Lord of the Rings game is now on the Play Store, and it takes place in the movie universe. At this point; you’d think free-to-play developers like NetEase would have run out of brands to slap on top of the typical free-to-play genres we’re all familiar with; and then a new disappointing announcement comes rolling in.

It would appear that NetEase is working on a licensed The Lord of the Rings game; which just popped up on the Play Store for pre-registration. It’s called The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and even though neither the Play Store trailer nor the screenshots show a lick of gameplay; we already know this title will land as a typical free-to-play kingdom builder.

The above Play Store trailer is simply a cinematic, so there isn’t any gameplay in the video; and honestly, the trailer is hardly impressive; thanks to 3D animation that looks like it belongs in a game trailer from 2002. It’s like NetEase isn’t even trying; but seeing that this lack of effort tends to make similar companies millions with each new branded release; I doubt this trend will stop anytime soon.

More or less, The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a kingdom-building game where you’ll build a settlement, assemble an army, and join factions to take on other player groups with the combined effort of your armies. Nothing we haven’t seen a million times over, but this time with a LoTR skin. What’s really crazy is that NetEase apparently paid for access to actor likenesses, so Rise to War is an officially licensed game that exists in the LoTR movie world created by Peter Jackson.

In the game you build armies and expand territories as you search for the One Ring. It’s set in the Third Age of Middle-earth (the one in which the Lord of the Rings trilogy is set), and includes famous franchise characters such as Aragorn and Elrond.

You can choose to be good or evil, siding with either Fellowships or Warbands. There’s a tile-based map design on which you fight to expand your territory. Each victory claims another piece, each defeat losing land.

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