It’s official: More Lord of the Rings games are coming back

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North originally launched in 2011 and sends players to the northern reaches of Middle-earth with their own band of heroes. While the Fellowship of the Ring makes its way toward Mordor, the three protagonists Eradan, Andriel and Farin battle Agandaûr, an ally of Sauron. The action RPG features melee and ranged combat, different character classes and co-op, and has retained something of a cult following among Lord of the Rings fans to this day.

With the Legacy Edition, Aspyr has now unexpectedly brought the game back. What is particularly interesting, however, is what the publisher announces for the future in the accompanying press release. In it, the company describes War in the North – Legacy Edition as the first Lord of the Rings title published by Aspyr before teasing further releases of classic games from the franchise. Aspyr has yet to reveal which games it is referring to, how many re-releases are planned or when they might arrive.

There is certainly no shortage of promising candidates. IGN mentions The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and games from the Battle for Middle-earth series, among others. However, this is purely speculation – Aspyr itself has not confirmed any of these titles so far.

Fans particularly want Battle for Middle-earth to return

In a recent Reddit thread on the subject, the prospect of further re-releases has been met with enthusiasm. However, the game fans are requesting most often is the Battle for Middle-earth RTS series. A simple comment asking “Battle for middle earth?!?” received more than 600 upvotes, making it one of the most popular reactions in the thread. 64-bit support, higher frame rates and compatibility improvements for modern PCs are among the community’s most common requests. At the same time, some users point out that the old strategy games remain relatively playable today thanks to community mods.

Given the sheer number of Lord of the Rings games released over the years, it is hardly surprising that plenty of other titles are being mentioned as well. Among the most popular are EA classics such as The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Many players associate these games with memories of couch co-op on the PS2 and GameCube and would therefore like to see re-releases with modern online co-op. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, released in 2009, is also attracting plenty of support. Notably, many fans are not asking for full-scale remakes: Higher resolutions, stable performance, 60 fps, support for modern platforms and online features would apparently already be enough for many.

Whether these particular games can actually return remains uncertain, however. Complicated licensing issues could play a role, especially with the Lord of the Rings games previously published by EA. Aspyr has so far only confirmed that more releases are coming – which Lord of the Rings classics will actually return remains to be seen.