Kingdom Come: Deliverance Dev Teases Its Lord of the Rings Open-World RPG

Warhorse Studios, the team behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance, has offered a sneak peek at its upcoming Lord of the Rings game, and it sounds incredibly promising. Last week, Warhorse confirmed it's developing a new game set in the Lord of the Rings universe after months of speculation. The studio described it as an "open world Middle-earth RPG," though the specific era of Tolkien's fantasy world remains unclear. It will likely follow the template of the studio's wildly popular Kingdom Come: Deliverance series.

The project is still far from release, but Warhorse shared some details during a recent community stream. Communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling revealed that the next Kingdom Come game will launch next fiscal year, roughly a year away. However, the Lord of the Rings game has no concrete timeline yet, suggesting it's likely years off.

The Middle-earth team is led by Viktor Bocan, design director on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Stolz-Zwilling called it a "passion project" with a "mind-blowing team" ready to dive deep into the universe. He described the game as "deeply immersive" with a "living world" full of "interesting characters, memorable places, and a strong narrative focus." The team aims to become the "new kings" of the RPG genre with every project, continuing the studio's beloved formula.

"It's important to remind everyone we are only working on the games we want to work on in the way we want to work on them," Stolz-Zwilling said. "That stands us apart from maybe other big studios. As long as we have this power and trust, I think we will absolutely rock."

While many Middle-earth games exist, including Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, there's never been a proper expansive RPG in the universe. Most are action-adventure, MMO, or strategy games. Warhorse aims to fill that gap, much like IO Interactive was tapped for a 007 game after years of fan requests.

The game enters development during a Lord of the Rings resurgence. A new live-action film, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, is in the works with original cast members returning. While the game likely won't coincide with that film, another opportunity exists: Stephen Colbert is writing The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past, set over a decade after Frodo's death. That film has no release date, so potential synergy could come later.