Here's What The Lord of the Rings RPG From Troika Games Would Have Looked Like
The co-founder of Troika Games has shared information and materials from a long-forgotten project. Years ago, the iconic studio was working on a game based on Tolkien's trilogy.
Timothy Cain, co-founder of Troika Games and author of such iconic projects as Arcanum or Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, debuted a few days ago with his new channel on YouTube. There, the U.S. developer shares his thoughts on culture, and recalls stories from his time at Troika Games.
One of the most interesting threads raised by Cain is the story of a game based on The Lord of the Rings, which nearly became one of the projects being developed by the iconic studio.
Great potential for an original project
According to Cain, the idea to create a game based on Tolkien's books germinated shortly after the completion of work on Arcanum. A publisher previously working with the studio, Sierra Entertainment, approached the team with a proposal to develop a game based on the iconic book series (Jackson's films were still in production at the time).
Keenly interested in the idea, the studio developed a preliminary design document, including basic information and ideas related to the potential product. Among the most important features of the project Tim Cain lists:
- heroes united as part of a "shadow fellowship" - a group of daredevils who set out for Mordor before the actual mission to destroy the ring, with the goal of "clearing the way."
- the presence of powerful artifacts in the game, such as other rings of power or the Palantiri;
- a "corruption" mechanic that would result in permanent negative changes in characters.
These ideas appealed to the publisher, so much so that the publisher asked Troika Games to create a sample demo of the game. A very early mock-up of the unnamed game has actually survived to this day (the developer presents the demo from the 5th minute of the video). While guiding the audience through the Hobbiton mock-up, Cain amusedly points out that in order to showcase the prototype models, the studio decided to populate the idyllic Hobbit village with spiders.
Disappointing finale
Unfortunately, the ambitious project ended its life from little interest. Sierra Entertainment, after seeing design documents and an early demo, decided to take over work on the project, which was canceled in the following months.
Recalling the project years later, Timothy Cain says with humor:
"What I like to tell people now, and what I'm proud of, is that I was never paid to make [complete - ed. note] a game that was never released."
The story of Troika Games' never-realized game may cause some grief. Who knows, maybe if the project had seen the light of day, it would have been mentioned contemporaneously with similar awe as other productions of the famous studio.
