Monolith’s upcoming Middle-Earth: Shadow of War recently received a new gameplay trailer discussing the way the game mechanics work and what new features have been added to the Nemesis system.

The trailer they released features 16 minutes of actual gameplay, and it’s pretty impressive actually.

They discuss how you can bring followers with you into battle and each of these followers will be able to upgrade and develop their own stories. Now the really cool thing here is that they can develop long lasting rivalries with other NPCs. They demonstrate this briefly in the video below.

The player kills Thrak Storm-Bringer, only for him to come back from the dead thanks to his cursed arm, which prevents him from being manipulated by the Ring of Power.

One of Tailon’s followers pops into the picture to aid his master, cutting off Thrak’s arm and severing his head.

This adds a new Nemesis thread to Tailon’s follower and the owner of the fort. Had the owner of the fort not been defeated, it would have created yet another story thread.

According to the video, this means that every single player’s Nemesis tree will be completely different from the next player’s. Each of the scenarios will morph and mold and turn into something new based on the actions of the player and the followers they take with them into battle.

It sounds intriguing and like a sound improvement over the original Nemesis system in Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor.

Additionally, GamesRadar talked with Monolith’s VP Michael de Plater who gave them a non-committal answer about whether or not you can import your old saved games into your new game. Plater mentioned that they aren’t saying anything about importing old saves right now, but they may discuss it later.

The combat looks solid, the Dynasty Warriors style battles are quite cinematic, and the Nemesis system seems interesting. We’ll see how it all comes together on August 22nd when Middle-Earth: Shadow of War launches for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.