Middle-earth: Shadow of War has high production values and is a fun open-world slashathon, but it's stretched thin. The storyline starts off promising, but all of the interesting characters get pushed aside to make room for nothing of consequence.

Everyone is upset over nothing vital, the base game is completely doable without having to buy any loot crates etc

Middle Earth: Shadow of War is bigger and better than its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. If you don't mind the repetition found in most open world games, there's a robust strategy layer here that combines with a great combat system to offer hours and hours of Orc slaying, army building...

Shadow of War is a worthy sequel and we've given it a Must Buy. However, note that the Loot Box system is optional if you're willing to work with the game's system and actually play the game (which is what you should be doing!).

In the music industry, people often refer to Second Album Syndrome - a phenomenon whereby a popular artist sets about making their sophomore record, only this time the stakes are considerably higher due to increased exposure and fan expectation.