The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest fantasy stories ever told, and Warhorse Studios taking on Tolkien’s lore and turning it into a sprawling open-world Middle-earth RPG sounds like a match made in heaven. This news is especially exciting, considering how hard it has been to be a Lord of the Rings fan lately. From 2023’s ill-fated Gollum game to Rings of Power tweaking the lore into something that closer resembles fan fiction than a faithful adaptation, The Lord of the Rings is in need of a win.
Despite the issues that have faced the franchise, there are at least a few silver linings. Smaller things like the Minas Tirith LEGO set are fun extras to add to one’s Lord of the Rings collection, but Warhorse’s confirmed Middle-earth RPG is one of the most exciting announcements to come from the IP in a long time. After the success of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, Warhorse has a chance to prove itself as the perfect developer to adapt Tolkien’s lore.
Warhorse’s Lord of the Rings RPG Can Make Up for The Rings of Power’s Lore Missteps
Since The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age, the series has condensed the timeline and made a lot of major changes to key characters and their motives. For a series that’s as beloved as The Lord of the Rings books, this was a massive risk on Amazon Prime’s part, and it has left fans deeply divided. A lot of hardcore fans see the reworked timeline and character changes as disrespectful to Tolkien’s work. Of course, there are still fans out there who don’t mind the changes and enjoy the overarching story, but the many critiques and controversial choices have left a dark cloud hanging over the series.
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Spoilers ahead for The Rings of Power.
A Look at Some of the Biggest Changes Made in The Rings of Power
- The origin of Mithril is different.
- Halbrand (Sauron’s Season 1 fair form) is an original character created for the series.
- Gandalf arrives in Middle-earth much earlier than in the books.
- Men and Elves weren’t aware of Hobbits in the Second Age, but Rings of Power adds them to the story.
- Celeborn being presumed dead after going missing during the War of the Jewels is not part of Tolkien canon.
- The creation of Mordor deviates from the official lore.
- Tom Bombadil living in Rhun and training wizards for war isn’t mentioned in the books.
- The Rings of Power pits Galadriel and Sauron against each other in a fight for the Nine Rings of Men, but the books only ever mention him fighting Celebrimbor.
- Sauron putting his blood into the Nine Rings is also not mentioned in the books.
Since certain details in The Lord of the Rings are left vague, aspects of the story being embellished and expanded on are understandable, but other changes that completely shake up the entire lore are frustrating. People take The Lord of the Rings’ lore seriously, and there is a responsibility to adapt an author’s work as closely as possible. Changes like these wouldn’t be as controversial if it was a completely original Lord of the Rings story that was simply inspired by Tolkien’s world, but being an adaptation of official lore makes any tweak bound for scrutiny.
The intricate details within the lore make any new Lord of the Ring project difficult to bring to life, but Warhorse has made a name for itself as a studio that is passionate about attention to detail. The developer may still be a fresh face in the gaming world, but the team has proven that taking the time to focus on the finer details makes a game’s world that much more compelling.
Warhorse’s Eye for Detail and Love of Realism Makes Its Lord of the Rings RPG Sound Extra Promising
A deeply immersive single-player open-world Lord of the Rings RPG is something that a lot of fans have been wanting for a long time. The details surrounding this project are incredibly sparse, but it has the right ingredients to make a special Lord of the Rings experience. It won’t be easy, but Warhorse’s efforts with the Kingdom Come: Deliverance series is an exciting taste of what to expect.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance Revels in Historical Accuracy and Grounded Immersion
Of course, The Lord of the Rings is fiction, so there can’t really be any historical accuracy when making this game. However, there is definitely accuracy to the lore that Warhorse will have to take into consideration. Going about crafting a real-life world like the Kingdom of Bohemia isn’t really all that different from adapting a map of Middle-earth.
With both, devs only have descriptions from others’ writings to build from, which brings forth a fascinating creative challenge, whether it’s historical or fictional. The Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 historical locations bring the first game’s accuracy even further with its various areas, and it’s going to be wild to see how Warhorse uses these same skills to bring a fantasy world to life.
The intricate details within the lore make any new Lord of the Ring project difficult to bring to life, but Warhorse has made a name for itself as a studio that is passionate about attention to detail.
With Warhorse’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, the studio went far beyond simply setting an RPG in 15th-century Bohemia, employing a full-time historian to double- and triple-check its designs while consulting universities, museums, and other cultural institutions. Its developers used sources like the Talhoffer Fechtbuch and worked with experienced sword fighters to recreate medieval combat, while researching period materials, construction methods, colors, and craftsmanship for locations like Kuttenberg and Trosky Castle. Warhorse even investigated harder-to-document aspects of medieval life, including how people spoke, practiced religion, formed relationships, and dealt with their daily concerns, ensuring the series reflected far more than the era’s battles and political figures.
Since the Middle-earth RPG is Warhorse’s first project that isn’t a new Kingdom Come game, this also means that the studio will have a lot riding on it. Even though it adds extra pressure, that can also inspire more inspiration. Gamers already know what Warhorse is capable of when it comes to historical accuracy. Now, it’s time to prove how well the team can handle lore accuracy. However, given what the studio was committed to accomplishing with its Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, it’s likely that same care and attention to detail will carry over into its recreation of Middle-earth.
Season 2 of The Rings of Power is set to air on November 11, 2026.
The sad news is that it will probably be a while before Warhorse’s Lord of the Rings game is ready. It’s been confirmed that the next Kingdom Come game might be ready sometime in 2027/2028, but a project that is as ambitious as an open-world Lord of the Rings game is bound to take an intimidating amount of effort and care. Even though the potentially long wait is a bummer, the good news is that Warhorse Studios’ track record means that it might have what it takes to give Lord of the Rings fans the Middle-earth game of their dreams.
