen, because parent company Warner Bros filed a patent for the Nemesis system in 2016, two years after Mordor, and was granted the patent in 2021, making it legally risky for other game developers to attempt to create their own Nemesis system equivalent.
