I purchased this title on Steam GOTY edition and was cautiously hopeful that it might be worth the expense. I've been around video games for thirty years and I will admit to being a little jaded. There are many games I have seen, played and tossed aside quickly kissing goodbye to hard-earned dollars. Over the years there are a few gems that were memorable but most were dull repetitive, or simply too darn difficult to play well on the PC. Console ports are often terribly disappointing e.g. RYSE for example.
This being said, I began Middle Earth Shadows of Mordor with low expectations and on my first few sessions I became a little frustrated how easily I got killed by a few orcs at the beginning. This is no big because you cannot die in this game and your progress is not reset by it. But as I was enthralled by the quality of the story and the graphical rendering I persevered. It was worth it. The interface is highly intuitive and after a slight learning curve you start to play without being hindered by the keybindings and mouse movements. Then the game really gets fun.
The open world aspect and being able play at you own pace whilst completing tasks to get better upgrades is great. The story unfolds steadily as you find out what is going on (no spoilers here) and more and more you are drawn into the world. As a Tolkien fan I was pleased that the background history is accurate, though there are a few twists. If you're not a Tolkien buff some of the background will be new to you, but it is all there in his many writings if you ever decide to read it up in the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales etc.
Most people will be familiar with the orcs and many other characters from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, which adds to the depth and breadth of the story.
Some of the side quests can be a little tricky, but if you fail you can try again as many times as you like without always having to go right back to the beginning of the quest since your progress is saved often in the more complex ones.
The port of the console game is very well done as one would expect with Warner Brothers backing this. The movement is fluid and rewarding, but for the best results you do need a high end PC and play in the HD version.
Excellent game.