Middle-earth: Shadow of War lays out free content schedule

With Star Wars: Battlefront 2 taking all the current flak for having loot boxes, it's a good time for fellow loot box controversy candidate Middle-earth: Shadow of War to detail all of its upcoming freebies.

Alongside the three DLCs coming as part of Shadow of War's season pass, various new features will be implemented for free over the next few weeks.

First up are Endless Sieges, which as previously announced arrive on 21st November.

Another free addition, "Rebellion", arrives on the same date. "Crush the rebel Ologs and Uruks in your forces as they seek to undermine the Bright Lord," publisher Warner Bros. describes.

Finally, 21st November also brings an enhanced photo mode with "new filters, frames and textures" to make every screenshot preciousss.

Into December, Online Fight Pits open on the 5th. "Challenge another player's Orc follower, Overlord vs Overlord, to a fight to the death in the arena to earn powerful rewards and upgrades," the press release describes.

Lastly, Brutal Difficulty, which unlocks on 12th December. A tougher challenge than the current Nemesis mode, it offers "no last chances".

Shadow of War had a bumpy road to launch, with an outcry over its own loot box mechanics - which, while in a single-player game so different to Battlefront 2, were still questioned by fans for being necessary at all. Then there was the poorly-handled release of a tribute to a Monolith employee.

Back in September I spoke at length with Shadow of War design director Bob Roberts to discuss the thorny topic of loot boxes in Monolith's game.