Celebrate Rings of Power’s return with free Lord of the Rings games via Prime Gaming

By Carli Velocci Published September 5, 2024

Your character riding a dragon that's shooting fire breath at a bunch of orcs. — Warner Bros. Games

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power just came back for its second season, and Amazon Prime Gaming is showing up to appropriately offer a number of free The Lord of the Rings games for Prime users.

The highlights here are the critically acclaimed Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year edition and Lego: The Lord of the Rings, which are both free to claim for GOG with a Prime subscription. Both are available now. If you use Luna, you can also grab Middle-earth: Shadow of War. On September 19, you can grab Lego: The Hobbit as well.

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Shadow of Mordor is most known for its Nemesis System, a unique gameplay mechanic that basically amounts to random enemies remembering you across fights. If you kill one orc, for example, he won’t have the chance to rise in the ranks, but another might if they last long enough. It makes it feel like your actions have narrative consequences in a way that few games have attempted since.

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Like other Lego games, The Lord of the Rings version lets you play out the original trilogy but with Lego minifigs. The same goes for Lego: The Hobbit.

Continuing the streak from last month of Borderlands game series discounts to coincide with the movie release, Prime Gaming is also offering a number of Borderlands games for free on the Epic Games Store. You’ll get the immensely popular Borderlands 2, along with the spinoffs The Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands.

You can check out the full list of games coming to the service below. Just keep an eye on the code that’s being made available. Amazon is offering codes for GOG, the Epic Games Store, and its own Amazon Games App.

Available now

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition (GOG Code)
LEGO The Lord of the Rings (GOG Code)
Borderlands 2 (Epic Games Store)
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Epic Games Store)
GreedFall: Gold Edition (GOG Code)
Whispered Secrets: Everburning Candle Collector’s Edition (Amazon Games App)
Minabo — A Walk through Life (Amazon Games App)
Eternights (Epic Games Store)
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (Amazon Games App)
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (Epic Games Store)

September 12

Tales from the Borderlands (Epic Games Store)
9 Years of Shadows (GOG Code)
Moonlighter (GOG Code)
Golfie (Amazon Games App)
Cursed to Golf (GOG Code)
Hell Pie (GOG Code)
Showgunners (GOG Code)
Arcadegeddon (Epic Games Store)

September 19

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales (GOG Code)
The Falconeer (GOG Code)
LEGO The Hobbit (GOG Code)
I Love Finding Cats & Pups — Collector’s Edition (Legacy Games Code)
Kerbal Space Program (GOG Code)

September 26

Mystery Case Files: Black Crown — Collector’s Edition (Amazon Games App)
Ghost Song (GOG Code)
Ynglet (Amazon Games App)
Black Desert (Pearl Abyss Code)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (Amazon Games App)

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

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Lord of the Rings gaming and movie rights are up for sale

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The gaming, movie merchandising, and live event rights for The Lord of the Rings franchise are up for sale, Variety reports.
Zaentz Co. currently holds the rights to these Lord of the Rings rights, and it is selling them with the help of ACF Investment Bank. Variety claims that these rights could be worth up to $2 billion to the right buyer.

As for potential buyers, Variety theorized that Amazon may be a suitor because of its upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Amazon Prime television series. It would also be a compelling franchise for Amazon Game Studios to have at its disposal. Amazon previously canceled a Lord of the Rings MMO, so we wouldn't be surprised if it returned to the idea if it owned the IP rights.
Daedalic Entertainment is currently working on a game starring Gollum, though it's doubtful it could afford to buy the rights.
Warner Bros. is also a potential buyer. It produced the popular Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film series, and WB Games has also developed several titles set in that world, including Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War. The developer of those games is now working on a Wonder Woman game, and Variety reports that WB lost exclusive film rights last year. As such, its interest in acquiring these rights is questionable.
This deal is significant as it will play an important role in the future in terms of of what video games and films based on this franchise come out. Fans of The Lord of the Rings should keep an eye on the results of this sale.

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The best Lord of the Rings games of all time

best lord of the rings games lotr middle earth shadow war featured

Whether you reread the printed trilogy every summer or have the film trilogy box set ready to binge at a moment's notice, there aren't many fantasy fans who haven't revisited J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings world over and over again.

Amazon has two very exciting Lord of the Rings projects in the works. One is the TV series based on the second age, and the second is a massively multiplayer online game (MMO). However, it is going to be a long time before we see either of them. The TV show won’t launch until at least 2021, and the MMO has no release date as of yet. Daedalic Entertainment has a LoTR game coming out a bit sooner: The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a confirmed release on next-generation gaming consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X.

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NYT Connections: hints and answers for Wednesday, December 11

New York Times' Connection puzzle open in the NYT Games app on iOS.

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Some days are trickier than others — just like other NYT Games favorites The Mini and Strands. If you're having a little trouble solving today's puzzle, check out our Connections tips and tricks guide for some good strategies or check out the hints for today's Connections puzzle below. And if you still can't get it, we'll tell you today's answers at the very end.
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