Lotr Battle For Middle Earth 2 Xbox One
Janita Locklin
The best Lord of the Rings games cover a lot of ground. In this ranking, you'll find some of the best action games, best survival games, best strategy games based on Tolkien's universe. Whether you're a fan of the novels or were drawn in by Peter Jackson's film adaptation, there's a LOTR game experience that'll be perfect for you right here - no matter your platform of choice.
From retreading the footsteps of the Fellowship to exploring an uncharted part of Middle-earth's history, the best Lord of the Rings games cover a lot of bases. You won't see anything directly based on Prime's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series, but there's plenty more to explore. Some of these titles are available on Xbox Game Pass, while some PS2-exclusive gems might only be accessible if you're lucky enough to still own your old console. Either way, we've got you covered. Check out the best Lord of the Rings games below and experience Middle Earth hands-on.
The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a mixed bag. A class-based action game from the minds behind Star Wars: Battlefront, Conquest was rightly criticized for its lacklustre animations and underwhelming narrative. But it was easy to overlook its flaws when you brought another player along for the warg ride. Whether you were playing with a group online or with a friend in local co-op, it was always fun to take on the supporting role of a mage, dispelling arrows away from the main attacking force, or get into the thick of it as Aragorn or Legolas. While Conquest ultimately suffered from the same simplistic combat rhythms as Star Wars: Battlefront before it, there was a lot of fun to be had jumping into the middle of some of the film trilogy's biggest setpieces.
A turn-based Lord of the Rings RPG developed in the vein of Final Fantasy and Tales franchises? Sign me up. While The Third Age does run in parallel to the film trilogy, your party only shows up for certain key moments. Gandalf guides you with collectible film clips that feature original narration from the voice actor himself. Pursuing the Fellowship and fighting alongside them across the film's battles is a nostalgia trip worth taking for any Tolkien fan. The Third Age offers up a different perspective on The Lord of the Rings, and found success with an interesting approach to combat design and overworld exploration.
Innovative, true to its source material, and just plain fun, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is one of the best LOTR games in recent years. After all, who better to lead a Lord of the Rings-style Minecraft survival crafting game than an intrepid dwarf? Off the back of Daedalic's unfortunate Lord of the Rings: Gollum earlier in the year, Return to Moria is a welcome example of a LOTR game done right. Being a live service title, it shines in multiplayer mode. The aim of the game is to team up with fellow dwarves and follow in the steps of the Fellowship, now in the fourth age of Middle Earth following the events of Peter Jackson's film trilogy. Whether you're going it alone with a friend, excavating the mines to reclaim Khazad-dm from the orcs and goblins who lurk there is no simple task. Managing your light and noise is essential unless you want to draw attention to yourself, so expect a fair amount of melee combat on top of gathering, crafting, and puzzle solving in these procedurally-generated halls.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers brought us closer to Middle-earth than any game before it. With its blurring of lines between FMV footage pulled from the Peter Jackson films, fun hack-and-slash action, and recreation of some of LotR's most iconic battles, The Two Towers was a satisfying licensed game that ran a little on the short side. Still, there was nothing quite like it at the time, and roaming through Middle-earth while utilizing God of War-esque special attacks to destroy hordes of Orcs and Uruk Hai was a riot. There was room for improvement, but it was a solid first effort.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King built on the foundations that Stormfront Studios put down with The Two Towers. With a longer campaign, updated graphics, and new fan-favorite playable characters like Gandalf, The Return of the King handily outdid the action-packed gameplay of its predecessor. Released before the actual film, The Return of the King also featured unreleased footage from its namesake which was a welcome bonus for franchise fans desperate for more. Add co-op gameplay into the mix and you can see why The Return of the King is a compelling trip down Tolkien lane that's still beloved to this day.
Arguably one of the best RTS games of the early '00s, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 took the scale of and spectacle of The Lord of the Rings and put us in command of the action. Whether you were playing through the Good or Evil story campaigns or jumping online to recreate some of the franchises' biggest battles with your friends, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 (and its The Rise of the Witch-King expansion) was a compelling, polished strategy game with no shortage of depth and detail. Despite its legacy, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 had its online servers shut down in 2011, and is sadly no longer sold digitally.