Middle-Earth Shadow of War, the new entry in the series launching later this year in all regions on PC and consoles, has been only confirmed recently, but excitement surrounding the game is already high, as developer Monolith showed how they are expanding pretty much every features of the original game in very interesting ways. During a recent livestream, the team not only showed more of the game, but also revealed plenty of very interesting details.

　　During the recent Middle-Earth Shadow of War livestream, which can be checked out in its entirety on the Monolith Official Twitch channel, members of the team confirmed that the game will be bigger than its predecessor. Shadow of War will feature over 100 skills in the skill tree, which will allow players to choose between different playstyles, all of them vastly expanded. Exploration will also play a bigger role in the new game, as each fort has an open world area.

　　Combat has also been expanded considerably not only with new skills, but also with some additions for Celebrimbor. The character will not be able to use a spear for heavy attacks, ride caragors and use a hammer, which will most likely be used for executions.

　　Middle-Earth Shadow of War will also see the introduction of other characters from The Lord of the Rings universe outside of Gollum. Some of them will appear as bosses, including [spoiler]the Dark Lord Sauron himself. [/spoiler]

　　With conquering forts playing a big role, it's not surprising to learn that players will be able to emply siege weapons. Talon will also be able to take control of any of the siege weapons at any time if the player so desires.

　　Additionally, it seems like players will also have the chance to make Middle-Earth Shadow of War more challenging with different difficulty levels. Hard mode will change the aggression and the attack types of enemies. The introduction of a harder difficulty setting is definitely welcome, considering the original game wasn't all that challenging once the basics of the combat system had been mastered.

　　Lastly, some details on the game's DLC have also been revealed. Apparently, the expansions will be centered around unique characters not from the main game, so they should effectively expand the experience.

　　Middle-Earth Shadow of War launches this August on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. We will keep you updated on the game as soon as more comes in on it, so stay tuned for all the latest news.