Lord of the Rings Heroes of Middle-Earth Gacha Game Released

Lord of the Rings Heroes of Middle-Earth is a free-to-play mobile gacha game that has players re-enacting many moments from the books.

Lord of the Rings Heroes of Middle-Earth is out now on both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store as a free-to-play turn-based hero collector RPG with gacha elements. The game was developed by Capital Games and published by Electronic Arts.

It's the Lord of the Rings gacha game that (we think) no LotR fan ever asked for.

First revealed exactly a year ago, Heroes of Middle-Earth takes creative licenses by introducing a new Ring of Power, one wielded by the player, which gives them the magical power to jump along the Lord of the Rings timeline, working as a sort of auditor, making sure that the timeline stays “on track” by influencing the battles that take place along the timeline and aiding the camp of the supposed victors in all of those battles.

This premise gives Heroes of Middle-Earth the perfect excuse to have the game cover the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, covering even parts that the films didn't (which definitely should make any LotR fan happy). And by covering the entirety of the lore, this gives Capital Games the opportunity to include all characters in the game, as well as “alternate reality” versions as well as multiple versions of the same character hailing from different events in the franchise. And thus, Lord of the Rings Heroes of Middle-Earth features “one of the deepest collections of Tolkien characters in a game,” from Frodo to Gandalf the Grey as well as the Nazgül, and “other lore-inspired characters.”

“Our vision for The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth invites players to shape a brand new narrative around the powers of the new Ring of Power with endless possibilities,” says Capital Games Game Director Nicolas Reinhart. “We wanted to give players a space to explore one of the most diverse, inclusive and story-rich version of Middle-earth where they can assemble beloved heroes, shine a spotlight on characters referenced but never shown before in the literature, and even upgrade and modify their characters to elevate the way players interact with their squads.”

Fans who are worried that the game would stray far from Tolkien's works are reassured by Capital Games, as they've actually partnered with Middle-Earth Enterprises for this production, ensuring that no lore was trampled with in this game. In any case, fans are free to treat this game as the non-canon game that it is, and simply enjoy the hero collector gacha game found within. There's still fun to be had in these kinds of games, after all, and Capital Games definitely knows how to make a compelling one, as they've shown with their hero collector game for Star Wars, Galaxy of Heroes.