The announcement that EA is developing a new game in the Lord of the Rings universe should actually be cause for celebration among game fans. After all, the publisher’s titles are considered very good, from the action-adventure The Return of the King to the strategy darling The Battle for Middle-earth:
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The best Lord of the Rings game is 16 years old and impossible to buy
But don’t rejoice too soon. Because yes, EA has announced that they will develop a new game about the One Ring together with the rights holder Middle-earth Enterprises. And yes, it’s even supposed to be a turn-based strategy game. What else can go wrong?
Free-to-play implementation for mobile devices
The answer: It only appears for mobile devices and relies on a free-to-play business model. In concrete terms, this means that you can probably play the basic version for free and will be asked to pay for additional content such as additional hero characters.
Particularly piquant: the small print hides the hint that the in-game purchases also contain random items. This smells strongly of the unpopular loot boxes.
What’s the matter? Not much is known about the game yet. One is silent about the plot within the framework of the official press release. Together with the responsible developer Capital Games, EA emphasizes how happy they are to finally be working on a game in the Middle-earth cosmos again.
Probably the most important statements for gameplay can be found in this quote from Fredrica Drotos, Chief Brand & Licensing Officer at Middle-earth Enterprises:
The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth will feature immersive storytelling, turn-based combat, deep gathering systems, and a wide cast of characters from across the vast universe of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Players battle through iconic stories from Tolkien’s world and take on the great evils of Middle-earth.
Incidentally, you can also take up the fight against the great evils in The Lord of the Rings Online for a short time now. The now 15-year-old MMO has made massive amounts of content available to free-to-play players for free:
The Lord of the Rings Online
The free content doubles in one fell swoop
Star Wars as a role model?
Even if the first gameplay is still a long way off, it’s worth taking a look at EA’s own portfolio to get a potential foretaste. Because with Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes there has been another free-to-play game in the app stores since 2015, which is reminiscent of the new Tolkien title with its extensive heroes.
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Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes – This is what the mobile game looks like in a galaxy far, far away
It is therefore quite possible that the developers are also based on Galaxy of Heroes in other respects. And after all: The Star Wars title currently comes with 4 out of 5 stars at android and 4.6 out of 5 stars in Apple’s App Store to very good reviews.
When is it coming out? A specific release date has not yet been announced. A beta phase is scheduled to start in some areas in summer 2022.
What do you think of the new The Lord of the Rings game? Top, flop or just wait and see? Write us your opinion in the comments!
