The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, a 2011 action RPG that had been unavailable to buy for years, made a surprise return this week. Publisher Aspyr shadow-dropped a remastered version called the Legacy Edition on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Windows PC (via Steam), and Xbox Series X.
The original game, developed by Snowblind Studios, mixed elements of J.R.R. Tolkien's novels and Peter Jackson's film trilogy with an original story. It follows a trio of heroes battling the forces of Sauron's servant Agandaûr, who has raised an army in the ruins of Fornost, while Frodo and Sam pursue their separate quest to Mount Doom. Players can build a Fellowship of three heroes and now freely swap between them, with support for three-player online co-op and two-player splitscreen.
The Legacy Edition adds a number of modern updates, including 60 frames-per-second support, refined enemy-target locking, an improved UI with health, mana, and experience bars for party members, additional save slots, autosave, and gyro/motion controls on PS5 and Switch. On Steam, the remaster launched at 10% off its regular $20 price.
When it first launched in 2011, War in the North received a middling response, with disappointing sales and a 61 Metacritic score on Xbox 360 (from 48 reviews) and 66 on PC. It was delisted from Steam around February 2019 and had been hard to find since. GamesRadar+ noted it doesn't hold particularly fond memories of the game compared to earlier Lord of the Rings movie tie-ins, while PC Gamer pointed out that the reasons for its original delisting were never made entirely clear, though expiring licensing agreements are a likely explanation.
That licensing situation ties into Aspyr's ownership: the studio is owned by Embracer Group, which also owns Middle-earth Enterprises and a broad swath of Lord of the Rings rights. Embracer has announced plans to spin off Middle-earth Enterprises and related properties into a new standalone company called Fellowship Entertainment, with Embracer's CEO, COO, and CFO expected to take the same roles at the new company once the spinoff is complete.
Aspyr's press release for the Legacy Edition teased further re-releases, stating that fans "can look forward to even more classic releases by Aspyr from the beloved franchise in the future." Outlets speculated about what might come next — GamesRadar+ said it would welcome remasters of the Two Towers and Return of the King movie tie-in games, while Polygon noted Aspyr's history of remastering Star Wars titles and expressed hope that future Lord of the Rings re-releases turn out better than some of those efforts.