The Lord of the Rings: all new games in development

Middle-earth is coming back into the focus of game development studios more often. We collect here all Lord of the Rings titles that are currently in the making.

Middle-earth remains one of the most popular fantasy worlds of all time and there will probably always be a very loyal fan community that loves to dream themselves into this world full of hobbits, elves or dwarves every day. Where they can wander through the Shire, listen to songs about times gone by or explore impressive cities like Minas Tirith.

But we don”t always have to dream about it. The Lord of the Rings and his world have also always taken place in the form of video games. Recently, however, the fantasy realm from Tolkien”s pen has had a rather difficult time in this area and fans have had to be quite patient since the release of Shadow of War in 2017, as not much else has been released except for the mobile strategy game Rise to War.

Currently, however, there are several games in and around Middle-earth in development. We have gathered them all together in one place here to form the Community of Future Rings Games. The community of the best Rings games gathers here!

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Not too far away from release so far is still the stealth action game Gollum, developed by the German studio Daedalic. In fact, it has been close to release several times, but has been postponed again and again. Only the very wise among us know whether this is a good or a bad sign. For the time being, however, we are not too quick to pass a death sentence. Especially since Daedalic is a renowned studio that has played big in the past, especially in the area of story.

Whether they succeed in making an exciting protagonist out of an ambivalent character like Gollum remains to be seen. Our previews so far have not yet revealed a masterpiece, especially since Gollum is being released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, but hasn”t really knocked anyone out of their tattered loins. But perhaps behind that unassuming shell is a real … Honey.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

Completely unexpectedly, with Return to Moria in the year 2022, a survival game in Middle Earth was suddenly announced, in which it is some time after the destruction of the One Ring back to the dwarf kingdom of Moria, which Durin”s people once lost to the shadows. But now they are back, or rather you are. Because here you can build your own dwarf and explore the far-reaching halls of Khazad-dûm alone or with friends.

As crafting gifted dwarves, crafting is naturally at the top of your to-do list. You set to work with a pickaxe and collect all kinds of resources, which you then assemble into helpful tools or weapons in a forge. As Moria is still infested with shadows, you will need these weapons. After all, spiders or orcs lurk around every corner. We can only hope that Gandalf really has slain the Balrog of Moria.

Lord of the Rings game by Weta Interactive

Unfortunately, very little is known about one of the most exciting future games about Middle Earth. We don”t even know what genre it is supposed to be. Nevertheless, great hopes hang on this game. Especially because it is being developed by an extremely interesting studio. The game comes from Weta Workshop, which has created a new department for interactive media (i.e. games) especially for this purpose.

Who is Weta Workshop, you ask? It”s a New Zealand company that, among other things, was responsible for the special effects and props in Peter Jackson”s Rings trilogy. Here, for example, they produced many of the designs for armour, costumes, weapons or creatures that are still influential today. So these people know a lot about The Lord of the Rings and now they get the opportunity to create something of their own.

What it”s about, we don”t know. But it”s supposed to show us Middle-earth as we”ve never seen it before. Well, that doesn”t say much. We”re still curious.

The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-Earth

All right. Mobile games will probably not be completely absent in the future. Electronic Arts, of all people, is developing a Lord of the Rings game for the first time in a long time, only it won”t be for the PC, but for your smartphones. In Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth you collect well-known heroes such as Frodo, Sam, Gandalf or Arwen and then let them compete in turn-based strategy battles against Sauron”s henchmen. A few heroes from the expanded cosmos will also make an appearance.

How does all this fit into the story of Middle-earth? Probably not at all. The game is about as far from canon as you can get, and even introduces a new ring that we use to control all these unremarkable intricacies.

An as yet unknown Lord of the Rings game

The last game on this list is still so unknown that it hasn”t really been mentioned by name once. There”s been no announcement, no studio – nothing! But like Gandalf once did, we have ventured into the archives of Minas Tirith to find out more. In the process, the (Financial Reports of the Embracer Group) fell into our hands. And these are, as we know, the new owners of the games licence around The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.