Following a big update for the PlayStation 4 version of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor earlier this week (which suggests the next piece of DLC is close), developer Monolith detailed the upcoming downloadable content, titled The Bright Lord.

Starring Celebrimbor, The Bright Lord takes you back thousands of years to where he has stolen the One Ring and is battling Sauron.

Design Director Michael de Plater spoke to Polygon about the new DLC, explaining that, while Celebrimbor uses similar powers to Talion, they are both quite different:

Celebrimbor is more powerful, more agile, but also more fragile – more of a glass cannon. The enemies are also much more numerous and powerful. It’s definitely a challenge. In terms of specific skills and playstyle, it’s balanced so that you really need to use your domination skills, the One Ring, and your improved archery skills to succeed.

Expanding on those enemies, he says elite orcs and warchiefs can now reach up to level 25, while you’ll also face Sauron, who has the ability to turn your followers against you.

In a separate interview with GameSpot, de Plater talked about how the final showdown in The Bright Lord will make up for the anticlimactic in Shadow of Mordor:

We really wanted to create the most epic, momentous final boss fight that we possibly could. We wanted to create a crafted boss fight that players get through the Nemesis system, to make up for the final boss fight against the Black Hand, which wasn’t so momentous. This is our attempt to revisit that and have another try and do the best we possibly can at creating an epic finale.

Taking place in the valley of Udum – but with a different look and feel – The Bright Lord includes 10 new missions, as well as a new challenge mode that offers the ability to get level 30 runes and to unlock Celebrimbor for use in the main campaign.

“Coming out soon,” The Bright Lord doesn’t yet have a standalone price, though it is included with the Season Pass.

de Plater wasn’t able to comment on whether this is the last piece of DLC, or if Monolith is working on a sequel.

[Source: Polygon, GameSpot, PlayStation Trophies]