LotR Hasn’t Had Its ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Yet and That’s a Crying Shame

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 1, 2024 45 Views 6 Min Read
LotR Hasn’t Had Its ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Yet and That’s a Crying Shame



Hogwarts Legacy arriving when it did helped revitalize the Harry Potter IP, even if that rejuvenation was just in the video games industry. Before it, Harry Potter restricted itself to movie tie-ins that weren’t all necessarily bad but limited themselves regarding what they could achieve with storytelling as they all more or less needed to follow the plots of the movies they adapted. Hogwarts Legacy is a breath of fresh AAA air as it finally tackles an original story far removed from Harry Potter and, while utilizing the same locations, it remains immersive by settling into a late-1800s era long before Harry was born to Lily and James Potter.




The Lord of the Rings’ IP has a similar history of movie tie-ins being the bread and butter of its video game adaptations, though there have been more original stories told within it that have not all been received well. Monolith’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War seem to be crowning achievements as tales taking place before the events of The Lord of the Rings, for example, whereas The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been a monumental letdown. Meanwhile, there’s still so much potential for a Lord of the Rings game to thrive as profoundly as Hogwarts Legacy, and a proper open-world action-RPG could be the ticket it needs.

Lord of the Rings Orc Game

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An Orc-Focused Lord of the Rings Game Could Be Everything Tales of the Shire Isn’t

The Lord of the Rings has dabbled with many different concepts over the years, but an Orc-focused game could offer something really unique.

Hogwarts Legacy is the AAA Action-RPG Harry Potter Deserves


Hogwarts Legacy satiates a lot of what players have longed desired out of a Harry Potter game, including broomstick flight throughout an open world, a massive and fully explorable Hogwarts Castle filled with environmental puzzles, and a customizable protagonist with players selecting their preferred Hogwarts house. Moreover, wand-based combat is phenomenal, taking vital cues from Soulslike gameplay designs and implementing a broad range of categorized spells.

The Room of Requirement then goes above and beyond the degree of customization, personalization, and decoration that it might’ve been obligated to offer with space to brew potions, grow flora, and breed magical creatures. Indeed, Hogwarts Legacy checks so many of the right boxes that the ones it doesn’t cross off, such as Quidditch or a Gwent-esque collectible mini-game, stand out more prominently and possibly give sequels an easy layup in terms of what it can feature that their predecessor didn’t or couldn’t.


Hogwarts Legacy’s story didn’t seem to resonate with many players, at least not nearly as much as its immersive action-RPG elements, but the fact that it gave itself the freedom of new storylines and characters helped to expand the wizarding world further without any overt or grating fan service bleeding into it, which deserves to be commended. Hogwarts Legacy is the framework that some if not all future Harry Potter games will likely look to given its unmistakably enormous success and, with Warner Bros. looming over it, it would be alarming and foolish if an open-world action-RPG isn’t being considered at all for the comparably gargantuan Lord of the Rings IP.

The Lord of the Rings Needs a Home Run to Dig It Out of Its Rut


Monolith’s Middle-earth games have the incredible gimmick of the Nemesis System on their hands, which ironically and bewilderingly hasn’t been employed since, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has excellent co-op with fun combo strings. Nonetheless, an open-world action-RPG, preferably one with a touch of Soulslike characteristics, should be a no-brainer. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor demonstrate how gracefully Soulslike designs can be embedded into action-adventure games, too, but if The Lord of the Rings could emulate Hogwarts Legacy with a customizable human, elf, dwarf, or hobbit, there’s no end to how terrific and creative it could be.

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