The Biggest Question Facing the New Open-World Lord of the Rings Game Isn’t Timeline or Setting

After learning that one of my favorite game developers, Warhorse Studios, is working on an open-world RPG set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, I was immediately convinced it would be great. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the developer’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance series, and if its in-progress Lord of the Rings game is anything like it, it should be an automatic pre-order for me. But for myself right now, the question isn’t whether it will end up being a worthwhile investment, or even when and where it will take place in Middle-earth. Instead, I’m more curious about how a fantasy game made by a developer known for grounding its worlds in real-world history will translate unrealistic things like magic, orcs, talking trees, and made-up languages.

From what I understand, this is brand-new territory for Warhorse Studios—in a sense. The development team is apparently filled with The Lord of the Rings fans who presumably know a thing or two about Tolkien’s world, but it also made historical authenticity its bread and butter with Kingdom Come: Deliverance and the subsequent success of KCD2. I know it’s not impossible for Warhorse to pull off a fantasy universe like Tolkien’s. In fact, I’ll come out and say that I think it’s the best studio for the job. More than anything, let’s just say my curiosity is piqued about the how, not the if.

Warhorse Already Has Half the Formula Down

In both Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, Warhorse proved that it has what it takes to make an immersive world that feels tangible because it intentionally restrains itself. By grounding each game’s design in historical authenticity, intense physicality, and raw human conflict, it gave players access to a virtual world that, at times, felt as limited and as taxing as the real world. To some players, that has proven to be a downside, but to many others, it is the hallmark quality of a Warhorse Studios game, and each one is all the better for it.

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In that sense, the developer already has half the formula down for a Lord of the Rings game, specifically because the grounded side of Middle-earth arguably matters more than people might realize. The feeling of living in a believable world with long travel routes, dangerous roads, tavern conversations, muddy battlefields, political instability, and cultural identity between regions. Warhorse already excels at all of that. The challenge now is somehow layering Tolkien’s mythological side on top without losing the immersion that makes one of the developer’s RPGs special.

Warhorse Feels Equipped for Middle-earth’s Fantasy

The reality is that Warhorse has never had to answer questions about how magical magic should feel or how rare supernatural encounters should be. Everything it has done in the past has always used history as a system of checks and balances, even if it hasn’t ever been afraid to stretch the truth when it fits the bill. But now that it is delving into a world that considers things like magic to be very much real, Warhorse’s approach will need to adapt to its new surroundings.

Fortunately, unlike many fantasy worlds, Middle-earth takes a middle road of sorts because it has never leaned too hard into traditional fantasy excess. In other words, Tolkien’s world is magical, but it’s not magic-saturated in the same way as something like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim or other fantasy games like Dragon Age.

A major reason moments involving the Ringwraiths, Balrogs, or Gandalf are so believable in Tolkien’s stories is because the world around them often feels grounded first. Villages, kingdoms, politics, travel, warfare, and ordinary life all matter just as much, if not more. That’s what makes the supernatural feel important, though, because it interrupts that reality rather than constantly overwhelming it. That actually works surprisingly well with Warhorse’s strengths.

Based on Warhorse’s history, this game could end up feeling less like a traditional fantasy RPG and more like actually living inside Middle-earth. Most Lord of the Rings games either emphasize action spectacle or cinematic heroism, but Warhorse could and likely will instead focus on the ordinary side of Middle-earth before slowly exposing players to its ancient horrors and wonders. In the end, that could make encounters with creatures like Trolls, Nazgul, or Balrogs feel genuinely overwhelming in a way most fantasy RPGs struggle to achieve.

Middle-earth’s Magic Still Can’t Be Shoved Aside

At the same time, that’s probably where Warhorse has to be the most careful. If Middle-earth’s fantasy elements are too rare, the game risks feeling like Kingdom Come with a Lord of the Rings skin. If they’re too common, it could lose the restraint that might make Warhorse’s take on Tolkien so compelling in the first place. The sweet spot is likely somewhere in between, where the world feels grounded enough to live in but ancient enough to be afraid of.

That’s especially true if Warhorse wants its Middle-earth RPG to stand apart from the franchise’s past games. The Shadow of Mordor games already covered the power fantasy side of The Lord of the Rings better than almost anything else could have. Those games made players feel like a supernatural force assassinating their way through Mordor, and they were great at what they set out to do. Warhorse’s game probably shouldn’t try to compete with that directly. Its best path forward may be making players feel small first, then letting the larger mythology of Middle-earth press in around them over time.

That could mean an orc encounter feels dangerous because the player is still just a person with a sword. It could mean magic feels more like something ancient, mysterious, and half-understood than something players casually slot into a build. It could mean a place like Fangorn Forest feels alive before the trees even speak, or a Nazgul feels terrifying long before it ever appears on-screen. In a Warhorse-developed Lord of the Rings RPG, the fantasy may work best when it is treated more like a force the player has to survive than something they are already built to overcome.

Ultimately, that’s why the biggest question facing Warhorse’s Middle-earth RPG may have nothing to do with its timeline or setting. Those things matter, of course, but the real test is whether the studio can bring Tolkien’s mythology into its grounded RPG formula without flattening either side. If it can, this could be the rare Lord of the Rings game that makes Middle-earth feel believable first, then magical because of it.