Every six or seven months (yes, I said that on purpose), I reset my brain and come to yearn for The Lord of the Rings. It’s become tradition at this point, one where I’d get so obsessed with anything LOTR that I’d re-download every single old game to try out after finishing the movies, including The Hobbit.
But as the years have progressed, I’ve also come to want to play something new. Unfortunately, outside some small-scale and generally bad-quality projects, there really isn’t anything happening in the video game department of Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
It could be due to various IP licensing issues (Embracer Group owns the Middle-earth video game IP, after all, and it’s not doing all too great these days) or whatever else that’s been preventing The Lord of the Rings from being applied to our interactive virtual corner of reality.
But licenses and other issues are by no means barriers for one particular group of people who, of their own volition and free of charge, produce content and AAA-quality games based on existing products that merely serve as a framework for their ambitions.
Yes, I’m talking about modders, and it’s exactly they who have saved my current LOTR craze with the full release of The Dawnless Days mod for Total War: Attila.
The mod is, as you could have guessed, a total overhaul of the original game that transforms it into one of the best The Lord of the Rings strategy games out there. The scope is epic, to say the least, with a massive map, a good chunk of factions, beautiful settlements and art, and armies that Peter Jackson would be proud of.
Of course, it is visually congruent with the movies (and uses the films’ original score, too), but has a ton of its own unique designs that fit perfectly with the tone and mythological vibes of LOTR itself.
The backdrop is Total War: Attila, and many of its mechanics also apply here. However, The Dawnless Days has its own victory conditions based on dominance and the incessant battle between Good and Evil, with the good guys (Dúnedain, Northmen, Dwarves, and Elves) having to outwit and outfight the Shadow that has come to grip the world (Easterlings, Southrons, Saruman, and Sauron).
You have to exert influence, control settlements, cleanse regions of Evil (or Good), and attempt to establish a new order in Middle-earth, modeled after whatever faction you’re currently playing as.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve tried my luck with Rohan and the Dwarves, these being the factions that are generally easiest for newer players as they start out with some rather good units and can quickly recruit more. On the other hand, they’re bordered by not-so-powerful factions (early Isengard and Orc rabble, respectively), and you can speedily dispatch them if need be.
Aside from the dominance mechanic, the unique pros and cons of every faction are lore-accurate and immersive. In the case of Rohan, for example, King Théoden has Grima Wormtongue as his advisor, who whispers black thoughts into his mind as it slowly slips into madness and comes under the control of Saruman. This is reflected in the gameplay as your realm loses stability, Saruman’s effects grow stronger, and your King slowly loses his grip on reality.
You can then progress technologies, sacrificing actual technological advancements, to lower Saruman’s influence and help the King regain his sense of self.
This adds a ton of roleplay potential to the game, which otherwise doesn’t have that much of it (unless you love historical settings and love to LARP as a fifth-century Hun). In that respect, it reminds me a lot of TW: Warhammer 3, which, though it has tons of advantages over older titles, loses in diplomacy and sieges by a wide margin.
Which brings me to another remarkable point where this mod shines. Every single settlement, great or small or unique, is made into an actual, realistic place where people live. That helps you recreate some of the most epic battles in The Lord of the Rings proper, from Helm’s Deep to Pelennor Fields.
Each of these settlements is represented on the map, with those unique locations from the lore, including Argonath, Barad-Dûr, Erebor, and literally everything else, clearly being shown on the campaign map in all their glory.
I could continue talking on and on and on about this tremendous undertaking, but my advice to you would be to just go buy Attila or download it if you already did and get the mod from Nexus. It’s one of the best things to have ever happened to any Total War game and is a true treat for any LOTR fan out there.
It truly is fantastic.
