Amazon Prime subscribers can claim up to three free Lord of the Rings games in a new Prime Gaming offer hyping up The Rings of Power season 2. All of them are pretty good, but I suspect many people won't be able or eager to play one of them.
The freebies are: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Lego The Lord of the Rings, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Shadow of Mordor and Lego LOTR can both be claimed via GOG for easy access, but Shadow of War is exclusive to Amazon's Luna game streaming service, which is separate from Prime. With Rings of Power season 2 streaming on Prime, most viewers will have easy access to these Prime Gaming GOG codes, but Luna is another, less popular, and more region-specific story.
"Prime members in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Poland can play Middle-earth: Shadow of War via the Prime Gaming offer starting today," a press release clarifies. Shadow of Mordor is also notably unavailable in Japan and South Korea.
Lego The Lord of the Rings is exactly what it sounds like: a predictably blocky and enjoyable co-op adventure with kid-friendly action and all-ages fun. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the better open-world stab-'em-ups of the 2010s, best known for introducing us to the criminally underutilized Nemesis System that turned somehow random enemy orcs into some of the most compelling video game villains of all time through enduring and unpredictable twists.
Shadow of War, of course, is the sequel to Shadow of Mordor, but while it is a bit prettier and more refined, it follows the playbook of the original game extremely closely, to the point that if you've played the first one you've practically played them both. If you find yourself wanting more of that experience, it's a good time, and the Nemesis System at least is a master of surprise. Just don't expect a dramatic upgrade.
Amazon's Lord of the Rings MMO, meanwhile, is "still early" in development. Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann says the project is still seeking that thing "which is different to all the other games out there."
