Lord of the Rings: War in the North

War in the North is a third-person action RPG from Snowblind Studios, the team behind Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. If those names ring a bell, you already have a rough idea of what you are getting: a loot-driven, co-op-focused dungeon crawler wearing a prestige IP's coat. The story runs parallel to the main Lord of the Rings events, kicking off at the Prancing Pony where Aragorn recruits three largely unknown heroes to deal with Agandaur, a Black Numenorean lieutenant of Sauron pushing into the northern kingdoms. It is a clever premise that genuinely expands the lore, pulling in figures like Halbarad and the twin sons of Elrond while Frodo and company get all the cinematic glory. You pick one of three characters at the start: Eradan, a Dunedain Ranger who excels with a bow and light melee; Andriel, an Elven Loremaster who can dual-wield swords, cast offensive spells, or spec into healing; and Farin, a Dwarf Champion who swings axes, fires a crossbow, and triggers War-Cry to buff the whole party. Each has a three-section skill tree covering their class-defining active ability, an AoE attack, and a single-target strike, with passive branches pushing you toward specialisation or versatility. Stats are split between Strength, Will, Stamina, and Dexterity, and each governs what gear your character can actually equip, so a lopsided build will lock you out of items rather than just underperform in combat. You can re-spec via a vendor item, but it costs real in-game currency, so your early choices have some teeth. Each character also unlocks class-specific world interactions: Andriel opens elf doors, Farin smashes hidden walls and mines for gem crafting, Eradan uncovers arrow stashes. These are mostly treasure-chest rewards rather than story branches, but they give you a concrete reason to replay levels with a different character. The honest assessment is that the RPG framework is shallower than the genre label implies. Dialogue options exist but exist mostly for lore flavour; they do not branch the story or carry moral weight. Enemy variety is limited, areas funnel you forward in a fairly linear progression, and battle fatigue sets in well before the credits roll. The AI companions work just well enough to keep a solo run viable, but they will not impress anyone coming from a game with proper party tactics. Co-op with two human partners is where the whole experience clicks into a genuinely enjoyable rhythm, the carnage is satisfying, the loot comparison loop is pleasantly compulsive, and the New Game Plus mode carries your stats and gear into harder difficulties so the grind has a reason to continue. Beleram, a Great Eagle who assists you in certain battles, is also a small delight and deserves more games. For a Tolkien obsessive, there is real value in a story that treats the north of Middle-earth as more than a footnote. The art direction borrows heavily from Peter Jackson's films and mostly succeeds, with environments ranging from rain-swept Bree through Mirkwood to Carn Dum, each visually distinct. The soundtrack holds up. The writing is not going to make you put the controller down and stare at the ceiling the way Disco Elysium does, and the three protagonists remain frustratingly thin compared to the famous faces they brush past, but as a co-op romp through a corner of the lore that rarely gets screen time, it scratches an itch that almost nothing else currently does.

Monika · Scout Team

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