'Lord Of The Rings' Is Getting Its First True Open-World RPG

The Lord of the Rings has strongly influenced pop culture and fantasy storytelling, with an estimated 150 million copies sold. Many people encounter Middle-Earth through adaptations including animated films, Peter Jackson’s trilogy, concept albums, and crossovers such as Magic: The Gathering. Video games have also drawn from the franchise, often building on Jackson’s films. Warhorse Studios, known for Kingdom Come: Deliverance, has announced a new Lord of the Rings video game alongside its third KC:D installment. The new project is described as an open-world RPG, similar to Warhorse’s flagship style. Details remain limited, and the announcement follows leadership changes tied to other adaptations and projects.

"72 years after its publication, The Lord of the Rings has left a massive mark on pop culture. Essentially every popular work of fantasy, from A Song of Ice and Fire to The Wheel of Time, has taken immeasurable inspiration from Tolkien's 1954 masterwork, and its version of the Hero's Journey has paved the way for countless storytellers both in and out of high fantasy. With an estimated 150 million copies sold, it's easily one of the most widely read books of all time."

"Of course, many people's first exposure to The Lord of the Rings doesn't come from the page. There were animated movies in 1978 and 1980, there's Peter Jackson's earth-shatteringly successful trilogy, there are several Middle-Earth themed concept albums, and characters from the franchise even recently appeared in a Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond expansion. LotR has also been explored in a wide variety of video games, and while most of them build off the canon of Jackson's trilogy, a recently announced project could allow fans to explore Middle-Earth in a whole new way."

"Warner Bros. Pictures Warhorse Studios, the Czech video game developer responsible for the hugely acclaimed Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, has announced that they're working on a Lord of the Rings video game alongside the third KC:D installment. Details are extremely sparse, but the game was described as an open-world RPG, which is similar to their flagship original franchise. The announcement comes with a little irony, as the previous director of the KC:D games, Daniel Vávra, stepped down to develop a movie based on the series mere months before the announcement that Warhorse would be making a game based on what's arguably the best fantasy adaptation in history."

Read at Inverse