More classic Lord of the Rings games are coming back for modern gamers following War in the North’s surprise remaster

Lord of the Rings: The Third Age wallpaper screenshot

Published:

12 August 2026

Last Updated: 12 August 2026

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Lord of the Rings: War in the North has jumped onto digital storefronts with a brand-new legacy edition. Released by Aspyr Media, the same team behind the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Battlefront remasters, this is the first of many LOTR games that will make their return on modern systems.

While many fans are looking forward to Warhorse Games’ in-development Lord of the Rings open-world game, others have clamoured for older games to return. While Aspyr has not confirmed which Middle-Earth titles will be coming back, they have confirmed that multiple remasters are in the works.

Detailed in a press release for Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition, Aspyr teased that the game is just “the first The Lord of the Rings title released by Aspyr”. They later added: “Fans can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr from the beloved franchise in the future!”

Over the last few years, many fans have urged for the movie tie-in games, specifically The Two Towers and Return of the King, to be brought to modern systems. Additionally, there have been calls for The Third Age, Tactics, Battle for Middle Earth, and Conquest to make a return by hardcore fans.

There are a large number of beloved Lord of the Rings games, as well as some stinkers like the poorly-received Aragorn’s Quest. With Aspyr-owner Embracer Group now heavily involved in the future of J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy universe, the entertainment giant is clearly looking to take full advantage of its back catalogue.

As well as returns of classic PS2/Xbox 360 era games, Aspyr Media’s recent work on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 ports could mean that some of the more recent Lord of the Rings games could get a new lease of life.

Recently, Aspyr ported both Tomb Raider 2013 and 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider to the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. With that in mind, future Middle-Earth releases could see ports of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War on Nintendo’s handhelds. However, considering the scale of the sequel, that may only be possible on the newer machine.

Whatever the case, it’s great to see more classic Lord of the Rings games on the horizon. Unfortunately, many licensed games are simply left on original hardware, especially movie tie-in games. Hopefully, now that games preservation has become such a hot topic, more beloved licensed games can be brought back from the dead.

About The Author

Lewis White

Lewis White is a veteran games journalist with over a decade in the field. Starting with beloved Xbox website ICXM/XboxMAD, Lewis became the Gaming Editor at MSPoweruser before becoming the Editor in Chief of StealthOptional and Gfinityesports. Lewis later jumped to By Gamers For Gamers where he jumped to become EIC of VideoGamer and the host of the New VideoGamer Podcast prior to the website’s acquisition.

Over the years, Lewis has also seen long-form investigative pieces published in outlets such as Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, Retro Gamer, Nintendo Life, and EDGE. Now, as the Editor in Chief of FRVR Blog, Lewis strives to bring the same level of quality journalism with interview-led content to the site in both written and audio form with the FRVR Podcast.

With a First Degree BA Hons in Games Journalism and Public Relations, Lewis has been a stable part of the British games press for over a decade, and has frequently displayed his love of Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and other games pretty much everywhere he’s worked. And FRVR is no different.

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