Le Seigneur des anneaux (The Lord of the Rings)

The Lord of the Rings franchise was born from the books of J.R.R. Tolkien, later adapted for film by Peter Jackson; it has a wide variety of experimentations in terms of video games. Almost every genre has been explored, from cooperative beat 'em up to open-world RPG. From the late 80s, the first micro adaptations (Melbourne House) laid the groundwork, but it was in the early 2000s, with Peter Jackson's films, that the license truly exploded on consoles.

Electronic Arts released a series of iconic action games where The Two Towers and especially The Return of the King remain memorable, as they successfully capture the spectacle of the battles of Gondor and Mordor. At the same time, Vivendi offered The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, an RPG clearly inspired by Final Fantasy X, while Turbine paved the way for MMOs with The Lord of the Rings Online, still active today and regularly updated.

More recently, the license has taken bolder turns with the action/stealth games Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, carried by the Nemesis system that has become a reference in terms of design. Less noticed releases like the controversial The Lord of the Rings: Gollum are not enough to tarnish a Middle-earth with a unique vocation, illustrated by the announcement of an ambitious open-world action-RPG project mentioned by Warhorse Studios.