Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. Games
Topics: The Lord Of The Rings
I’d like you to imagine a Lord of the Rings game that blends Telltale Games’ gameplay formula with Baldur’s Gate 3’s aesthetics and combat.
Well, a project of precisely that nature was once in development at Eidos-Montréal. Unfortunately for us, it was cancelled, but that hasn’t stopped various screenshots from leaking online.
The untitled Lord of the Rings project was canned shortly after Eidos-Montréal was acquired by Embracer in 2022.
Very little is known about the game other than that it would feature card-based mechanics and a Telltale-inspired story.
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Presumably then, the project would’ve had branching paths with players determining the outcome of said story.
It didn’t make it very far into development so nothing in the way of gameplay is available but, as I mentioned, several screenshots have surfaced.
As reported and shared by MP1ST, the images were posted by a former artist at Eidos-Montréal.
It’s thought that the game would’ve been set in Umbar, a port city mentioned in Tolkien’s famed novels that was mainly inhabited by pirates.
This is merely concept art, but it definitely sets the mood and tone of what the game’s top-down world and perspective would have offered.
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The images reveal great cities, bustling taverns, and dilapidated ruins. It’s most definitely a version of Middle-earth that I’m sure many of us would be itching to discover.
Online, the response to the images has been, well, melancholy. It’s always sad looking at what could have been.
“Leaks of cancelled games depresses me,” wrote soronprfbss.
“A LotR game cancelled, and an Eidos game cancelled. Two pains at once,” added Trainbe.
“Man... Eidos...We constantly getting robbed of potential masterclass from them,” SomeoneNotFamous remarked.
Astraliguss said, “The people behind Deus Ex and Tomb Raider?? I enjoyed their games. What a shame, it could have been good.”
It does pain me that the rather lacklustre Gollum and Tales of the Shire saw the light of day and this didn’t.
Don’t forget that one major Lord of the Rings project does remain in development.
Embracer has reportedly commissioned a huge open-world Lord of the Rings game made in the style of Hogwarts Legacy.
I imagine we’re talking about a third-person adventure then. Details are thin but when that project does emerge, it could be a real banger.
Embracer has certainly gone all-in on Tomb Raider since its acquisition, with several new games on the way. Perhaps Lord of the Rings' time to shine is almost upon us.