Best Lord of the Rings Games With Original Stories, Ranked

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was published in 1954 and created a new wave of fantasy fans within the book community. This then led to cartoons, movies, shows, and, of course, video games. Most of the video games are based on the movies or books in some way, but there have been some games over the years that were more ambitious.

The Lord of the Rings, and all of its accompanying appendices and stories, helped inspire the following video games. They will be ranked based on their overall quality and not just based on their individual stories or action setups.

6 The Lord Of The Rings Online

An Expansive MMO

The Lord of the Rings Online launched in 2007, and the MMO has been going strong ever since. The current model is free to play for a basic setup, but there are expansions, and The Lord Of The Rings Online even runs on a Steam Deck. Since the launch version, a lot of content has been added or tweaked, but the core gameplay remains the same. Players can make their character using different visuals, races, and classes to build their hero.

They will go on quests in areas for NPCs from the books and films, but there is no grand overarching plot equivalent to the main story. That is to say, players will not be replacing the core heroes like Aragorn and Frodo. Still, as a solo or multiplayer MMO, players will get to level up and customize their hero, fight in typical battles with cooldown skills, and explore a rich world expanded from the source material. The only issue is that The Lord of the Rings Online has never been ported to consoles.

5 The Lord Of The Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2

An RTS Worthy Of The Name

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2 is more of the same at its core, but also a bigger game overall. Players will still be able to choose a side, good or evil, from the start and begin a quest following canonical events from the films and expanded books never seen in a game before, or they can be evil and see what Middle-earth would be like if Sauron won. For example, the good campaign focuses a lot on the northern areas of the map during the main story, expanding and tweaking the lore to fit a video game setting better.

No matter what side players choose, they will go through a linear series of battles wherein they can build structures to support their army and then send out squads to scout or to wage war. It’s a typical RTS gameplay loop, but it makes a lot of sense within The Lord of the Rings universe. The best part of combat is initializing a power-up to turn the tides of battle, like summoning a Balrog to the battlefield. With different campaigns, modes, and ways to customize the experience, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth 2 was one RTS that worked on both consoles and PC systems.

4 The Lord Of The Rings: Conquest

Conquering Middle-earth One Map At A Time

The Lord of the Rings: Conquest was like a spinoff to the Star Wars: Battlefront games, and they were even developed by the same team: Pandemic Studios. In each battle, players could choose random characters and get to take on the role of more impressive ones like Gandalf or Sauron. Characters could attack with swords, use magic, shoot bows, and so on, all while trying to conquer points on a map.

The campaign could be waged on either side of the conflict, with the good campaign being more canonized and the evil campaign being the draw for longtime fans of The Lord of the Rings. Taking over the Shire and commanding armies of orcs was a thrill. While short, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest provided a great multiplayer experience, whether players were online or teaming up on the couch together. Unlike the Star Wars: Battlefront games, this spinoff was less successful and didn’t lead to any sequels, and finding it now is tricky.

3 The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age

The Lord Of Turn-Based RPGs

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age was sort of a spinoff to the films, or at least it was made thanks to the success of the game adaptations published by EA, like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, along with Final Fantasy 10 dominating the PS2. There are even cutscenes from the movie in this game as it takes place alongside the main events with Berethor, a soldier of Gondor, chasing after Boromir. Players found allies on their quest along the way, from dwarves to elves, and combat was fought in turn-based battles.

Players could choose attacks, skills, items, and so on, and the overall design looked a lot like Final Fantasy 10 in a positive way. The difficulty could spike at times, but never in any major, severe ways, and the dungeons were simple in design, along with the story following familiar notes to the books and movies. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age may not appear on any best-of lists for PS2 RPG masterpieces, but it is certainly a hidden gem that more players would have enjoyed back in the day had they given it a chance.

2 The Lord Of The Rings: War In The North

Three-Player Co-Op For The Win

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is perhaps one of the greatest and most underrated games of the PS3 generation. It’s another game adaptation taking place between the major films/books, following three heroes on a quest to defeat the Witch-king of Angmar. Eradan is a human Ranger, Farin is a dwarf warrior, and Andriel is an elf with magical skills. Players could be any one of the three characters, with the other two being controlled by AI. Ideally, the game was best experienced during co-op, as the AI was not always the best.

Along the way, players would encounter familiar faces and places, like Aragorn and Rivendell. Each character also has strengths and weaknesses, like Eradan being the most balanced, Farin being the stronger fighter, and Andriel’s magic having a good reach and supportive range. Characters will level up, giving players the ability to get skills and increase stats like in many action RPGs. Also, this is a loot-based game with plenty to equip and sell in-between missions. As a solo game, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is decent, but as a full-on three-player co-op experience, it was one of the best of the PS3 generation.

1 Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor

A New Age Has Dawned

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the crown jewel of games based on The Lord of the Rings, with its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, coming in at a close second. The quality and ambition are far and above greater than any game that came before it, or since. The game is set before the first book and follows Talion, a Ranger, who witnesses his family being murdered, along with dying himself. He is revived by Celebrimbor, the ghost of the high elf who helped forge the Rings of Power. Also, it ultimately takes place before The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Together, they seek vengeance on the orcs of Mordor, taking place entirely in this region, which is devoid of human activity for the most part. Players are given an open world to explore, wherein they can hack and slash orcs out in the open or be more stealthy. With Celebrimbor’s powers, players will learn more than a few slashes and bow attacks, and players will need every ounce of power they can muster to take down the orc armies. The collect feature of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is the Nemesis system, which has enemies remember acts done upon them. It’s a dynamic enemy system that the developer, Monolith Productions, created, and it is the biggest reason why the game was so successful. More so than that, it was just a fun power fantasy taking place within a familiar property.