The original BFME set a pretty high bar by letting you summon a Balrog or the Army of the Dead, but a prequel set in the First Age could see you commanding hordes of dragon-riding Balrogs as you lay siege to Elven fortresses. For starters, no videogames have been set in Middle-earth’s First or Second Age, which both feature battles that dwarf the conflicts of the War of the Ring. There are so many eras and regions in Middle-earth that haven’t been explored outside of the novels. So, given that several major Middle-earth books have been published in the 15 years since BFME2’s release, and games like Age of Empires 4 and the Total War series are proving people are still hungry for RTS games, what if there was a new Battle for Middle-earth game?

Shadow of War came close with its multi-stage siege warfare, but your role as a commander is much more hands-on than in Battle for Middle-earth, so it always feels like Talion against the armies of Sauron, rather than a large-scale battle between two factions. There have been plenty of videogames set in Middle-earth since The Battle for Middle-earth II was released in 2006, but they’ve all struggled to capture the diversity and scope of Tolkien’s world. While the movies remain some of the best pieces of fantasy ever put to celluloid, and can be easily purchased and enjoyed online, the same can’t be said for the best Lord of the Rings games on PC: The Battle for Middle-earth series. I feel pretty lucky to have grown up with Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptations of JRR Tolkien’s seminal The Lord of the Rings novels.

Second age total war