The Lord of the Rings Online

The Lord of the Rings Online is among the MMORPGs that chose not to copy the film trilogy but to draw directly from Tolkien's books, and thanks to that it offers players the chance to visit places that did not make it into the films, from Hobbiton through Bree to the vast plains of Rohan. Studio Turbine built the world with a strong emphasis on atmosphere and exploration, so even an ordinary walk through the countryside feels like a trip into a well-known literary world.

The gameplay combines standard MMORPG elements, that is quests, dungeons and a class-based combat system, with a unique system of musical instruments that players can actually play, accompanying the virtual community with their own music. The gradual expansion of the game with new areas of Middle-earth, from Moria through Rohan to Gondor, followed the book storyline and let players live through the War of the Ring step by step alongside iconic characters such as Aragorn or Gandalf, who appear in the game as NPCs.

From the start the game ran on a free-to-play model with an optional subscription, which, together with its faithfulness to the source material, helped it keep a stable player community for many years. Even today, long after release, LOTRO is among the few MMO titles that have survived more than a decade of active operation, and for fans of the Middle-earth of the books it remains one of the most pleasant ways to enter this world and literally walk around in it.