Batman game that later turned into Shadow of Mordor uploaded online

Remember Monolith Productions, creators of the Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor games? Turns out that before the studio started development on Shadow of Mordor and its unique Nemesis system, it was working on a new Batman game where Monolith first tested this system.

Now after almost a decade since Shadow of Mordor's release, video assets and images from the long-cancelled project have finally surfaced online. The details on the project come courtesy of X user @Dageekydude. Surprisingly, the game was supposed to be set within the Nolanverse.

While details on the project are limited, the clips shared by @Dageekydude give a good look at the early concepts and how the gameplay for Monolith's Batman game was shaping up to be.

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Dubbed Project Apollo, ideas from Monolith Productions' Batman game eventually paved the way for the Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor

The game was internally dubbed Project Apollo and was designed as an open-world Batman game akin to Rocksteady Studios' Batman Arkham titles. The clips shared by @Dageekydude show an open-world Gotham City that's highly reminiscent of the Arkham games, down to the same verticality present in later Arkham titles.

However, the open world for Project Apollo featured a darker and moody tone, perhaps in an attempt to make it feel like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. Additionally, the game featured robust stealth mechanics, with a custom gadget loadout as well as dedicated detective sequences.

These detective sequences do feel quite reminiscent of the investigation missions in 2021's Gotham Knights by WB Montreal. Lastly, Project Apollo would've marked the debut of the Nemesis system, which was also meant to be the distinguishing factor between Monolith's game and the Arkham series.

The Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor is easily the most innovative and unique gameplay mechanic in any modern open-world game, wherein after every encounter, enemies retain the memory of the battle and come back more powerful and often with defensive measures against the method they were taken down the first time around.

The Nemesis system was further iterated upon in Shadow of Mordor's sequel, Shadow of War, in 2018 but has yet to return in any other WB Games title. Monolith is currently working on a Wonder Woman game, which was announced during The Game Awards 2021 but yet to get a confirmed release date.