Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System was patented by Warner and therefore did not appear in any more games

The reason you did not experience the Nemesis system of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War in other games is because Warner Bros. patented it.

The patent contains details about the Nemesis system built for both games and was found by Game Maker’s Toolkit and discussed in the latest video you can see below (thanks, PSU).

If you are unfamiliar with the Nemesis system, it basically uses memory techniques, which means that the game can remember actions performed that become part of the narrative. In turn, enemies in the game will remember what you did, the more you get in touch with them.

In Middle-earth games, the abilities of the orc bosses you kill will be transferred to another orc. But if you die in the place of your enemy, the orc may be able to rise up in the ranks with new abilities and come after you again. Orcs will also fight each other to stand up in the ranks.

And because it’s patented, we’ll probably never see anything exactly like it does in other games. Maybe something similar, but not the exact system. For now, the assassination system of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the closest to it.

As RPS has pointed out, this is not the only system patented by a game maker. Bioware has patented its dialogue wheel and Take-Two has filed a patent related to AI navigation developed by Rockstar.