The thing is, there is really not much need for the story in this game, beyond the initial scenes that get you into it. Part of the role of the story in this sort of game is to give context to the situation. "Why am I killing these guys?", "Why am I not killing these others?", etcetera. In this game, you already have that context, because you're in the Lord of the Rings universe. They're orcs, they're working for Sauron, you are going to kill them. Yes, you need a little bit of explanation about the captains and your own wraith abilities, but that's it.

As Bolivar said, the game truly does a great job of building its own story through the procedurally generated content. Pushing orcs through the ranks, manipulating their power struggles, getting revenge on those who killed you, or stalking and orchestrating against a warchief and his bodyguards.



Remember how the fun part of Assassin's Creed was the actual assassinations? Stalking through the land, finding your target, plotting a route to him, finding a way through his bodyguards, making the kill, and getting away?

Now imagine that the games had an infinite number of those. They're all randomly generated, placed in random areas of the map and given random patrols. They also have random strengths and weaknesses so that you are encouraged to approach each one differently.

That's what Shadow of Mordor did, and it is glorious.