‘The Lord of the Rings’ Video Games, Ranked Worst to Best

As one of the most popular IPs in history, The Lord of the Rings has retained a level of noticeable prominence in the gaming industry since the medium’s conception. From officially licensed games to more canon-breaking experiments, you will never lack for a Middle-earth interactive experience if you enter this vast world of imaginative brilliance, and whether we’re talking about a strategic game from 2004 or an AAA action title from 2017, a lot of creative brainpower has gone over the past three decades into making sure that you can step into J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional world in almost any shape or form and make the adventure your own.

In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most popular and even infamous Lord of the Rings projects in history and try to determine the one game to rule them all. The ranking is obviously subject to taste and a plethora of personal preferences, but I’m sure that as you read further, you’re going to agree that our picks for the best Middle-earth games in history coincide with your own to a large degree. And if you’re new to the whole interactive Middle-earth experience, there’ll be no time like the present to finally learn more and even dive into some of these games.

10. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023)

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst Middle-earth game to ever have been conceived, and possibly one of the worst games in history. The fact that Daedalic Entertainment’s 2023 title even makes it into this list isn’t a testament to the game’s own scant qualities, but rather all the controversy it generated with its arrival a few weeks ago.

This bug-riddled, poorly-made, and torturous journey as the creature Gollum in the depths of Sauron’s domain would never be worth spending $50 on, and if we’re being entirely frank, we’d rather it didn’t exist at all.

9. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North (2011)

Depending on who you ask, War in the North is either a vastly underrated game or a mediocre cringe-fest of epic proportions. But one thing can be said with absolute certainty: War in the North is one of the rare few role-playing Lord of the Rings games in existence. In this story, you take control of a party of three rangers, modeled after Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli’s exploits in the main story. The three traverse unseen parts of Middle-earth, and as the title suggests, fight against the Dark Lord’s minions in the northern theater of the war.

The role-playing elements in War in the North have been played down to give it more room for the action, and if you’re not used to a more robust gaming experience where everything falls seamlessly into place, you can grow to appreciate War in the North for what it’s trying to do, rather than what you think it ought to do.