Middle-earth Shadow Bundle Switch 2 Release Set for Sept 30

Aspyr is bringing two of the best Lord of the Rings games ever made to Nintendo's newest console. The Middle-earth: Shadow Bundle arrives on Switch 2 on September 30, pairing 2014's Shadow of Mordor with its 2017 sequel Shadow of War, each with every piece of downloadable content released for them, the studio revealed in a surprise announcement trailer this week.

Preorders are live on the Nintendo eShop with a steep early discount. The bundle lists at $69.99 but is half off for preorder customers, dropping to $34.99 until launch. The two games are also sold separately: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition costs $9.99, down from $19.99, and Shadow of War Definitive Edition costs $24.99, down from $49.99.

What the bundle includes

Shadow of Mordor's Game of the Year Edition includes the full game plus its two story expansions, Lord of the Hunt and The Bright Lord, the Guardians of the Flaming Eye warband mission, and extra missions, runes, and character skins. The game follows Talion, a ranger bound to a wraith spirit of vengeance, as he hunts orc captains across Mordor and unravels the mystery of the Rings of Power.

Shadow of War's Definitive Edition goes further. It contains the Desolation of Mordor and Blade of Galadriel story expansions, plus the Slaughter Tribe and Outlaw Tribe Nemesis expansions, which add new orc tribes, weapons, and fortress themes. The sequel has Talion forging a new Ring of Power and leading armies in fortress sieges against Sauron and his Ringwraiths.

One detail is worth knowing: as GamingBible reported, this port of Shadow of War is built for offline play, so the online features from the original release are gone. No Online Conquests, no Vendettas, no Fight Pits, no Chests or Training Orders. The single-player campaigns are fully intact, which is what most buyers are paying for anyway.

Preorder pricing

The Middle-earth Shadow Bundle Switch 2 release marks the first time either game has run natively on current-generation hardware, according to Gematsu.

At $34.99, the preorder bundle costs about what a single indie release does. Nintendo Life reported the same pricing, noting that the discount applies to each game sold separately as well: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition drops to $9.99 and Shadow of War Definitive Edition to $24.99.

Technical details are still thin. Aspyr has not announced resolution or frame rate targets. According to KitGuru, the reveal trailer was published in 1080p at 60 frames per second, though the footage itself appears to run at 30 frames per second. Nothing more specific has been shared.

The hook is still the Nemesis System

What made these games famous was a system that gave enemies a memory. In Shadow of Mordor, orc captains remember your encounters. One you left for dead can return scarred, promoted, and holding a grudge, and he will bring it up when he sees you. In Shadow of War, those rivalries feed into fortress sieges: you recruit orcs to your cause, build an army, and assault walled strongholds across Mordor.

Shadow of Mordor won more than 50 awards at launch, including Game of the Year honors, and critics treated the Nemesis System as one of the most original ideas action games had produced in years. Shadow of War launched to a rockier reception, weighed down by loot-box microtransactions that were later stripped out entirely, but its sieges and expanded Nemesis mechanics still earned strong reviews.

Aspyr has ported plenty of games to Nintendo hardware before, and that history is the reason some players are waiting. According to KitGuru, the studio's recent Tomb Raider Definitive Edition drew complaints about visual downgrades, which is why some players are holding off until reviews land. These are also two relatively demanding games, so how they hold up on the Switch 2 will stay an open question until the first performance tests land. The preorder discount holds until launch and the sale pricing continues through October 6, so there is no rush to buy before those reports arrive.

The Switch 2 has been stacking up third-party ports since its launch last year, with games like Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Street Fighter 6, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered all making the jump. It is a busy week for game launches in general: Control Resonant arrives September 24, and Qualcomm just unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip that will power the next wave of handheld gaming hardware.

The Shadow Bundle continues the port trend, and for Lord of the Rings fans it puts both modern Mordor games on a Nintendo handheld for the first time. It is available to preorder now on the Nintendo eShop for Switch 2, with both games unlocking on September 30. Nintendo Life's coverage of the announcement lays out the full contents of each edition for anyone comparing the bundle against the separate releases.