In case you were unaware, spin-off action-RPG The Lord of the Rings: War in the North just got a nice new re-release from Aspyr, making it playable on contemporary hardware. Now, Aspyr shares that more Lord of the Rings game remakes are coming, and boy, oh boy, am I ready to replay The Third Age.
War in the North's arrival came as something of a surprise, without much pre-release buzz or discussion. Even more surprising is a tease of what's to come, hidden in the publicity for the adventure game.
"Fans can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr from the beloved [Lord of the Rings] franchise in the future!" the press release for War in the North says. "More classic releases," you say? "In the future," you say!? I would like to hear more, please.
I probably won't for some time, but that sounds quite exciting, indeed. We've had a lot of games concerning the One Ring, and the Fellowship, and all that. The most notable of these games are the movie tie-ins for Return of the King and The Two Towers, plus the Battle for Middle-earth strategy games, all of which would be easy money if they suddenly became available again. A glut of these Lord of the Rings games are currently inaccessible due to licenses running out, or other preventative hurdles.
You also have the action-adventure games based on The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring – the latter being unrelated to the other adaptations of the trilogy, because it's based on the book rather than the film – and The Third Age.
Now, listen, if you haven't played The Third Age, let me pitch you: Final Fantasy, but it's The Lord of the Rings. That's it. Sounds cool, right? Well it is, mostly. It doesn't have the depth of a Final Fantasy entry from the same era, but there's still plenty of charm.
Other obvious candidates for remake include The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 from the Super Nintendo, and Conquest, Middle-earth's answer to Star Wars: Battlefront. We'll see what emerges, but Aspyr can't lose here. It's all precious, really.
