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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition

in library

4.3/5

( 68 Reviews )

4.3

68 Reviews

English & 8 more
19.9919.99
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction . Stellar support and full refunds up to 30 days.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition
Players' stories
I played this game many times on steam, both solo and with my friend. Another perfect game to explore Middle Earth with story quite fun. Gameplay was pretty cool with those nasty finishers that we could perform on orcs, goblins, men and other beings. I wish it returned so I could nag my best friend to try at play this gem with me.
A very good RPG/action-adventure, which I played many times. It's another fantastic game to explore Middle-Earth with -- the designers know their Tolkien lore, and take you through familiar territory (such as Bree and Elrond's house, which you may have seen in the movies), as well as dangerous places unseen in the movies, like the ruins of Fornost, the Barrow-Downs and the Ettenmoors, among others. You can play one of three heroes (human, dwarf or elf), and the computer will play the other two. Each hero has his/her own strengths and weaknesses, and the battles are fun, high-energy and very intense. (The battles in Mirkwood and Gundabad are especially challenging, and the boss battle in Mirkwood is very scary - but in a fun way!) Highly recommended.
First game i thought of when thinking of what game I would like to preserve- I have this on a Xbox 360 but that will hardly last forever. Super solid Beat em'up with rpg elements, many games were made in this genre since but I can't think of any that I liked as much as this. Played it co-op locally with my brother, but I would love to convince my friends to play it online with me, if given the chance. This is the type of game that is not particularly a masterpiece, but it will stick in your mind over how underrated and surprisingly good it is, and I would hate to see it forgotten to time.

These are the stories shared by fellow gamers as part of GOG Dreamlist.

Description
A Shadow rises in the North. Step into a darker, grittier Middle-earth where war rages beyond the Fellowship’s path. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition expands Tolkien’s epic legendarium, delving into the brutal, untold story of Agandaûr, a Black Númenórean and servant...
Critics reviews
37 %
Recommend
Softpedia
8.5/10
The Outerhaven Productions
4.5/5 stars
DualShockers
8/10
User reviews

4.3/5

( 68 Reviews )

4.3

68 Reviews

{{ review.content.title }}
Product details
Aspyr, ...
System requirements
Windows 11, Intel Core i5-6400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 8 GB, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / Radeon R9 290X, 12...
FAQ
Description

A Shadow rises in the North. Step into a darker, grittier Middle-earth where war rages beyond the Fellowship’s path. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition expands Tolkien’s epic legendarium, delving into the brutal, untold story of Agandaûr, a Black Númenórean and servant of Sauron who has rallied an immense force in the ruins of Fornost. While Frodo and Samwise embark on their journey to Mount Doom, a new Fellowship must rise and defend the North. Let this be the hour when we draw swords together!

 

Choose Your Orc-Bane – Seamlessly hot-swap between three uniquely skilled characters.

Eradan: Dúnedain Ranger–Stealth and precision with bows and swords

Andriel: Elven Loremaster–Magical support with healing and area-of-effect spells

Farin: Dwarven Champion–Tank-like durability and devastating melee attacks

 

Co-op Fellowship – Play with up to 2 friends online or in split-screen co-op. The survival of your Fellowship and all of Middle-earth depends upon your uniquely skilled heroes working together. Fight together or die alone!

 

Deep RPG Progression – Customize your hero with unique skills, abilities, and gear. Collect powerful weapons and armor to shape your playstyle.

 

Command a Great Eagle – Call upon Beleram, a mighty Great Eagle, to strike from the skies and turn the tide of battle.

 

Iconic Cameos & Locations – Encounter familiar faces like Aragorn, Gandalf, and Elrond as you journey through lore-rich locations including the Elven sanctuaries of Rivendell and Lórien, the daunting heights of The Lonely Mountain, and the fog-laden paths of Mirkwood.

 

Darker, Grittier Middle-earth – Experience the brutal reality of war with mature storytelling, blood-soaked battlefields, and the desperate fight to defend the North against Sauron’s advancing armies.

 

A World Full of Peril – The world is gnawed by nameless things. Face ruthless Orcs, monstrous Trolls, deadly Wargs, spectral Barrow-wights, and the dark sorcery of Agandaûr’s forces in epic battles across Middle-earth. Don’t be hasty—Agandaûr commands even greater terrors, summoning Fell Beasts and Creatures of Shadow to his aid.

 

Forth, and Fear No Darkness! What Say You?!

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System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction . Stellar support and full refunds up to 30 days.
Players' stories
I played this game many times on steam, both solo and with my friend. Another perfect game to explore Middle Earth with story quite fun. Gameplay was pretty cool with those nasty finishers that we could perform on orcs, goblins, men and other beings. I wish it returned so I could nag my best friend to try at play this gem with me.
A very good RPG/action-adventure, which I played many times. It's another fantastic game to explore Middle-Earth with -- the designers know their Tolkien lore, and take you through familiar territory (such as Bree and Elrond's house, which you may have seen in the movies), as well as dangerous places unseen in the movies, like the ruins of Fornost, the Barrow-Downs and the Ettenmoors, among others. You can play one of three heroes (human, dwarf or elf), and the computer will play the other two. Each hero has his/her own strengths and weaknesses, and the battles are fun, high-energy and very intense. (The battles in Mirkwood and Gundabad are especially challenging, and the boss battle in Mirkwood is very scary - but in a fun way!) Highly recommended.
First game i thought of when thinking of what game I would like to preserve- I have this on a Xbox 360 but that will hardly last forever. Super solid Beat em'up with rpg elements, many games were made in this genre since but I can't think of any that I liked as much as this. Played it co-op locally with my brother, but I would love to convince my friends to play it online with me, if given the chance. This is the type of game that is not particularly a masterpiece, but it will stick in your mind over how underrated and surprisingly good it is, and I would hate to see it forgotten to time.

These are the stories shared by fellow gamers as part of GOG Dreamlist.

Game details
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FAQ

What operating systems is The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition compatible with?

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition is officially supported on Windows.

Does The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition have DRM?

No! GOG games have no DRM and can be played without an internet connection, totally offline. Some bonus content might require an internet connection to download, but we do our best to limit that need. Read more about DRM.

Do you need GOG Galaxy to play The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition?

No! You do not need GOG Galaxy to play The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition. GOG gives you the option to download a fully offline installer and install The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition that way, without using GOG Galaxy. GOG Galaxy is used for synchronization of achievements and cloud saves, but its usage is totally optional. Read more about GOG Galaxy.

What are the system requirements for The Lord of the Rings: War in the North™ - Legacy Edition?

Minimum: System: Windows 11, Processor: Intel Core i5-6400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600, Memory: 8 GB, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 / Radeon R9 290X, DirectX: 12, Storage: 25 GB. Recommended: System: Windows 11, Processor: Intel Core i5-12400F /AMD Ryzen 5 5600x, Memory: 16 GB, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 / Radeon RX 6600, DirectX: 12, Storage: 25 GB.

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Overall most helpful review

Edited on: August 12, 2026

Posted on: August 11, 2026

JoaoPauloZA

Verified owner

Games: 1040 Reviews: 63

Flawed masterpiece? No. Fun jank? Yes

It is wild that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition just casually shadow-dropped out of nowhere. For anyone invested in PC game preservation, this release is a massive deal. The original 2011 version was completely scrubbed from digital storefronts years ago, leaving fans high and dry without any legal way to buy it. Getting it back—and completely DRM-free on the GOG Store—is exactly the kind of thing this platform is built for. Thankfully, Aspyr didn't completely butcher the port. The technical upgrades are exactly what this game needed to feel playable on modern rigs. Bumping the visual presentation up to a native, crisp 4K resolution and a smooth 60+ FPS breathes a ton of life into the environment and makes the bloody, limb-chopping combat loops feel incredibly responsive. For anyone rolling solo, they finally added a character hot-swap feature. The original game forced you to stick to one character per stage while babysitting brain-dead companion AI. Now, you can cycle between Eradan, Andriel, and Farin on the fly mid-fight, jumping from heavy melee tanking to spellcasting or ranged bow snipes without losing momentum. If you actually have a fellowship to play with, the classic local split-screen and three-player online co-op are intact and work beautifully. The narrative is easily the best part of the package because Snowblind Studios actually treated Tolkien’s legendarium with massive respect. Tearing through the brutal, uncompressed northern front of the war while crossing paths with iconic characters is a massive payoff for deep-lore enthusiasts. That being said, don't walk into this expecting a full-blown remake. Aspyr clearly prioritized basic performance and co-op optimization over a structural overhaul. This means the game heavily retains its mid-2011 clunkiness, highly linear dungeon-crawling layouts, and repetitive combat encounters. They also didn't touch the sandbox balance whatsoever. Certain skills, like Farin’s explosive crossbow or Andriel’s localized invincibility shield, are still hilariously broken and entirely trivialize the game's higher difficulties. If you are looking for a sanitized, over-polished modern AAA masterpiece with hand-holding mechanics, you are going to hate this. But at a base price of $17.99, it is an honest, rugged, and nostalgic trip through Middle-earth that finally gets the framerate headroom and accessibility it always deserved. EDIT: 4k resolution is supported. I do not have a 4k monitor to test it natively, but I enabled DSR factors on my 1440p monitor and was able to play in 4k. There are a few odd peculiarities, however. I can only play in exclusive-fullscreen. If I turn on borderless mode, the image becomes stretched out larger than the monitor's display area (After some research, I do believe this is normal DSR behavior though). Also, the engine's frame delivery is completely broken. The game only operates in hard steps of 60 or 120 FPS. If you run a custom refresh rate like 75Hz or 100Hz, it ignores your active settings completely, and forcing V-Sync via driver panels fails to fix it. You cannot get it to dynamically hit intermediate frame targets without forcing an external third-party frame limiter (RTSS).


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Posted on: August 12, 2026

exviscerous

Games: 375 Reviews: 24

features added; features removed

Buyer beware: the LAN matchmaking feature (present in the original) is not available in this re-release. There are some really nice quality-of-life improvements; some minor graphics tweaks and improved UI, as well as the VERY welcome addition of split-screen being brought to the PC version (originally only present on the console versions). Online matchmaking is back-in-action, but if you're the type of person who prefers LAN matches, you will be let down by the absence of that integral feature.


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Posted on: August 11, 2026

Azgiliat

Verified owner

Games: 194 Reviews: 22

Yes, yes, YES!!! ❤️🔥

YES!!! I’ve been waiting for this game to come to GOG for such a long time! It’s absolutely awesome. Thank you, GOG, for finally bringing it here — you’ve made my day and given me so many great emotions! ❤️🔥


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Posted on: August 12, 2026

CainhurstRaven

Verified owner

Games: 243 Reviews: 1

Crazy but very welcome shadow drop.

I have fond memories of playing this with two other friends as a young teen, swapping controllers every so often because couch co-op was only two players, trying to pull an all-nighter, occasionally having to quickly pause the game and turn the TV off to fake being asleep whenever we heard movement upstairs. Seeing it come back from being trapped in limbo after all these years was a sudden and welcome surprise, especially since it brings functional multiplayer with it. I had grabbed a copy on Steam shortly before it got delisted, but never had a good way to play it with anyone, until now. Admittedly, the game is a little clunky in terms of controls these days, but if you're fine with PS3/360 era action games, it won't be anything you can't handle. I find solo play to be fine, if a little dull personally, but with a friend or two, this game really shines as a great time. Fully co-op action RPGs feel like a rarity now, and $20 is not a bad asking price, even better if you catch it on sale to buy a copy for both you and a friend (or convince them to part with their own cash instead). The one thing I can say against this port is that at first install it kept crashing when attmepting to open it, but moving it to a different drive worked and I've had no issues in the few hours I played since.


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Posted on: August 12, 2026

Moskatelli

Verified owner

Games: 80 Reviews: 1

One of the Best

This LotR game is the 3rd better game of the Saga ever... The best in My humble opinion is the LotR The Third Age for PS2, that I'm still waiting for The GOG to save!


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