On September 29, news broke about an upcoming Lord of the Rings game that has been in development for quite some time and it’s poised to become the LOTR version of Warner Bros’ acclaimed Hogwarts Legacy titles.
An anonymous source told Insider Gaming that this new Lord of the Rings title would closely follow what Portkey Games had created with their Harry Potter open-world third-person RPG. According to the source, it would “compete with Hogwarts Legacy.” The game has been funded internally by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) for a whopping $100 million dollars.
The question now is, how would a Hogwarts Legacy-like Lord of the Rings game even work? Let’s speculate.
Custom Characters from Other Races
Hogwarts Legacy had us making our player-made character from the ground up, as well as which House you’re from. A Lord of the Rings game having a highly-detailed character creator would definitely go on par with what Warner Bros’ did.
I’d imagine a world in which I can create my own custom character and pick from a variety of races that existed in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Maybe I’d go for a Hobbit living its quiet life in The Shire, or an Elf basking in the waters near Rivendell.
It’d have to include a unique opening quest similar to how BioWare did with its first Dragon Age title. Imagine playing as an Orc and defecting from Saruman and Sauron’s cause, that would be a fascinating story to tell.
Who knows how extensive the character creation is for this new Lord of the Rings game, but I’d be happy to play as my own character and dive into Middle Earth.
Explorable Open-World Cities
One of Hogwarts Legacy’s biggest appeal is how it translated the magic of JK Rowling’s wizarding world to videogame form. Most of my time in Hogwarts Legacy was spent strolling through the halls of Hogwarts and marveling at the sights I used to see in the movies.
Lord of the Rings’ edge here is that it has plenty of fantastical cities to choose from as open-world zones. The ascended steps of Minas Tirith, leading up to its magnificent peak, would be a standout moment for LOTR fans if they can explore it with their custom character. Fans would also die for an open-world exploration around Elven cities like Lothlorien and Gondolin. As for me, I’m more than happy to explore Khazad-dum before the fall and marvel at its Dwarven architecture.
Like Hogwarts Legacy’s flying, we could also be getting some aerial exploration using Middle Earth’s iconic Great Eagles or maybe from Nazguls, depending on which side we are on.
The possibilities here are endless, and the developers (whoever they are) have enough data which fans would love to see as an open-world zone taking place in Middle Earth.
A Satisfying Third-Person Combat
The combat in Hogwarts Legacy remains a standout for me to this day. It had Rocksteady’s snappy gameplay mixed with a vibrant brawler combat that one would see from a hack and slash game like Devil May Cry.
This upcoming Lord of the Rings game could beat Hogwarts Legacy in that direction, as it has an expansive roster of classes and races to choose from. You’re not only limited to one archetype in the world of Middle Earth, so picking a class would be highly beneficial for replay value and satisfaction.
Having to play as an Elf armed with a bow and arrow to role-play as Legolas is something fans would do. If it has Dragon Age: Veilguard’s third-person bow combat, it’d be interesting to see. We could also be playing as a custom Istari character like Gandalf and be a wandering hermit casting spells and conjuring barriers. As for a class like Aragorn, gameplay could be similar to how Monolith Productions does it with their Middle Earth titles.
There is so much material for the Lord of the Rings game to work on here, but it would have to be a deeply focused title that doesn’t feel too bloated and buggy, otherwise it would be another Gollum situation again.
As of now, all of this is just pure speculation, but it would be something to behold if this supposed Hogwarts Legacy-like Lord of the Rings game could really compete with Warner Bros’ open-world RPG. If that’s the case, then we might be in for a treat.
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