Middle-earth: Shadow of War true ending allegedly hidden behind grind wall to encourage microtransactions

Since it was revealed that Monolith would implement a loot box market in Middle-earth: Shadow of War fans have been skeptical, and now it seems like they have gotten more ground to stand on.

When Shadow of War was released accusations started coming regarding the loot boxes being a pay-to-win system and a way for the developers to squeeze every last penny out of their fans, and things aren't getting any better now that Monolith is being accused of hiding the game's true ending behind hours of grinding OR inside a few premium loot boxes that players will have to pay real life money for. PC players have even found an exploit to get unlimited silver tier loot boxes, smashing the grind wall with a battering ram.

Warning! Shadow of War spoilers to follow! Do not read anything below this video if you want to remain unspoiled. You have been warned.

Shadow of War is a game about how easy it is for good to become evil, how power corrupts, and Talion's ghost friend Celebrimbor isn't here to make the world a better place but here to replace Sauron. Celebrimbor unlinks from Talion and leaves him to die so in a last-ditch effort he put on a Nazgul ring which grants him immortality while also linking him to Sauron himself, fighting fire with fire. In the game's final act Talion starts mustering his forces to take down his former ghost friend in something that looks like a never-ending battle.

This is where the loot boxes come into play. They have a chance of containing powerful legendary Orcs for your army. So at the end of the game, towards the great big climax, players can either spend a whole lot of hours grinding and grinding new followers and gear for the dozens of extra sieges… or they can spend some real life money and get what they need in minutes. They can choose between spending lots of time grinding or skipping their afternoon snack for one day. No wonder PC gamers are using exploits to rush this part of the game.

While Shadow of War has a Metacritic score of 83 and "mostly positive" on Steam more and more negative reviews are starting to take hold. The reviewers aren't holding back, "They've taken the BEST part of the mobile game platform and brought it to us on PC! MICROTRANSACTIONS!", another reviewer calls the "anti-consumer" for their tactics, some even compare it to "playing a mobile F2P game", yet another user goes as far as to say "IT TRULY IS A DARK DAY WHEN EA HAS BECOME THE LESSER EVIL AND WB AND BETHESDA HAVE TOOK IT'S PLACE". Indeed, this is not something that will go over smoothly.

None of us here at GameZone have gotten far enough to judge the balance of Shadow of War when it comes to microtransactions for ourselves yet, so you be the judge of how balanced it is. But if the alleged hours of grinding are too much for you to experience the true ending, then watch the video above.

Otherwise, prepare for a grind.