As one of the cornerstone pieces of fantasy literature, it’s no surprise that there’s so many video games based onThe Lord of the Rings.J.R.R. Tolkien’s magnum opus has defined fantasy stories for decades, and its epic story provides source material to developers, who create games of all shapes and sizes. Some developers decide to retellThe Lord of the Ringsdirectly, like Traveller’s Tales inLEGO Lord of the Rings,while others create their own stories about Middle-earth, like Monolith Productions’Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.The Lord of the Ringsisn’t the only Tolkien work with video games, though;The Hobbithas seen a fair few video game retellings too.
The Hobbithasn’t been quite as prolific asThe Lord of the Ringsin terms of inspiring video games, but it still has a pretty impressive track record. The family of video game adaptations ofThe Hobbitreaches across some 40 years of video game development, essentially connecting current times with the dawn of the video game industry.The Lord of the Rings: Gollumsuggests that video games based on Tolkien’s work are hardly a thing of the past, so one wonders if more adaptation ofThe Hobbitare on the horizon. If that’s the case, there’s a couple notable past games to take inspiration from.
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Early Adaptations of The Hobbit
The Hobbit’s very first video game adaptation was an illustrated text-based adventure game from Beam Software simply titledThe Hobbit.It premiered in 1982exclusively for the ZX Spectrumcomputer, but arrived on several other home computers later in the 1980s. Reception forThe Hobbitwas largely positive thanks to creative use of the source material; rather than adapting the book’s text beat for beat, it took creative liberties and left room for player freedom. Notably,The Hobbitwas released along with copies of the book, encouraging players to read Tolkien’s work and follow in Bilbo’s official footsteps.
Beam Software’sThe Hobbitwas a financial success, but nevertheless, some time passed before another game adaptation came along. Finally, in 2003, Sierra Entertainment released an action-adventure platformer also simply calledThe Hobbit.Unlike its predecessor, Sierra’sThe Hobbitwas much more loyal to the book’s plot, closely following Bilbo’s journey alongsideThorin’s band of dwarves, which earned it some praise from fans and critics. Unfortunately, it saw a mixed reception overall. Critics weren’t impressed by its gameplay, and opinions on its colorful, whimsical aesthetic were split.
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A New Wave of The Hobbit Games
Unsurprisingly, the next attempts atThe Hobbitvideo games came in the early 2010s, following in the wake ofPeter Jackson’sThe Hobbittrilogy. Kabam and Warner Bros. released a couple of games directly based on the movies, including a mobile strategy game calledThe Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earthand a web browser game calledThe Hobbit: Allies of the Third Age.Traveller’s Tales also contributed to the hype around Peter Jackson’s film series withLEGO The Hobbit,which followed in the wake ofLEGO The Lord of the Rings' success.
Once again,The Hobbitgame adaptations have fallen out of favor, but interest inThe Lord of the Ringsand other Tolkien media may be on the rise again. Amazon’s upcoming showThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerpromises to tell some compelling stories about Middle-earth’s past, while Daedalic Entertainment’sThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumshows thatLotRgames still have a lot of potential. Because of these projects, fans may yet see another adaptation ofThe Hobbitappear in the future. Whether it’s a high-action game in the style ofMiddle-earth: Shadow of Waror a more stealthy adventure likeGollum, it’d be great to see another developer takeThe Hobbitfor a spin.
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