The 5 Worst Lord of the Rings Games Ever Made (But Are They All Really That Bad?)

As one of the most beloved fantasy IP around, The Lord of the Rings has spawned its fair share of video game adaptations. And many of them have been incredibly solid RPGs, from straightforward retellings to more expansive takes like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. In recent years, however, many of us have been less than thrilled with new entries in the Lord of the Rings video game universe. Indeed, it’s been a while since a truly great game set in Middle-earth has made its debut. But have all of the so-called worst Lord of the Rings games actually been as bad as reviews would have us believe?

I find it interesting that many of the Lord of the Rings games with the worst reviews also happen to be the most recent entries. Has the quality of LOTR-inspired gaming really fallen off that badly? Or is something else going on here? Many of the earlier video game adaptations of Tolkien’s works were RPGs, a natural fit for the fantasy setting. More recent games, on the other hand, have attempted to branch out and incorporate trends from popular genres like survival and life sim games. Could it be that some of these maligned games aren’t actually as bad as reviewers say? I decided to take a look at Metacritic’s rankings of the worst Lord of the Rings games to see just how much they really deserve their bad reputations.

5) The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest

Metascore: 58

This game might be tied with Tales of the Shire in terms of Metascore, but its higher User Score of 7.4/10 earns it a slot above the cozy game. This 2010 release initially launched for the Nintendo Wii, with later ports bringing it to PS3 and Nintendo DS. Like many games of that time period, it suffered in part from efforts to make use of motion-sensor tech. It used the Wii’s nunchuck and, later, PlayStation Move in its combat sequences, to mixed reviews. Aragorn’s Quest attempted to offer a new way of exploring familiar characters from the original trilogy, using a frame story of Sam telling his son tales of Aragorn’s adventures.

Aragorn’s Quest tried to combine the high fantasy of Aragorn’s adventures with the cozier world of the Shire. Gameplay offered a mix of both Shire exploration as Sam’s son and action sequences as Aragorn. And while it didn’t land especially well with critics, the game did find some footing with a general audience. Critics faulted the game’s storytelling and fairly simple quests, largely deeming the game “forgettable.” But the user review average of 7.4 proves that not everyone hated this take on The Lord of the Rings. Younger audiences in particular will find much to enjoy from the sandbox-style, quest-driven RPG. It’s also pretty solid for couch co-op.

4) Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game

Metascore: 58

Remember that time that I gave Tales of the Shire a fairly positive review and almost no one else did? I certainly do. So it’s already pretty clear where I personally stand with this being tied for the 5th-worst Lord of the Rings game of all time. To be fair, many of the negative reviews make valid points. The game had a lot of glitches at launch, and its story is quite short. And while it’s billed as a farming sim, the cooking mechanic is far more the game’s focus.

However, I’m not the only one who doesn’t think Tales of the Shire is all that bad. While the User Score on Metacritic is a harsh 3.8, the game actually has a Very Positive rating on Steam. For this one, I think it’s not so much a bad game as it is a game targeted at a very specific audience. If you go in wanting the high fantasy, high-stakes world of Lord of the Rings, you’ll be disappointed. But if you like to cook a lot of pies and take your time foraging for mushrooms, Tales of the Shire will do just fine.

3) The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth

Metascore: 56

Mobile games continue to be a touchy subject for many gaming fans in 2026, So, it’s not too surprising to see that one of the worst-rated Lord of the Rings games is a mobile title. The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth was far from the first mobile take on The Lord of the Rings, but it was ambitious for its time. It sought to offer a multiplayer strategy take on Middle-earth, with players crafting their own armies and then going to war. It performed fairly poorly with critics at launch, in large part due to the heavy grind of earning in-game currencies. Its city building became less enjoyable and more punishing as you went on, leaving many to say it fares poorly even alongside other freemium city builders.

With fans, the game also didn’t fare particularly well. Though some early reviews were positive, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth ended its career with a 3.8/10 user score on Metacritic when it shut down back in 2017. Ultimately, punishing microtransactions seemed to be the primary complaint. The free-to-play strategy game did have a few fans who were sad to see it shut down in 2017, with some Redditors saying it was the “best online game ever.” By and large, however, it does seem that Kingdoms of Middle-earth wasn’t the best offering, even among free Lord of the Rings games.

2)The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

Metascore: 55

This 2009 entry from Pandemic Studios and Electronic Arts tried to build on the success of the Star Wars: Battlefront games, but with a Lord of the Rings twist. Unfortunately, that formula didn’t earn it any favor among critics. The game features 4 playable classes, with both single-player campaign and multiplayer modes. However, its combat fell short, with balance issues and a lack of meaningful differentiation between many of the classes. Graphics and sound were also weak points, with few original cast members reprising their roles. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest also suffered from glitches at launch, further solidifying its 55 Metascore.

But are there any redeeming qualities for Conquest? It has a 6.8/10 User score and a few Reddit threads singing its praises, so it’s safe to say the game wasn’t a total failure. Some players praised the combat as fun, despite its clunkiness, and the game’s online multiplayer remained active until its shutdown in 2010. Many who played it back in the day felt it could’ve been great with a few adjustments, which sadly never came to be. And the game offered one of the more interesting campaigns in Lord of the Rings gaming history, letting you step into the shoes of Sauron himself. Despite a middling performance with critics, Conquest is a fond childhood memory for some Lord of the Rings fans.

1) The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Metascore: 33

It’s hard not to say The Lord of the Rings: Gollum deserves its miserable reputation, if only because few games achieve quite such low aggregate scores. With a 33 Metascore, Gollum is by far the worst-rated Lord of the Rings game to date. In fact, until today, I didn’t know “Overwhelming Dislike” was even an option for User Scores on Metacritic, but The Lord of the Rings: Gollum earned one. The graphics and dated gameplay, along with a heap of technical issues at launch, earned Gollum quite a negative reputation from jump.

Naturally, many gamers decided to check out Gollum just to see if it could really be that bad. It has managed a Mixed, rather than Mostly Negative, rating on Steam, so that’s something. Those who did give the game a positive review say they had fun with it, even if it was incredibly buggy. If The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a selling point, it seems to be the game’s stealth mechanic and a few entertaining bits of dialogue. By and large, however, it will likely take something impressively bad to unseat Gollum as the worst Lord of the Rings game on the market today.

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