The E3 at first made people think that it would just be an Assassin’s Creed game set in Middle-Earth until the introduction of the nemesis system was advertised. It appeared that Tolkien’s work would never reach the mainstream success in the gaming landscape until Monolith Productions developed Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Their first outing was the Snowblind Studios developed game The Lord of the rings: War in the North which received a Luke-warm reception at best. The early 2010s was when Warner Brother Interactive gained the publishing rights for Middle-Earth titles. Some original games like The Third Age didn’t gain much notoriety yet received moderately positive reviews from critics and users. The ones that were one-to-one adaptations of the films were mediocre action games. Publishers decided to release video game tie ins to the films which fared as well as movie-license games went. There were some games that were made prior to the film trilogy which were text-based RPG’s that had seemed lost to time. Middle-Earth games though had a small history with a plethora of niche titles. Since Tolkien’s work was popular on the page and on screen, the next logical step would be to put it in video games. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson put the world of Middle-Earth into the mainstream. The quests found in Tolkien’s epics struck a chord with many readers. Middle-Earth was a world that is rich in deep lore and memorable characters. Quick Note: I use the words “Uruk” and “Orc” interchangeably even though the game calls them Uruks. Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

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