Summary

  • The Lord of the Rings franchise is diving into various genres with new video game releases made by different developers.
  • Embracer Group's acquisition of the IP rights has led to a diverse range of Lord of the Rings games, from survival-crafting to life-sim.
  • While genre diversity is intriguing, the series shines best in open-world action-adventures that capture its epic and large-scale nature, and it should return to that format soon.

The Lord of the Rings franchise has been around for almost 90 years now, and it's remained one of the most popular fantasy franchises in the Western world for that entire duration. It's only natural, then, that The Lord of the Rings has plenty of video game adaptations under its belt. Though it's only the same handful that are talked about time and time again, with those being the Two Towers and Return of the King movie tie-in games, the LEGO Lord of the Rings game, the Battle for Middle-earth series, and the most recent additions to this exclusive list, the Middle-earth: Shadow duology.

But there have been quite a few Lord of the Rings games released since Middle-earth: Shadow of War back in 2017, they just haven't been remembered too fondly. Back in August 2022, the controversial Embracer Group acquired the IP rights to make Lord of the Rings video games, and after it was revealed that the company spent almost $400 million on doing so, its board member Matthew Karch stated that the company needed to "exploit" the franchise as much as possible. This seems to be responsible for The Lord of the Rings' new video game approach, which is seeing the release of games from a variety of different genres. While it's an intriguing approach, it hopefully won't be all the series has to offer.

Lord of the Rings Video Games Need to Return to Their Rightful Place Eventually

Genre Diversity Is Far From a Bad Thing for Lord of the Rings Games

Since Embracer Group's acquisition of The Lord of the Rings back in 2022, there have been several new Lord of the Rings video game releases, all of which have come from different developers, and all of which have adopted a different genre. The most infamous release was last year's Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a game that had technically been in development for years before Embracer acquired the IP rights. While Gollum was a buggy mess that was reviewed horrifically, its adoption of the stealth genre was intriguing, though obviously, its execution left a lot to be desired.

In October of last year, another Lord of the Rings game released. Titled Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, this survival-crafting game saw players head into the titular dwarven mine with their friends to reclaim it from the darkness that had haunted it during the War of the Ring. Again, Return to Moria was far from a perfect game, but it took the franchise in another new direction.

The same will likely be said for Tales of the Shire, an upcoming cozy life-sim game that sees players take control of a custom Hobbit as they cook meals, harvest crops, and turn the town of Bywater into a bustling village. Though The Lord of the Rings is yet to have a win on the same level as Shadow of Mordor, it is interesting to see the franchise adopt so many different genres, ensuring that the property caters to as wide of an audience as possible.

Lord of the Rings' True Video Game Home Is Undeniable

But while all of these different types of Lord of the Rings games are fun to see, there's no denying that the series is at its best when it leans more into the large-scale nature of the source material. At its core, The Lord of the Rings is a fantasy epic, where even its smallest-scale adventures involve multiple factions, armies of characters, and a wealth of sprawling settings. It's only natural that such an epic series warrants more larger-scale video game adaptations, and big-budget open-world action-adventures seem to be the best fit.

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The Lord of the Rings
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Created by
J. R. R. Tolkien
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The Lord of the Rings is one of the most iconic names in entertainment. The franchise started with novels from J. R. R. Tolkien before being adapted onto the big screen by Peter Jackson in one of the most critically-acclaimed film trilogies of all time. There have also been numerous The Lord of the Rings video games of varying quality. 

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