Monolith: Middle-earth Wasn’t Designed To Be A “Movie Game”

It's obviously based in J.R.R. Tolkien's universe but "Lord of the Rings" isn't in the title.

Why? Well, according to Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor lead designer Bob Roberts, it was a matter of separating the game from the movies. Considering the track record of games based on films, that probably wasn't a bad idea (even though we've seen some decent LotR interactive adventures in the past).

Said Roberts during a recent Eurogamer interview :

"One of the things, our goals from the beginning was not to make a movie game–not to just rehash the same events over again. So just trying to make the best game we can, and make it clear that this is its own thing, it's its own story, it's its own experience. We're not just rehashing a movie."

Roberts added that giving it a fresh name also gives newcomers to LotR a starting point. If you're enticed by what you see, you might "dig into the rest of the world." The game certainly turned out well, earning high praise from many critics, and we said it "delivers the fantasy goods in spades." As for whether or not we'll see a sequel, Roberts said that will be up to the fans. He did say there are plans for DLC, which will "tell new stories," so that's good news.

Related Game(s): Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor