Living in the shadow of Mordor is no easy task. There's an endless army of Uruks who'd rather see you on a spit over a fire, spirits serving the Dark Lord, and the overwhelming threat of his impending resurrection. To make matters worse, you've already died once, though you now find yourself fused with and enhanced by the spirit of the elf who originally forged the rings of power. If this all sounds like a bit much to take in, especially with the different systems that Shadow of Mordor invokes, fear not, as a primer for the game has appeared online.

Not only can you decapitate and eviscerate Uruks in various ways, but you can also do the same to their commanders, provided you provoke them enough. Making them afraid will cause them to move about with a number of bodyguards, and if you're able to slay said commanders, you can unlock powerful runes for personal use. As you've been tethered to the spirit realm, your abilities have all be rather enhanced, too, allowing teleportation; the ability to strike fear into the hearts of the hordes; and perhaps most importantly, by using mind control, you can learn more and more about your foes, allowing you to kill them in new and exciting ways.

Since Shadow of Mordor is an open-world RPG, it needs characters to populate its world. This comes in the form of both allies and enemies, the former of which some will recognize from the books and movies, and the latter of which is created by the "Nemesis" system. All of the Uruks have personal tendencies, and can remember interactions and have a personal history with both Talion and the rest of the army. Their personal features can be determined by interrogating Uruks, or, once again, subjecting them to a mind probe.

In any case, if this all sounds interesting, the game has now released on a number of systems worldwide (except for Australians, who will be getting it on the 7th of October).