Middle-earth in Video Games - Unofficial Games

Unofficial Games

Aside from officially licensed games, unofficial games have also been made. Some of the longest-lasting are Angband (1990), a roguelike based loosely on The Silmarillion, Elendor (1991), a MUSH based on Tolkien in general, and MUME (1992) and The Two Towers (1994), MUDs based on The Lord of the Rings.

Many Tolkien-inspired mods and custom maps have been made for many games, such as Warcraft III, Neverwinter Nights, Rome: Total War, Medieval 2: Total War, Warlords 3, Mount&Blade and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

Some of those are:

• Third Age: Total War, which is a mod of Medieval 2: Total War, is currently ranked as the 4th best mod at the Mod DB website and has competed for the "Mod of the year" award at 2nd, 3rd and 7th place. It allows player to choose one of the 14 factions and fight for the Middle Earth on the huge interactive map.
• The Last Days of the Third Age for Mount & Blade
• Middle Earth Roleplaying Project for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (in development)

As well as maps in games, many lord of the Rings fans have made modifications for the popular The Elder Scrolls Series for the PC, including a total conversion as well as a range of items and armour.

The roguelike NetHack also has many allusions to The Lord of the Rings, with references to creatures and sayings (i.e. 'Elbereth').