Guardians of Middle-earth

A refined competitive strategy game that combines the high-paced action of League of Legends with RPG elements to add depth and more strategy after endless games.

43%Game Brain Score

gameplay, character development

graphics, stability

21% User Score Based on 794 reviews

Critic Score 71%Based on 7 reviews

Platforms

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About

Guardians of Middle-earth is a single player and multiplayer arcade hack and slash game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Zombie Studios and was released on August 29, 2013. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and negative reviews from players.

A shadow grows over Middle-earth as the greatest armies of the Third Age prepare for the coming battle. Take up arms in the clash over Middle-earth as the most powerful heroes and villains from the greatest fantasy epic of all time. Guardians of Middle-earth delivers an authentic multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game set in Middle-earth! Play with friends to bring up to 10 players together …

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21%

Audience ScoreBased on 794 reviews

gameplay26 positive mentions

graphics15 negative mentions

Well designed for controller use with lots of iconic Middle-earth characters.
Fun and strategic tower and barracks upgrade mechanics add depth.
Suitable for playing with friends or bots, and fair RPG elements with good progression system.

Poor PC port with major mouse and keyboard control issues; gamepad recommended but not perfect.
Extremely low and mostly dead player base, making multiplayer matches hard or impossible to find.
Pay-to-win elements and DLC-heavy content model with expensive additional purchases beyond base game.

gameplay
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
51%
23%
Guardians of Middle-earth's gameplay receives mixed to negative reviews, with many criticizing its clunky controls, poor matchmaking, lack of strategic depth, and pay-to-win elements. While some appreciate unique mechanics like tower upgrades and strategic teamwork, the overall experience is hampered by bugs, unbalanced characters, and minimal player base, making multiplayer difficult. Controller support is noted as a positive aspect, offering smoother gameplay compared to mouse and keyboard.
- “The gameplay itself is really nice, the characters counter each other fairly well, no one character is super OP, the controls and movements are smooth.”
- “The in-match skill mechanics are more to do with teamwork and map awareness than twitch reflexes.”
- “The ability to upgrade and customize defensive towers was an interesting gameplay twist which I'd love to see implemented into other (better) MOBAs.”
- “Worst MOBA ever, no player base, totally broken movements, and boring gameplay.”
- “As mentioned, the game version for PC was strangely abandoned by the developers, leaving terrible servers for the game's matches if at least 3 human players are present, providing constant and huge lag, until being disconnected for excessive ping, along with other gameplay problems caused by these low quality servers, especially, the sticky-attack of the melee heroes that prevents the melee guardians doing some fast actions like attack and fall back.”
- “The characters are about as balanced as a stool that's missing a leg, you need to unlock each of them with in-game currency (for a paid game), the mechanics have no depth at all, not having actual money inside matches, meaning you don't buy items in game.”
graphics
52 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
48%
29%
The graphics of the game are generally regarded as dated and subpar, especially given its relatively recent release, with many reviewers noting the lack of in-game graphics customization options beyond basic settings like resolution and fullscreen. While some appreciate the faithful representation of the Middle-earth setting and find the visuals decent or pleasant, the overall consensus points to bland, uninspired, or muddied graphics that fail to enhance the gameplay experience.
- “The graphics are as good as you’ll find on current-gen systems, if not a bit muddied.”
- “All the champions are really responsive and the graphics enhance my immersion in Tolkien's world.”
- “It's quite beautiful in the graphics department, the heroes are nice and if you like the LOTR universe it's quite compelling.”
- “No graphics options to speak of that I could find, and the graphics are a little dated for a game that's only a couple of years old.”
- “Graphics are horrible and there is no option to modify them at all (only resolution and v-sync - again the console-friendly aspect of the game).”
- “The controls of this PC-port version are clunky and unresponsive, the visuals look dated and the hero design shows no creativity.”
stability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from severe stability issues, including frequent bugs, glitches, crashes, freezes, and poor controls, leading to an overall frustrating and unplayable experience. Many users report mouse and lag problems on PC, contributing to negative gameplay and a declining player base.
- “Don't bother making video games, you would be better at flipping burgers at McDonald's. Still can't get the mouse to work, what a buggy mess.”
- “Somehow this release saw a magnitude of glitches and bugs which made the game unplayable, and until that point hadn't existed.”
- “- Extremely buggy (while I wrote this review I waited 5 minutes for a match which immediately crashed and there is no way to reconnect to a match).”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
18%
63%
The game suffers from extremely poor optimization, particularly for PC mouse and keyboard controls, resulting in unresponsive and clunky gameplay. Performance issues, including lag even in menus, further detract from the experience, making it feel unpolished and badly designed. Overall, the game is widely criticized for its terrible optimization on PC platforms.
- “This game is already junk on the PS3 but the PC version is not even optimized.”
- “The improved game engine performance dramatically boosted the game's overall feel until... we get to the keyboard and mouse controls.”
- “But the game performance seems not.”
- “I was genuinely scared thinking that something happened to my brand new Redragon mouse but, as it turns out, the game is just poorly optimized with mouse controls.”
- “The game is designed to be used with controllers and has very poor PC optimization for mouse and keyboard.”
- “2) Bad optimization: the game lags everywhere (even in menu or champ selection) and every time.”
monetization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
8%
75%
The game's monetization is widely criticized as a blatant cash grab, relying heavily on microtransactions despite an already paid purchase. This approach, combined with minimal content and pay-to-play mechanics, has led to a poor player base and negative reception, particularly among fans of the genre and franchise.
- “Lots of in-game purchases as well.”
- “But if you think about it, League of Legends, HoN, and Demigod all started out at $30 - $40 but then became free to play with monetization.”
- “This game had horrible control port when it was playable (if you provided all your own players) and all the in-game content was just a cash grab, for a game you already paid to install, that has no one playing it, with no extra content, and no extra gameplay dynamics other than level up, attack enemy, and get attacked.”
- “Not to mention, this game has the absolute worst business model (it's pay-to-play with free-to-play microtransactions as well) of any game released to date and it shows in the nonexistent playerbase.”
- “The game presents some mild redeeming value, with quite a lot of familiar faces from the Lord of the Rings series which are well modeled, but you will quickly find that 90% of the characters in the game are for purchase only, therefore turning the game into a bit of a cash grab.”
story
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
28%
43%
The story aspect is widely regarded as weak or nearly non-existent, typical of MOBA games, with users expressing disappointment over the lack of a single-player or co-op story mode. While the game captures the essence of its source material, its narrative depth and originality fall short, making the story a minimal draw for players.
- “In itself, the gameplay is pretty good, the story is non-existent as in most MOBAs, but it does carry the LOTR magic and essence within.”
- “Games like this, League, Dota, and HoTS would be so much better if they had co-op story modes in the style of an action RPG like Diablo or Torchlight.”
- “The characters are slightly different versions of the ones in the movie, the gameplay is boring, samey, and uninspired, and the story is boring as well.”
- “Too bad it didn't have a single player story mode, otherwise it would be enough for some time waster.”
- “No single-player or story to speak of as it is a MOBA.”
character development
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
83%
17%
The game is praised for its strong character design, especially its diverse and well-balanced abilities, as well as faithful representations from related films. However, while the visual and voice acting aspects receive positive notes, some players feel the character development alone isn’t enough to sustain long-term engagement. Overall, character design stands out as a key strength in this MOBA.
- “I love the character designs and wide selection; the abilities feel almost perfectly balanced across classes and characters in this very bare-bones MOBA.”
- “The character design is great and borrows from the films, with pretty top-notch sound as well.”
- “It is very nice to see the character design of the LOTR characters, particularly the bad guys, because we don't know much about them and they look very cool!”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
80%
20%
The music in the game is generally regarded as pleasant and fitting, with a notable "Lord of the Rings" vibe that complements the setting well. While some users find it nice and atmospheric, others see it as unremarkable but adequate. Overall, the soundtrack contributes positively to the game's familiar and fresh ambiance.
- “Got this game in a Humble Bundle and decided to check it out; the LOTR feel is somewhat present, the music is nice and floating, the interface looks LOTR-ish but the gameplay is just weird.”
- “Setting and music is great, gameplay is fresh and familiar.”
- “Community is dead, but I suppose the menu music is nice.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in this game is largely unintentional, stemming from its numerous flaws, crashes, and poor design, which users find ironically amusing. While some compare it humorously to similar, more polished games, the overall comedic value is more about frustration and absurdity than crafted jokes.
- “Gameplay is humorous at best, having missed some of the tactile functions that make LoL and Dota 2 responsive.”
- “Not the funny kind of joke, but it does make you laugh once you start playing (if you can defeat the crashes and actually find a match. See? This thing is challenging after all, isn't it?).”
- “Thoughts: honestly the game is so poorly made I can't really say much, but it's funny because Heroes of the Storm is almost a direct clone of this game but with Blizzard characters instead of LOTR characters, and everyone loves it, which is rather funny (I personally think HotS is garbage).”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game evokes strong emotional reactions, with players expressing both heartbreak over its decline and hope for its revival. Despite its potential to rival major MOBAs, frustration remains due to design choices and control issues that need significant improvement.
- “The game had (and surprisingly, still has, if anyone would simply, properly look after it) all of the potential to stand among Dota, LoL, and MOBA games alike, yet unfortunately, it met an undeserving, heartbreaking end.”
- “Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
- “There is still hope for this game, despite the problems described here as well as the moronic decision to charge players an admission price to access the game, but Zombie Studios must go deep into the mouse and keyboard control scheme and revamp it thoroughly instead of merely assigning inputs from the controller without touching up on the actual mechanics.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game minimizes grinding by offering most spells from the start and focusing on experience gain rather than gold farming, which replaces tedious farming phases with continuous team battles. This approach is praised for enhancing gameplay flow and making the MOBA experience more engaging.
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers solid replayability, with each class providing a unique experience that encourages multiple playthroughs.

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71%Critics’ scoreBased on 7 critic reviews

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155h Median play time

111h Average play time

21-200h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Guardians of Middle-earth is a arcade hack and slash game with fantasy theme.

Guardians of Middle-earth is available on PC, Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and others.

On average players spend around 111 hours playing Guardians of Middle-earth.

Guardians of Middle-earth was released on August 29, 2013.

Guardians of Middle-earth was developed by Zombie Studios.

Guardians of Middle-earth has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Guardians of Middle-earth for its gameplay but disliked it for its graphics.

Guardians of Middle-earth is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Awesomenauts - the 2D moba, Dragons and Titans, Panzar, ArcheBlade, Awesomenauts and others.

Guardians of Middle-earth

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