Skyrim Mod adds Shadow of Mordor’s brilliant Nemesis system

It came back with a vengeance. Yes, Shadow of MordorThe brilliant Nemesis system has languished for half a decade. But an enterprising modder recently (sort of) revived the technology by adding it The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimBethesda’s decades-old fantasy RPG.

The Nemesis System is a set of AI behavioral guidelines first introduced in 2014 in Monolith’s open-world action game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel in 2017, Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Both games are set Lord of the rings canon cast you as a ranger named Talion. You live in Mordor and fight against Sauron’s army of procedurally generated orcs. Anyone who killed you would remember you, gain enhanced abilities, and openly taunt you the next time you cross your paths.

It absolutely reigned, the kind of genius that defines it should have been implemented in any similar game. But there’s a reason such a feature hasn’t surfaced anywhere else: last year, after years of effort, publisher WB Games successfully secured a patent for the Nemesis system.

In retrospect, Skyrim seems to be an obvious fit. The mod aptly titled “Shadows of Skyrim”, is being developed by Syclonix Elder Scrolls modders. Syclonix quickly realizes that it’s an “allusion” to it Shadow of Mordor, and differs from the WB patent in important respects. For example, there is no dialogue and no power levels or NPC hierarchies are added. But there are some notable similarities.

When an enemy kills you, he gets a unique name and takes your stuff too. In the meantime, you will receive a quest that will give instructions on where to find them. Defeating the enemy will get your stuff back. That is, if you are defeated by one of the SkyrimThrough the random encounters of – cannon fodder, which appears out of the blue and disappears from the game after it hits you – you lose all your stuff and don’t have to seek and defeat an enemy to retrieve it. (Until the issue is resolved, Syclonix recommends disabling the “Nemesis use and take items” aspect of the mod.) You will also be encumbered with a random debuff that can only be removed if you defeat the enemy that killed you . You can have up to five nemesis at a time. By default, none of them can be above level 25 to ensure you don’t have to face off against enemies you can’t defeat.

It’s great to see the Nemesis system getting a second wind through modding, but it will eventually and officially be resurrected. WB plans to implement in an upcoming one wonder woman Game.