The recent delay of the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum has disappointed many fans of the franchise who are itching for a new Lord of the Ring game to play. Thankfully for such people, there have been numerous games related to the franchise released over the last few decades, which can hopefully keep them occupied in the meantime.
Due to the licensing of Lord of the Rings games, it can sometimes be difficult to find them available for cheap. In hopes of helping players know how much content they're getting for their money, we've ranked the franchise's games by how long they take to complete. To ensure that the times are as accurate as possible, this list will feature every Lord of the Rings game listed on howlongtobeat.com, ranked by their Main Story completion time.
17 J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1994) - 4.5 Hours
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1994) was developed and published by Interplay Productions; it's an action-RPG that takes place during the events of the Fellowship of the Ring book. The 1994 game is one of the more casual RPGs that gamers are ever likely to play, thanks to its low difficulty level and simplistic fetch quests.
16 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 5.5 Hours
Compared to the success of the Two Towers and Return of the King video games, Fellowship of the Ring is very much the forgotten child. In fact, many people have no idea that this game exists, as Electronic Arts' Two Towers included numerous levels from the first film.
The reason for the confusion is that Fellowship of the Ring was published by Black Label Games, who only had rights to make a game based on the first book, not the film. Thus, many key moments from the film are left out of Fellowship of the Ring, and Electronic Arts were free to implement both movies into their Two Towers game.
15 The Lord of the Rings: Conquest - 6 Hours
On paper, a game that takes the world of Lord of the Rings and combines it with the gameplay of the original Star Wars Battlefront II sounds like a match made in heaven. Consequently, there was a ton of hype behind The Lord of the Rings: Conquest before its release, though the game struggled to impress and is ultimately seen as a missed opportunity.
14 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 6 Hours
The Two Towers is nostalgic for many, as the tie-in game had huge commercial success and offered enjoyable hack and slash gameplay that was great fun to play co-op with friends.
The short runtime of 6 hours may surprise people who played the game when it first released, as its implementation of both the first and second films made the game seem far longer than it actually was.
13 The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest - 6.5 Hours
The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest was released in 2010 by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The Wii version of the game was worked on by Headstrong Games, while TT Fusion developed the other four releases. The action-RPG is aimed at the franchise's younger fans, exemplified by its cartoony graphics and simplistic gameplay.
12 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 8.5 Hours
The reason why movie tie-in games aren't around anymore is that gamers realized their development was often rushed to keep to tight schedules, resulting in lackluster products. Return of the King is one of the many exceptions to this rule, as the tie-in game offered a solid 8-9 hour adventure that improved upon its predecessor in numerous ways.
11 The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game - 9 Hours
Considering the huge success that some card games have in the gaming industry today, it's no surprise that the Lord of the Rings franchise tried to get in on the act.
The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game isn't one of the best card games on the market today, though it was fairly well-received, exemplified by its All Reviews mark of Mostly Positive on Steam.
10 The Lord of the Rings: Tactics - 9.5 Hours
The Lord of the Rings: Tactics was released exclusively on the PlayStation Portable in 2005 by Electronic Arts. The game was developed by Amaze Entertainment and featured turn-based tactics gameplay across two campaigns; one where players control The Fellowship and one where they control the Host of Mordor.
9 LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game - 10 Hours
The announcement of LEGO: Lord of the Rings came as little surprise, as the iconic IP is one of the few that can match Star Wars in terms of iconic characters that players would love to control in LEGO form. LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game is one of the best entries in LEGO's gaming franchise, largely thanks to the wonderful open-world rendition of Middle-Earth.
8 The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - 12 Hours
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North sounded like a great idea on paper; the game intended to recapture Electronic Arts' enjoyable hack and slash gameplay from Return of the King while adding RPG elements and a longer campaign to make the game more modern.
However, it was viewed as both a critical failure and a commercial one. The commercial side of its shortcomings were likely due to it releasing around the same time as two of the greatest sword fighting games in history, Dark Souls and Skyrim.
7 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II - 14.5 Hours
The Battle For Middle Earth II isn't just fondly remembered today for how well it used the Lord of the Rings license; it's also remembered fondly for genuinely being one of the best strategy games of the mid-2000s, exemplified by its impressive PC Metascore of 84.
An expansion for the game, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King, also has a listing on howlongtobeat.com, with an average completion time of 9.5 hours.
6 J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1990) - 15.5 Hours
Despite having the exact same name and being made by the same team, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (1990) is a completely different game to the first one on this list. The RPG follows the fellowship during the events of the first book, while also offering a selection of side quests to keep players busy.
5 The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring - 15.5 Hours
The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring is the weakest of the real-time strategy games on this list, though it's still enjoyable enough for fans of the franchise and genre to try out. The game received a 67 Metascore on PC, which is respectable but still significantly lower than the two Battle For Middle Earth games' scores.
4 Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor - 15.5 Hours
After many years of asking, Lord of the Rings fans were finally granted their wish of an Assassin's Creed-like open-world game set in Middle-Earth. Shadow of Mordor's map isn't particularly big, though it's well-designed and never feels cramped.
Monolith Productions' creation is unique for its Nemesis system, which Warner Bros. have controversially patented.
3 Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - 20.5 Hours
Shadow of Mordor's direct sequel Shadow of War didn't try to re-invent the wheel and simply tried to expand and improve on the gameplay mechanics of its predecessor. The game got off to a rocky start due to the heavy implementation of microtransactions. However, Warner Bros. removed them in 2018 following fan backlash, making the game far more appealing today.
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age - 21.5 Hours
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is essentially Final Fantasy X if someone kicked it through Middle-Earth. The gameplay and storytelling sadly don't live up to the classic Final Fantasy game, though it still provides an enjoyable 20+ hour adventure for fans of the RPG genre and The Lord of the Rings.
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth - 27.5 Hours
The Battle for Middle-earth is one of many games on this list that sounded like a fantastic idea on paper and consequently received a ton of hype prior to its release. Unlike some of the games on this list, Battle for Middle-Earth didn't disappoint, and the game's 27.5-hour main story offers a thoroughly enjoyable experience for RTS fans.