Lord of the Rings: War in the North Remaster Shadow Drops on PS5

A Shadow Drop From Middle-earth

Out of absolutely nowhere, a remaster of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North has appeared on PS5. According to Push Square, the title is available to purchase right now as the “Legacy Edition,” priced at $19.99 with a 10% launch discount for PS Plus subscribers. No fanfare, no countdown, no press release tour. Just a surprise appearance, fifteen years after the original game launched on PS3 in 2011.

The remaster is reportedly the work of Aspyr, a studio that has built its reputation around bringing older titles back to modern hardware. The PS5 release also appears to include PS4 support, per comments on the Push Square article, though the official listing emphasizes PS5.

What You Are Actually Getting

War in the North is a linear hack-and-slash dungeon crawler set in Tolkien’s world, with co-op support for up to three players, both online and via split screen. That co-op foundation was always the game’s main pitch, and this Legacy Edition reportedly carries it forward. However, the re-release also claims the adventure is now “solo optimised,” which is a meaningful addition given that solo players in the original reportedly ran into some genuinely strange design decisions.

As reported by Push Square’s Robert Ramsey, one recurring complaint from the original involved switching between characters, which could create a new game instance and wipe out gear collected for a previous character. Whether that particular quirk has been addressed in the Legacy Edition is not yet confirmed.

The original PS3 version scored a 61 on Metacritic. Reviewers at the time broadly appreciated the authentic Lord of the Rings atmosphere but found the gameplay repetitive, the level design flat, and the characters uninteresting. On top of that, bugs were described as pretty bad. None of that is a sterling foundation for a surprise re-release.

Worth the Impulse Buy?

Push Square advises caution, and that feels like reasonable counsel. Ramsey notes that the surprise release suggests the publisher may be counting on players snapping this up on the strength of the IP alone. The Lord of the Rings name carries a lot of nostalgic weight, especially for anyone who grew up with the early 2000s EA games based on the Peter Jackson films. Those titles, War in the North less so, are frequently brought up in discussions about the best licensed games ever made, and there is genuine appetite for their return.

War in the North is a different animal. It had an original cast of characters rather than film likenesses, and it arrived at the tail end of that particular era of Middle-earth games. For players who spent time with it in co-op, there seems to be real affection for the experience, even alongside the frustrations. For solo players, the memories are considerably colder.

At $19.99, or roughly $18 with the PS Plus discount, the price is low enough that the risk is limited. But Push Square’s advice to check out gameplay footage first, and wait to see whether the original’s bugs have been cleaned up, seems wise. A fifteen-year-old game with known stability issues and no prior announcement deserves a little scrutiny before you hand over your card details. The Legacy Edition is available on PS5 right now if you want to find out for yourself.