My FAVORITE Lord of the Rings game just got a new port!

Gaming 🎮
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AMAZING NEWS!

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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North just got released again on PS4/PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, and Steam/GOG! Only $18 on Steam/GOG, I just grabbed both like an insane person.
This is a wonderful Diablo-lite developed by Snowblind Studios using an evolution of the same Snowblind engine used in the Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance & Champions of Norrath games!
The game was de-listed some years ago and completely inaccessible to anyone who didn’t already have it on Steam or a physical used old-gen console copy. Seeing the game just straight-up get re-released with online co-op still in tact without a 2026 price tag attached is wonderful news.

I had just started a new playthrough earlier this year, but I guess I’m starting from scratch with this new version. I’m SO stoked.
I have the game on Steam and play there, but I had been holding onto my Xbox 360 copy just because the game got de-listed and I wanted a physical manifestation of the game - and a “just in case” copy.

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But now that it’s on GOG, too, I’ll just make my own physical copy of that and finally remove this copy from my shelf.

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Interestingly, the trailer and store pages do not mention any updates, upgrades, or improvements whatsoever meanwhile it requires a 25GB download while the original Steam copy is just at 7.19GB. It’s likely just uncompressed assets, but there’s a chance they’re higher res? Regardless the game honestly looked fine as it was, so that’s not a priority.

I’m so excited! Games just being made available again and preserved is the BEST possible outcome, moreso than any remake or remaster. More of this, game studios!!!

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I’ve owned this game on Steam for ages, but haven’t tried playing it since 2013 or so. I wonder if I should just go for the version I already own or spend the money on this hmmm.

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I was originally thinking there wouldn’t be a point, but apparently there’s some substantial QoL changes that make this the best version to play!
For example: You can control and switch between all 3 characters in the new version, whereas you were stuck with your one character in the original. None of this is advertised, it’s WILD.

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Ohhh that’s really nice. I was just playing yesterday and wishing it had that. It’s an Aspyr port so I’m still skeptical about it though, but dang that is a great feature…

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Had bad luck with Aspyr ports in the past?
Played about an hour so far today. Switching characters is nice. Lock on is nice. Otherwise it’s the same game; looks and runs the same.

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ohhhhh yes, their star wars and recent tomb raider ports are infamous haha. that’s great to hear though! lock on sounds lovely

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Despite being a huge LOTR fan, I’ve never actually played this one! The most I’ve seen of it was years ago back at university when I saw my housemate playing it briefly.

A friend of mine is also a huge LOTR fan and hasn’t properly played it either, and this new release still has online co-op? Sounds like he and I might be in for a playthrough!

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Yep! Online co-op returns! Haven’t tried it yet but stoked to. They even have horde mode challenge levels mostly meant for co-op squads too

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Heads up to any DekuDeals users. They are doing a giveaway for the Switch 2 version of this game.

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Ooooh! Sick! I’m still enjoying my time with it. Not the most polished game, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Wrapping up chapter 5 tomorrow. Getting to see Mirkwood and Elrond’s home and such has been a treat.

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Just wrapped on the game. What an utter joy to have played it over the past week.
Here’s the review I posted to Steam/Backloggd:

Oh man, WHAT A GAME! This was one of my old-school favorites that I had started revisiting back in January, but hadn’t made any progress in yet. Quite the surprise when they dropped a re-release out of nowhere. Even better, this release has some quality of life fixes that aren’t clearly advertised, primarily being able to swap between all three characters during your play!

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This isn’t really a remaster, as the visuals remain untouched, but just a re-release after the old one’s been delisted for 7 years, with working online co-op!

I had a blast playing through this over the past week. This is prime Xbox 360/PS3 era singleplayer gaming right here. Hacking and slashing and minimal parrying to be found. Cool cutscenes, lots of great LOTR lore, too! Was wonderful seeing Rivendell and Mirkwood – especially after reading The Hobbit with my kiddo back in the springtime.

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The visuals are dated, but I did not feel that detracted from my experiences whatsoever, the sights were still wonderful. And the MUSIC! Ugh, beautiful, eerie at times, daunting at others. And the voice acting cast is PACKED full of big names: Laura Bailey, Steve Blum, Jennifer Hale, the late Tom Kane, Nolan North, Jen Taylor, Liam O’Brien and more! Stellar cast selling some solid performances and surprise appearances.

This game does a phenomenal job of making you feel like you’re really IN a war for Middle-Earth and making an impact.

There’s a LOT of bugs, though. I encountered an area where it felt like I was hard-locked against proceeding, even beyond multiple re-loads, only to find there was an orc hiding around the corner beyond my progression wall that needed to come through and be killed first. Items will randomly appear in my inventories after selling everything without reason, Eradan would randomly unequip all of his armor, etc. – but none of it game-breaking and very “of the era” levels of jank.

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This game is like a blend between a Diablo-lite, Dragon Age I/II, with obvious nods to Gears of War with the turret sections and God of War with some of the boss takedowns. I loved every minute of it, from slaying orcs and trolls to rescuing elves, negotating with dragons, flying on eagles, and getting wrapped up by spiders in Mirkwood.

Snowblind’s old engine here SOARS in so many ways, this was such an impressive step up over the Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance games’ version of the engine – I wish we got more games in these engines.

Aspyr have announced that other LOTR games are coming from them, as well, which is exciting – I do wish we’d get some updated ports of Snowblind’s other games (namely Champions of Norrath/Return to Arms), though!

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Forgot to mention: Ran out of box on CachyOS without issue.

Also it has two levels that provide a horde mode challenge arena for online co-op squads!

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Review is done!

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Played it in co-op last year I think, I remember the graphics being really nice. For bugs, we got a few crashes (and lost items, since it re-rolls the drops on reloaded saves), the orc that didn’t show up at the barrier and a couple of times the objective simply vanished/didn’t trigger so we reloaded again. Big fan of keeping games available.
Currently playing through Champions: Return to Arms and the 2 spell limit hurts, it’s in dire need of keyboard support, I had to get creative with ReWasd to cast all the aura buffs

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