A new game based on Lord Of The Rings has been announced by long-time industry giant EA, but it isn't designed to appeal to so-called "core gamers."
lord of the rings trailer screencap
That's because the new LOTR game, according to EA, is only going to be released on mobile and will be free-to-play. According to GameRant, the game's official title will be Lord Of The Rings: Heroes Of Middle Earth. It will be a collaboration between EA and Middle-Earth Enterprises, which was announced recently by the latter's chief brand and licensing officer, Fredrica Drotos.
Drotos says that the game is taking sole inspiration from Middle-Earth as it is described by J.R.R. Tolkien in his original books. Aside from that, it will also reportedly have a "wider roster" of characters, which includes both LOTR and The Hobbit.
To cap things off, the game is also said to feature turn-based combat, competitive play modes, and "immersive storytelling" alongside battles from many Tolkien stories. But aside from that, no other detail was revealed - not even a vague release window.
Kotaku says that with these details, this new game will be the Tolkien-verse's version of Star Wars: Galaxy Of Heroes. This is incredibly fitting since the same developer, Capital Games, will also be helming the new Middle-Earth project. However, EA might be biting a bit more than they could chew by going the mobile-only, free-to-play route.
Free-to-play mobile games are quite infamous for being chock full of microtransactions that basically gatekeep you from making any significant progress. But this kind of business model is not something new to EA (they've been sued for it multiple times, for goodness' sake), so this isn't really a surprising decision from them.
There also seems to be a bit of the Diablo Immortal vibe to it, alluding to Activision Blizzard's terrible attempt at appealing to core gamers with a mobile game that people clearly weren't asking for:
For now, it remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself.
Read also: An Original Duke Nukem Forever Gameplay Build From 2001 Surfaces Online
The Best Lord Of The Rings Games To Try Before This One's Out
You can't be faulted for being excited for this new EA mobile game (if you are, good on you). So if you can't wait for it to come out, maybe you could whet your appetite with other great LOTR games for a start - courtesy of TheGamer and ScreenRant.
-
Lord Of The Rings Online: This MMORPG has been around since 2007 and still remains quite popular among fans. Its most recent expansion, War of Three Peaks, was only released in 2020. To this day, fans praise this game for its digital representation of the grand adventures described in Tolkien's universe.
-
Battle For Middle-Earth II: Rise Of The Witch King: The release of the movies got many fans curious about the Witch King of Angmar, and this RTS offers you a first-hand glimpse of just how important he is in this universe. It's also pretty well-reviewed, scoring 84% on Metacritic.
-
Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor: This game is basically what you get when Assassin's Creed and LOTR have a baby. It was hailed upon release for its excellent Nemesis system, though its only weakness was its sub-par story - which once again gets picked up by the beautiful visuals and excellent gameplay.
Related: Forza Horizon 6 Has Been Allegedly Leaked By Job Listing
Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce
