Is this the one Aspyr port to rule them all?

Step into a darker, grittier Middle-earth. 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.

I reviewed the original game back in 2011 for Xbox 360 and while I was a bit underwhelmed with it at the time, I have found myself enjoying it a lot more with the Legacy Edition. Letting you swap between the 3 characters quickly is the best quality of life change here.

Besides that, you get the usual visual upgrade to textures, resolution and UI alongside a slightly improved framerate. Being able to either play the game solo or co-op with 2 other players is still a nice touch and I love being able to do either, plus it gives you the freedom of choice on how you play.

I think the big shock about the Legacy Edition is how it launched. It literally shadow dropped onto systems, no-one was expecting it. Aspyr have since said they are working on other LOTR games to bring to modern systems, could we have the hack-n-slash games of Two Towers and ROTK? Or the strategic Battle for Middle-Earth games? Even Conquest would be welcome, I also wouldn’t say no to The Hobbit game, but Aragorn’s Quest can stay put. No thank you. I never played the Fellowship game but heard it was a very mixed bag.

I was a huge fan of the Return of the King entry; I got it for Christmas that year and thought it was brilliant so would love to see it brought to modern systems. But I digress, back to the game at hand…

My main gripe with the original game was that it didn’t really offer a lot in terms of exploration, especially in the wake of games like Skyrim which had recently came out at the time of its launch. Combat itself is good but things like enemy placements can seem a bit random in their design.

The visual improvement is welcome, though it can’t stand out from modern games, so it’s really a case of being more of an option for those who played the original or those who are just Tolkien fans.

The Verdict

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition surprised everyone as Aspyr shadow dropped it. It’s a modest port with some nice visual improvements, but the quick-change of characters is the best quality of life improvement on offer here. It is definitely a welcome one and one that made me give this game another chance. It may have its flaws in design and lack of overall freedom, but it’s a decent action game that you can play either solo or with 2 others. Definitely still one for the Tolkien crowd.

Score: 7.5