Lord of the Rings: War in the North is getting a physical release, 15 years after it came out
Limited Run Games opens pre-orders on October 2 for the Legacy Edition of the 2011 co-op RPG, on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox. A $49.99 standard and a $79.99 deluxe with a cloth map are on the way.
Limited Run Games is putting The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Legacy Edition on a disc and a cartridge. Pre-orders open October 2, and the store lists the release for Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox.
The two editions
The standard edition is $49.99 and ships with a slipcover and a Wayfinder's Ledger booklet. The deluxe is $79.99 and adds a steelcase, a cloth map and a weathered in-fiction letter with a foreword by Jed Brophy, who played Nori in Peter Jackson's Hobbit films. Both are open for pre-order until 11:59 PM Eastern on Sunday, December 13, which is the usual Limited Run pattern: a fixed window, then the run closes.
What the Legacy Edition is
Limited Run's own listing describes a three-player co-op campaign running alongside the Fellowship's journey, with one to two players on a single system and up to three online. That online support is worth noting given how much of the original's appeal was playing it with two friends.
Why it matters
War in the North was a licensed tie-in that quietly became a cult co-op RPG, and for years the only way to play it was a digital copy that could disappear. A physical run, with online co-op intact, is the closest thing it has had to preservation.
Why it matters
A 2011 co-op RPG that lived only as a delistable digital purchase is getting a physical edition with its online play intact, which is preservation as much as nostalgia.