The Nemesis System: How games create stories

Sammanfattning: This paper analyzes the Nemesis System in Middle Earth: Shadow of War (2017) developed by Monolith Productions and explores the system’s way of creating stories. For years, there has been a debate about whether or not stories belong in games, with supporters on all sides. There are different ways to provide stories in games and in this study, the focus has been on game mechanics, emergent narrative, and interactive storytelling. These three elements are all common ways of creating stories in games. Formal Analysis is the main method used in this paper. This specific method often pairs well with smaller systems of larger games rather than an entire game, as it examines specific elements closely and explains them in detail. The game was played one time by each author and the system’s behavior was documented to be able to examine it fully. This analysis aims to provide knowledge of how stories in games can be created, and it focuses specifically on how the Nemesis System manages to do so using mechanics, interactive storytelling, and emergent narrative.