lafinjack submitted:
Monolith Entertainment’s game Shadow of Mordor has been pretty well-received critically, but what could make it better?
How about some free DLC that lets you play as (what appears to be) a mostly reasonably dressed and armored woman?
I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, looking at the promo image in isolation it’s pretty cool and I’m certainly happy that Monolith decided to expand with a female playable character instead of just another dude.
However, when contrasted to the male “leads” (it’s complicated), the woman looks kind of ridiculous.
Why do the guys get to look all dark and powerful with interesting back stories like they just walked out of the movies and she has to wear an outfit looks nothing like anything we’ve seen in Middle Earth before?
Remember, despite the era he lived in Tolkien’s Middle Earth had many remarkable women in it – and they were well developed character who dealt with frustration, temptation and their own goals.
To see a developer market on Middle Earth, and then basically phone it in when it comes to female characters is kind of upsetting. I mean remember, this is the fantasy world that gave us the scene of awesome:
Overall, I’m glad that they added a female playable character and that they didn’t hyper sexualize her – but I’m really disappointed at the game’s general treatment of women and that her design wasn’t given the same priorities that the male protagonists were.
– wincenworks