[GameSpot] - All The Lord Of The Rings Games On The Way

[343iBot]

The Lord of the Rings video games are having a mini-renaissance. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum released today, May 25, and there are at least four more Lord of the Rings games in development set for release over the coming years.

LOTR: Gollum isn't getting great reviews, so fans might be looking to the future to find out what's coming next in the world of Middle-earth video games. We've rounded up all of the games that have been announced so far, and there are quite a few on the way. There is a new game from Lord of the Rings movie studio Weta's gaming division, a survival game about dwarves in Moria, and a new MMO from Amazon, among other projects.

You can see a rundown of all the Lord of the Rings games in the works below. These games are being made under the banner of Embracer Group, which now owns Middle-earth Enterprises. If movies are more your thing, there are plenty of new Lord of the Rings movies in the works, too.

Lord of the Rings: Gollum – Out Now

From German developer Daedalic, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum focuses on the little gremlin Gollum. He's chasing his precious, the One Ring, in a stealth game that takes players into Mordor and a number of other Middle-earth locations. Players can make choices to embrace Gollum's dark side or lean more into his gentle side of Smeagol.

Unfortunately, the game is getting very bad reviews. Some reviews have said fans might want to wait for patches. The game is out now for PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A Switch version is coming later this year.

The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth – Out Now

Released on May 10, Heroes of the Middle-earth is a mobile game from EA and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes developer Capital Games. The game lets players journey through some of The Lord of the Rings saga's most iconic scenes--from meeting the elves of Rivendell to the fight against the Nazgul at Weathertop--through story-based missions spanning the entire franchise. Orcs, trolls, and more can be fought with teams made up of LOTR's most famous faces. Gandalf the Grey and Frodo Baggins are among the playable characters.

Untitled Weta game – TBA

Weta, the effects studio that worked on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings series, has a video game division, too, and it's working on a Lord of the Ring game. Very little about the game is known, but it's confirmed that it will be based on Tolkien's literary works. The studio will have the "broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books," publisher Private Division said as part of the game's announcement in 2022. The game is set for release during Take-Two's fiscal year 2024, which means it should launch before April 1, 2024.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria – TBA

An action-adventure survival game, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is in development at Free Range Games, which assisted with the development of The Callisto Protocol. The game takes place in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth (after the events of the movies) and has players controlling a company of dwarves who are trying to reclaim treasure from Moria. The game takes place in a procedurally generated world, and Free Range says no two instances will be the same. The game supports solo play and co-op. There is no release date yet for Return to Moria.

The Lord of the Rings MMO from Amazon – TBA

The last upcoming Lord of the Rings game that we know about is Amazon Games' new Lord of the Rings MMO from its Orange County, California developer. If this sounds familiar, it's because Amazon Games previously had a deal to make a Lord of the Rings MMO with Leyou, but it fell apart due to a contract issue. Amazon Games is now trying again and will develop the game internally this time.

Amazon's new Lord of the Rings MMO will enter a market that already has a popular and established Lord of the Rings MMO. Standing Stone's Lord of the Rings Online is still out there and getting new updates. The company is unfazed by Amazon's announcement.

Amazon is trying again with another LOTR MMO

Amazon's game will be an "open-world MMO adventure" set in a persistent world in Middle-earth. It will be based specifically on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings literary trilogy, not the films or other adaptations that have come to fruition over the years. It's also not connected to or associated with Amazon's The Rings of Power TV series.

View the full article