I usually cram The Lord of the Rings games into four chronological categories. First, you have the games released during or shortly after Peter Jackson’s trilogy. Then came a strange limbo period filled with usually lesser promoted titles, followed by the Shadow of Mordor era. Finally, we arrive at whatever the hell we’re currently living through, blessed with such “masterpieces” as Gollum and Tales of the Shire. It’s that second, slightly forgotten period I want to focus on today. This was an era that gave us games like The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (a Battlefront clone of all things), Aragorn’s Quest, and today’s subject, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

Originally released in 2011, I’ll be 100% honest with you: I had never even heard of War in the North until, like, a week ago. There were so many high profile games coming out around that time that I simply never paid attention to this particular action RPG, despite it being developed by the same people behind Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who overlooked it either, considering how horrendously hard the game flopped back in the day. Thanks to Aspyr’s remastering efforts, however, War in the North has been given another chance to shine, and perhaps even help wash the lingering taste of Gollum and Tales of the Shire out of our mouths. So, what the hell is this game even about?

Even if the combat is a bit braindead, it is fun. That’s what matters.

As previously mentioned, it was originally developed by the same folks behind Dark Alliance, so it does feature similar characteristics to that classic from the PS2 era. It is also an action RPG with an emphasis on button-mashing combat, which can also be played with friends via co-op. In fact, it is almost recommended. The difference being the obvious change in setting, the camera work being more akin to a traditional third-person game, and, uh… a bit more jank. Whether that was a consequence of a rushed development or the fact it was Snowblind’s first (and only) HD-era project, it is not a particularly polished experience, especially in terms of visuals. It is janky… but the game has its charm, oddly enough.

In what feels like the ultimate Lord of the Rings fan fiction, the plot revolves around three original characters; a ranger, an elf, and a dwarf. No, you’re not playing as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. If you wanna play as them, go check out the Two Towers game. Here, you play as folks I sincerely don’t remember their names, and who don’t have the same kind of reluctant character growth and development between each other as the highly prejudiced folks in the Tolkien novels. They start off as buddies, and finish the journey as buddies. So you’re not here because you want to see someone else come up with characters as good as Tolkien’s, you’re here because you want to role-play as a bunch of seemingly nobodies who, somehow, become part of the wider Lord of the Rings story. If you squint, that is.

Viggo, this ain’t.

None of the iconic scenes from the book or movies are present. The three stooges you play as are part of the same storyline, but are always doing something on the side. Think of them as the many side characters from the Star Wars TV shows: they don’t show up in the movies released forty years beforehands, but the writers stretched their role to a point you can almost believe they have always been there, and have always been important. “Oh, we weren’t at Helm’s Deep, but we were doing something on the side that totally helped the Fellowship during that battle! We swear!”

And that is absolutely fine. It’s not as if the writing is bad. Far from it, it’s actually quite decent, and it follows Tolkien’s writing and dialogue style to a respectable degree. Furthermore, the voice acting is, well, excellent. We’re talking about a voice cast comprised of names such as Nolan North, Laura Bailey, Fred Tatasciore, Yuri Lowenthal, the late Tom Kane, and many others. They all sound fifteen years younger and a bit less experienced, but it’s still great. I really cannot complain about the lore and setting efforts put into The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. I can, however, complain about its execution.

Each character has his/her own ranged weapon. And you can take advantage of the Switch 2’s gyro to aim more precisely.

I will talk about Aspyr’s remastering efforts further down the line, but for the most part, I have very little qualms with the quality of this port. There is just one issue I’ll mention below. For the most part, my gripes with The Lord of the Rings: War in the North stem from the original release. As mentioned, it is a very janky game, one that still manages to feel fun because its button-mashing combat, whilst incredibly braindead, is actually very fun. Still, the level design is a bit underwhelming, the enemy variety is lackluster (killing orcs and goblins is fun, but that’s almost everyone you’re going to kill), and the presentation ain’t good. At all.

This game was originally released in 2011. Other games came out that year: Battlefield 3, Dark Souls, Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, Forza Motorsport 4, and so on. Sure, bigger teams with bigger budgets made these games, but this is just an example of what we were getting used to looking at fifteen years ago. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a game that, despite the backing from Warner Bros (the same studio backing Arkham City, another good-looking game from 2011), looks incredibly rough and dated. 

This is not a good looking game, but it renders many enemies onscreen at any given time. And without ever suffering from framerate hiccups.

Let me put it this way: there are many PS2-era games, many of which have been remastered by Aspyr, which look more visually impressive than this 2011 title. Character facial expressions are clunky, animations are ocasionally a bit too robotic, and there’s this overall “brownness” to the textures, an issue which, admittedly, is common among games from that era in particular. It’s just not very exciting to look at. But then again, I have to commend the fact that the game manages to render dozens of enemies onscreen at once, at any given time, without ever suffering from any kind of performance hiccups.

And then there is an issue which doesn’t stem from the original game, but Aspyr itself: there is a bizarre glitch regarding its sound mixing. War in the North is a sound-heavy game, as its most impressive aspect its the quality of its voice acting. For reasons beyond my comprehension, the game’s overall volume, even on max settings, is minuscule, to the point I had to double check if there was any issue with my TV’s speakers, as well as my Switch 2. The sound works as intended during cinematic cutscenes, however, which puzzles me even further.

Somehow, this eagle sounded like Brian Blessed. Damn thing felt like an acid trip.

I had honestly never heard of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North prior to playing this remaster, and while it was still a vastly better time than the ultra low quality Lord of the Rings outings we’ve endured over the past few years, I can’t say I found it particularly special. It’s a fun action RPG that often feels like glorified Tolkien fanfic, but at least it backs that up with a decent combat system. It’s braindead, sure, but there’s something inherently cathartic about slaughtering wave after wave of orcs.

Ultimately, this is the kind of game I can only really recommend to diehard Tolkien fans, especially those curious about this largely forgotten era of Lord of the Rings games. Everyone else is left with a competent remaster of a charming but undeniably janky action RPG, saddled with a story you’ll struggle to care about.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC, Switch and Switch 2. The original version of the game is available on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Reviewed on Switch 2.

A copy of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition was provided by the publisher.