Lord of The Rings: The Battle For Middle-earth was arguably one of the best real-time strategy (RTS) games out there back in the day and this fan remake is chock full of nostalgia.
Originally released in 2004, Electronic Arts held the rights to make games based on Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy.
Eventually, the license was ham-fistedly moved over to Warner Bros in 2008, leaving the real-time-strategy Lord of the Rings games behind. This switch made it extremely difficult to get the original games working on modern computers, let alone procuring a physical copy.
Now, in 2020, a group of die-hard fans of the game are collaborating to re-create The Battle for Middle-earth in Unreal Engine 4 and we've just been given our first look at it.
Battle for Middle-earth: Reforged was first announced as being worked on in 2018 and, from the trailer above, we can see just how far the project has come.
The gameplay shown gives us a look at creating units like Uruk pike units, Berserkers, Trolls and, of course, everyone's favourite sneak Grima Wormtongue.
The Reforged project is all about making the game playable again in the modern age, as well as giving it something of a graphical update and some new features.
For reference, here's some gameplay of the original Battle For Middle Earth, in all its dated jank:
According to the official Discord channel set up by the team, many of the people involved in this are working on it full time, which is probably why it has come so far in just two years.
People who played the game when it first came out no-doubt have strong feelings about Battle for Middle-Earth, along with many other EA-led Lord of The Rings titles like RPG The Third Age or the stellar Return of the King game.
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It's reassuring to see how well it's going and we wonder just how long it will be until the game is made available to a wider audience.
The current plan for BFME:Reforged is to work towards a beta with two factions to select from. There will then be more added as development continues.
To keep up with all the progress made, check out the official forum here and if you want to try and help with the project, get involved in the Discord group.