Report: Cancelled LOTR Game by Eidos-Montréal With a Telltale-like Story First Look
Eidos-Montréal is a studio that has participated in the development of major games like the Tomb Raider saga, but lately has been relegated to a support studio for other projects. Following the acquisition by Embracer, the studio has faced several difficulties, such as layoffs and the cancellation of various projects.
According to Insider Gaming, some of these discarded projects included a Legacy of Kain soft-reboot scrapped in 2022, as well as a Lord of the Rings game. This latter project has been described as a game with card-based mechanics and a “Telltale” story spin on it. It is also said that, apparently, development on this game didn’t go very far before being scrapped.
Aside from this description, we haven’t gotten a lot of details about this project, which is understandable given the state of development. However, fans of the Tolkien epic will be glad to know that we’ve gotten our hands on a few images that show a conceptual glimpse into what was being worked on before its cancellation.
Concept Art from Eidos-Montréal’s LOTR Game
The illustrations come from the portfolio of a former Eidos-Montréal artist. In them, we see a variety of different locations inside the world of Middle-earth from a top-down view, which seems to be the way the game would have been played.
There is also a recurring mention in the filenames of what might be the main setting: Umbar, a location described in the books as a major port city on the coast of Gondor, primarily inhabited by pirates. This matches what’s seen here, like with the inclusion of ships and the dry biomes surrounding Umbar.
Another interesting location seen in the images, which fans of the series will recognize, is The Prancing Pony inn, where Frodo and his friends first meet Aragorn. We know this thanks to the image’s filename, which explicitly mentions the location.
The portfolio also includes a single video offering a rotating view of the Bay of Umbar in two different stages: before and after the fall of the city. As described in the LOTR books, this likely depicts the aftermath of several battles where the pirate stronghold was defeated and left in ruins.
The final batch of images offers a look at early gameplay tests, showcasing the transition from concept art to a 3D model of the city. The environment is largely untextured, displaying the grid patterns typical of this early development phase, but it already features basic mechanics like ladder climbing.
Additionally, we can spot red silhouettes that closely resemble Orcs, though a developer note in the level explicitly refers to a “Corsair,” suggesting the game would have featured the pirates of Umbar, perhaps fighting alongside Sauron’s other forces.
It is difficult to visualize how the rumored card-based mechanics would have integrated with the gameplay shown in these images. The top-down perspective strongly suggests real-time melee combat, akin to titles like No Rest for the Wicked. It is possible that the project underwent significant changes during development, or that it aimed for a bold mix of genres.
Ultimately, these glimpses leave us wondering about the unique experience Eidos-Montréal was trying to forge with the LOTR world before the project was shelved for good.
Now the studio is reportedly focused on its next major project, known internally as P11, which is understood to be deep in development. This would be a new third-person, open-world action-adventure IP, being built on Unreal Engine 5, with a potential release targeted for this year.
Stay connected to MP1st and the latest news by following us on Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google News.
Link to your sources, MP1st. You mention a portfolio, but decline to offer any direct evidence of its existence.
Perhaps you will argue that you are trying to protect the source from employer reprisals. Even if you mean well – and frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you contacted sources, suggesting that they take images down, before publishing them on your site, so as to position yourself as the original source – the fact remains that these images are unverified. As readers, how do we know you haven’t fabricated these images?
Our reputation speaks for itself. We don’t make stuff up.
We also protect sources, info, etc. We have been contacted by numerous developers throughout the years regarding stuff like these, and we do not want to endanger their livelihood.
MP1st has a deadly issue with never, ever sourcing. Even though this stuff is almost always publicly accessible and just found on ArtStation and whatever, it’s never sourced to try to gatekeep and desperately retain the prospect of more backlinks. You’re not slick; we know exactly what you’re doing. ‘Endanger their livelihood,’ what, by sharing links to content they’re allowed to post? Try again.
And this is a problem for you because? It’s only an issue for websites trying to steal or not even properly source us, which has happened multiple times.
And no, we also get stuff directly from other sources. How we divulge where we got the info is our discretion; we have had multiple devs email us about the stuff they accidentally post, etc.
At the end of the day, why does it bother you? Unless you write for a site or want to get the info on your own or something, which seems likely. Hiding behind an alias to call us out for what again? For not sharing where we get our sources and reports? Yeah not happening.
You are free to not read or believe our reports, but again, our records speak for themselves. Aside from cancelled projects, we’ve broken multiple stories that turned out 100% legit, which is why a lot of people trust us. We don’t make shit up for views.