Fans weren’t happy with the egregious storefront that allowed players to purchase better Orcs for their army in Shadow of War, putting many a potential player off of an otherwise fantastic game and its interesting extra downloadable content. Good news then, as Monolith and Warner Bros. Interactive have finally heard the call and made the announcement official: Shadow of War is dropping its microtransactions.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 suffers from some technical issues and takes a really long time to kick it into high gear, but when it does, it manages to become a sublime RPG, standing toe to toe with the behemoths of the genre.

If you’ve played through Shadow of War, taken on the challenge and repetition of Shadow Wars and still want more, then you’ll be delighted to know that there’s a lot more content coming. Yes, its coming by way of an expansion pass – which is included in the Gold Edition of the game. Warner and Monolith have detailed what’s coming – which may include a few spoilers for those who’ve yet to finish the game.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a game of treachery, domination and shaming. Lots and lots of it in fact, as a few weeks after launch and the numbers that have come in for the game have been nothing short of staggering.

Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of Men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand! Men of the West! Prepare your thumbs for a return to Middle-Earth this week, as the Shadow of War draws forth!

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is Lord of the Rings turned up to 11. Improving on nearly every idea from the original Shadow of Mordor game, it’s a gargantuan sequel in both size and scope.

What’s a publisher supposed to do then, despite claims that it would receive zero percent of the cash generated from the sale of a Hail-Mary Orc character in Shadow of War? Make him a free add-on.

From what we’ve seen of Shadow of War thus far, it’s an incredible game. Unfortunately, for many there’s a great big blight on the impending action adventure RPG, and that’s the shadow of its mictrotransactions. Unusually for a single player game, Shadow of War will include loot boxes, enabled by microtransactions. abled by microtransactions.