Shadow of War’s Orc-Slayer is homage to developer who passed away

Update: Many have brought to our attention that the donations per purchase to the DLC are limited to the U.S. only, “excluding purchases made from AL, HI, IL, MA, MS and SC,” and that these purchases will not be tax deductible. This, of course, means that anyone buying from anywhere else in the world or these six states will unfortunately not be helping out Forgey's family in the process. To me, this seems like a bizarre limitation but one well worth keeping in mind when considering this DLC.

Last year, Monolith’s executive producer Michael Forgey lost his battle to cancer at just 43-years-old. In his memory, the Shadow of War developer has modelled a special DLC character after him, with proceeds from buying Forthog the Orc-Slayer donated to his family.

This DLC is steeped in Forgey’s memory, embracing his love of music in the form of the Forhog’s guitar-axe hybrid weapon, as well as his title of Orc-Slayer coming directly from Forgey’s band comprised of other Monolith staff.

Beyond the song which was written and performed by Forgey, the trailer above was created by Monolith staff to represent what he stood for, with director of art Phil Straub explaining the smirk at the end as Forthog charges into battle against a number of enemies. “He’s basically heading off to the promised land,” Straub said. “He’s embracing that.”

As Forgey was married with three kids, Monolith banded with WB Games to treat his family as their own, creating this content to specifically donate $3.50 of every purchase to them up until 31st December 2019. It’s worth noting that the song featured in the trailer, Back Home is featured on and named after Forgey’s last album in which proceeds also help the family.

Forthog is dubbed “Mysterious Saviour” and acts similar to that of the Mysterious Stranger in the Fallout series, coming in at random intervals to one-hit kill targets and therefore help the Ranger albeit momentarily.

The Forthog Orc-Slayer DLC is pre-purchasable from the Steam store and Xbox One, and will eventually be available to those on PS4 when the game releases on October 10th.

KitGuru Says: Since this is no ordinary DLC, the stigma the weighs the term down can be cast aside just this once to reveal the thought and warmth that has gone into the content for fans, the developers and his family alike. I, for one, would like to have considered buying this DLC for that reason, however I'm not included in the States where this is applicable. What do you think about Monolith’s gesture?

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