Every time I hear that we are getting a recent game based on the Lord of the RingsIN I experience a brief moment of excitement, which inevitably occurs a sense of approaching destruction. Despite the multitude of opulent knowledge from which you can draw (and built -in fans base who are ready to try almost every game based on their love for franchise), the last games in the world of Tolkien were painfully brief.
Between a badly received adventure game GallumPoorly received LOTR survival game Return to Moriaand a poorly received cozy game Tales of the ShireIt was tough for Lord of the Ring Games.
But things were not always like that.
Video games based on Lord of the Rings have existed to some extent since 1982, along with the release of Beam software Hobbit, But there was an raise in popularity after the release of Jackson’s films in 2000. Games based on licensed real estate are usually … well, you know how they usually are. But in general, Lord of the Rings Games was quite solid! Action games based on Two towers AND Return of the king The films were legally comical (and faithful to the source material). MMO Lord of the Rings Online Hearts and minds captured for a decade. Lord of the Rings: the third centuryDespite the fact that it is both a final fantasy clone and a licensed game, there is an RPG game in the pantheon. This passage of releases, some are missing-they were lacked for mid-2010, when he probably reached the summit.
In 2014, WB games released Middle -earth: Shadow of MordorA lawyer title from the third person developed by Behavior Interactive and the currently non -existent Monolith Productions. No game is perfect, but Shadow of Mordor There was a hellish fun and the best Lotr game I have ever played. It is not just that it was narrative attractive and looked great. A huge part of what made the gameplay so intriguing, was the patented NEMESIS WB Games system, which completely changed the way the player’s interaction was interacted.
IN Shadow of Mordor (and its continuation 2017, Middle -earth: Shadow of War), the enemies were not there just to fight, plunder and disappear in the ether. The Nemesis system has changed Uruk enemies to the game WO Much more than just a sponge. Most of the uruków was unique, each with their own name, design and personality. In addition, they remembered the player’s activities. Uruk, who had killed you earlier, can laugh at you next time you come up with it. If you run away from a combat meeting, the enemy would indicate your cowardice. Some Uruk will be created from the dead after they were killed and hunted for a player in search of revenge. (Uruks became stronger after the uprising of the dead, making these rematch quite a challenge.) Players could even transform Uruks into their case, using them for recovery or backup in the battle.
But later Shadow of War, It was quite peaceful from the front of the Lotr game. Then in March 2019 Daedalic Entertainment announced it Lord of the Rings: Gollum was in production, set to release 2021. Sure, nobody he asked In the adventure game, in which players played the role of teenage Smegol, but the premise was intriguing enough, and the chance to give Gollum a valuable time in the spotlight through the story of history did not seem the worst idea.
In May 2023 Gallum Launched to a string in Universal law. Both players and critics complained about the errors causing the game, indigent graphics, disappointing history and an unpleasant transition. The studio standing behind the game, Daedalic Entertainment, was closed in June.
Here we are two years later and Tales of the Shire Gains quite similar treatment. Reviews They had medium. Players (including me) are largely rejected by the style of play of the game, flat environments, a plate loop and lifeless history. (Its user reviews are currently “mixed” on Steam). But differently than Gallumwhich was created by a studio known mainly for the adventure of a point and closing, Tales of the Shire It was created by Working Gaming Division of Wetda – a studio that worked on special effects for the extremely successful films of Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings. If someone knows what Middle -earth should look and feel, it’s a veto workshop. So how did the studio miss the sign so deeply?
As described in detail in the report The Vergewho talked with a dozen or so people familiar Tales of the ShireProduction, the answer to this question is similar to the answer: “Why did it happen Gallum Should be so bad? “
In brief: improper studio management.
Like employees of the already closed Daedalic entertainment, the current workshop developers say Tales of the ShireThe development was even nightmare. Financing problems, crisis, unjustified terms, corporate interference and constant changes both in the direction and leadership led to low morale among programmers, which ultimately results in another flat, lifeless Lotr game, which made players scratch their heads. Gallum He suffered the same fate for The same exact reasons.
One might think that the ingredients of the good Lord of the Rings game would be plain: an attractive concept, a comical game loop and an thrilling team of programmers who know the source material well. But Wetda’s workshops had all these ingredients and still missed. When people who for the first time helped to revive the world of Tolkien on the silver screen, cannot successfully revive it on a compact screen, something is really wrong.
Like creators Gallum AND Tales of the shire, Developers from Monolith Productions also had to get out of their comfort zone when they made Shadow of Mordor. It was the first game in the studio in the open world and its first title to utilize the perspective of a third person. Used the above -mentioned Nemesis system, which was created especially for Shadow of Mordor And he has never been used before. The game was built in just three years, and players loved it.
So what stops us from getting more good rings games? Although, of course, this is due to a wide range of factors, I personally think that it is largely because of one of the things that stop us from getting more good games: trust, or rather their lack.
Good games require a work environment that gives programmers a place to breathe, allows them to think freely outside the box and trust them the task. In this way, you finish amazing mechanics, such as the NEMESES system (from which other studies will eventually be able to utilize when his patent expires in 2036). But when your developers are exhausted, frustrated by constant changes at the last minute in the direction, mourning the loss of dismissed colleagues, worrying about their studio or publisher, and wondering if they will receive the payment of what was initially promised at all, trying to meet the impossible terms, you get such games Gallum AND Tales of the Shire.
Of course, this is not the end of the Lord of the Rings Games line. According to the statements of Workshop Devs, the next game in the studio is also the title of Lord of the Rings. The game is called the code “Earth”, it is supposedly Roguelike, which derives inspiration from Baldur’s Gate and Diablo. Meanwhile, Amazon is now Work on the Lord of the MMO RingsAlthough the streaming giant – which has recently concentrated in the world of video games – admits that he is still looking for the right “hook” of the game.
Maybe it will be amazing. I really hope it is. But given the current state of the industry, everything I can think about when I hear “New Lord of the Rings Game” is a quote from Eomer Two towers Film: “Don’t trust hope. He abandoned these lands.”
