Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios is working on an open-world Lord of the Rings RPG.
In development alongside a new game in the Kingdom Come series, the new RPG is in early development. Right now, there’s no release period for the game. However, considering the studio is shifting to Unreal Engine 5 for the game’s release, it might be a long way away.
Nevertheless, in a recent livestream to fans, communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling suggested that the game is quite a few years away. While the team didn’t confirm what period of Middle-Earth the game is set in, they did reveal a few details for the upcoming project.
Stolz-Zwilling explained that the upcoming game is a “passion project” for the team at Warhorse with a “mind-blowing team” currently working on the game.
Few gameplay details were revealed about the actual gameplay of the title. However, it seems that the open-world will function similarly to the realistic stance of Kingdom Come Deliverance with the communications director describing the title as “deeply immersive” with a “living world”.
Stolz-Zwilling explained that the upcoming game will be constructed around “interesting characters, memorable places, and of course a strong narrative focus.” Of course, the game will also have the fantasy elements you’d expect of Tolkien’s magical world.
“It’s important to remind everyone we are only working on the games we want to work on in the way we want to work on them,” the communications director continued, adding that Warhorse is striving to be “new kings” of RPGs. A title that is likely currently held by CD Projekt RED right now.
While Warhorse Studios works on its own Lord of the Rings game, Amazon is also reportedly working on a number of games set in Middle Earth. Following the cancellation of the company’s new LOTR MMO, Amazon confirmed that it does have more games currently in some stage of production.
Alongside the upcoming slew of video games, the world of Middle Earth is set to return to cinemas as well with a live-action Hunt for Gollum movie and a film by Stephen Colbert. The former is set to release sometime in 2027.
As for Warhorse’s Lord of the Rings open-world RPG, it will likely be a long time until we can actually play the game. Alongside developing a brand-new open-world game, the studio is also shifting engines from its heavily modified CryEngine setup to a form of Unreal Engine 5.
