Warhorse Studios, the acclaimed developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its sequel, has confirmed it is working on a Lord of the Rings open-world RPG, and the studio has shared tantalizing new details about the ambitious project.
The Middle-earth team is led by Viktor Bocan, the design director on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. During a recent community stream, Warhorse communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling described the project as a "passion project" with a "mind-blowing team" ready to dive deep into Tolkien's universe.
A Proper RPG in Middle-earth
"It's deeply immersive, with a living world packed with interesting characters, memorable places, and of course a strong narrative focus," Stolz-Zwilling said. He added that the team strives to be the "new kings" of the RPG genre with every project, both in Kingdom Come and Middle-earth, and wants to continue leaning on the studio's proven formula.
While there have been many Middle-earth games — including the excellent Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War — there has never been a truly expansive proper RPG set in the universe. Most games have been action-adventure titles, MMOs, or strategy games. Warhorse aims to fill that gap with a deeply immersive, narrative-driven RPG experience.
Release Timeline
Stolz-Zwilling confirmed that the next Kingdom Come game will release next fiscal year (approximately a year away), but the Lord of the Rings game has no concrete timeline yet, suggesting it is likely still years from release.
"It's important to remind everyone we are only working on the games we want to work on in the way we want to work on them," Stolz-Zwilling said. "As long as we have this power and trust, I think we will absolutely rock."
The news arrives during a period of renewed interest in Tolkien's world, with a new live-action film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum actively in development and The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past being penned by Stephen Colbert.