It this actual open "world"?

[Torx]

By actual I do mean, are there also towns or cities that are populated by humans, dwarfs, etc..?

Because so far I only could see Mordor crap faces. :/

[Adorhelm]

There is no human or dwarven towns... Only couple of orc's villages. Orcs... orcs are everywhere.

[Sirius]

You are running around in Mordor (mostly).

Do the math.

And what has that to do with "open world" gameplay? You have two maps, basically, and can run around each one of them, they are quite large.

[Mikaeru89]

Not sure how “actualness” of open world game linked with ingame cities.
ME SoM is an open world story driven orc-slasher sandbox game with rpg elements.

[Torx]

Too bad that this ain't a Middle-Earth "Skyrim". Far Cry 3 had "normal" people, too, aside those, I don't know how to put that mildly...

Never mind the living garbage. I like to take out the garbage. But a world only consiting of garbage, that would equel the end times. At least when I play. I was hoping this game is more than a giant battlefield. Especially since it is based on Tolkien lore.

[itsmeHawkeyeG]

sorry to tell you but this game is more a "commando infiltration" type game than a "army vs army warfare" type.

It's still definitely open-world though. you're not stuck going down a linear questline or a certain way through a certain path. you can go any direction you want and do whatever side stuff you want in any order, at least as long as you've unlocked the related skills

If you want an open-world ish game with actual cities in it try Lord of the Rings Online

[Team Triss]

Originally posted by SouldomainTM:

Too bad that this ain't a Middle-Earth "Skyrim". Far Cry 3 had "normal" people, too, aside those, I don't know how to put that mildly...

Never mind the living garbage. I like to take out the garbage. But a world only consiting of garbage, that would equel the end times. At least when I play. I was hoping this game is more than a giant battlefield. Especially since it is based on Tolkien lore.

There are human slaves on the map that you can assist.

[Caramel_Clown]

It's not the kind of game you might imagine. Everything here is set to let you know - you're an unwelcome guest in these lands. You might find yourself hiding and running away from patrols everywhere more often than not, otherwise you will get overwhelmed by arriving forces. Also, very soon you will realize that slashing your way through might not be the most effective way to do things - and sometimes nearly impossible. If by open world you mean huge map with varying regions and terrains - no, this isn't it. However, this is a pretty huge sandbox for some fun gameplay with ingame mechanics that allow you to do things in so many ridiculous ways :)

[WZ]

Nope you are in mordor, there an orc camps everywhere, that's it. Saying it's open world, well... It's open, ok, sure. But world, yeah, not really. Of course plenty of "open world" games take place in just one city, how is that "world" I don't know... But still, they usually feel a little more varied. Here it's orc camp A, orc camp B, orc camp C, etc. What little human camps etc exist are only seen via cutscenes. Still, it blows every most of the other "open area-thingy" games out of the water in terms of gameplay, so I forgive it.

[semiosphere]

I wouldn't call it open world. It is a action game without levels but a "world" where you play the missions, ok. But you don't have a real impact on the world. The nemesis system is overrated. You can kill captains, but if you die or after some hours of play there is a new one. You can free as many slaves as you like, but there is an unlimited amount of slaves. Just before I started playing SoM I finished Saints Row 3rd, which is open world, too. When I finished missions there, like ending gang activity, my own gang got more power and I could see them more often on the streets while enemy gangs got less and less frequent. Even though there was a story which advanced by finishing main quests, I could really achieve something in the open world with all the side quests.

In SoM you only do side quests to make your character stronger (weapon upgrades, skill upgrades).

I would call it more a closed world instead of an open world.

[obliviondoll]

It's an OPEN world, but it's not a LIVING world full of functional cities. It's a place full of ruins which Orcs have chosen as their home. There aren't population centres in the sense that the "civilised" races of Middle Earth would consider them. There are wild places, and there are places the Orcs control. The latter are populated but don't operate as spaces you could visit, and use as you would a city in another open world game.

The world manages to feel alive after a fashion, but not the fashion you seem to be asking for.

[Sirius]

Yeah. Again, you are in MORDOR.

How would there be actual human / dwarfish / elvish settlements?

[semiosphere]

In act 2 you are doing main quests for humans living there! The queen would be rather useless if she hadn't people to reign, wouldn't she? Also, there could have been orcish settlements with ... erm ... like Uruk peasants, also I think I never saw Uruks actually sleeping or something like that. They could have done the whole thing more "alive". But the game is not supposed to create a living, immersive version of Mordor, it's more like hopping and killing around in some world which looks like Mordor.

[Darth Cannabis]

Originally posted by semiosphere:

In act 2 you are doing main quests for humans living there! The queen would be rather useless if she hadn't people to reign, wouldn't she? Also, there could have been orcish settlements with ... erm ... like Uruk peasants, also I think I never saw Uruks actually sleeping or something like that. They could have done the whole thing more "alive". But the game is not supposed to create a living, immersive version of Mordor, it's more like hopping and killing around in some world which looks like Mordor.

My disapointment, is that at no point was I able sneak up and kill an uruk while he is taking a piss.

They drink a lot of grog, and if grog goes in, grog must come out.

[Cirno]

Originally posted by Darth Cannabis:

Originally posted by semiosphere:

In act 2 you are doing main quests for humans living there! The queen would be rather useless if she hadn't people to reign, wouldn't she? Also, there could have been orcish settlements with ... erm ... like Uruk peasants, also I think I never saw Uruks actually sleeping or something like that. They could have done the whole thing more "alive". But the game is not supposed to create a living, immersive version of Mordor, it's more like hopping and killing around in some world which looks like Mordor.

My disapointment, is that at no point was I able sneak up and kill an uruk while he is taking a piss.

They drink a lot of grog, and if grog goes in, grog must come out.

I stealth killed an Uruk archer while He was pissing

[Mikaeru89]

Originally posted by Darth Cannabis:

My disapointment, is that at no point was I able sneak up and kill an uruk while he is taking a piss.

They drink a lot of grog, and if grog goes in, grog must come out.

You didn't try hard enough. They're taking a l..k alright; once I was scaling up the wall and stopped to look around. One Uruk walked close and done it right on ... Talion's head. Brutalised takedown for that orc. Also, look around in their strongholds, it's not so rare.