I’m on my umpteenth LOTR obsession, and amid a lack of newer games, this Total War mod is coming in clutch

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.

The post I’m on my umpteenth LOTR obsession, and amid a lack of newer games, this Total War mod is coming in clutch appeared first on Destructoid.

A new Resident Evil Showcase just closed out with a fun announcement that has implications for gamers just about everywhere…but it’s not the demo that everyone was hoping for.

With today’s showcase, gamers everywhere were hoping that Resident Evil Requiem would follow a trend of recent RE games, including Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil 4 Remake all having playable demos ahead of launch. And with the quality presented in each demo, I’d say that they probably helped generate even more sales for the franchise. I expected RE9 to do the same, but alas, nothing. Not yet, anyway.

During today’s showcase, though, Capcom did show off the first look at gameplay from Leon Kennedy’s action gameplay segments, played in third-person, with a similar vibe to the Resident Evil 4 remake’s gameplay. Leon’s focus is on shooting enemies, but he also has a hatchet he can use to parry melee attacks, and he can even pick up weapons like the enemy’s chainsaw to fight back.

This sort of gameplay is the foil to Grace Ashcroft’s more horror-oriented gameplay in close-quarters, cramped areas, creating a back-and-forth to keep players on their toes. Grace isn’t defenseless, however, as the stream showed off a massive hand cannon she can use to fight back. Both segments can be played in either first-person or third-person, and either character can have a dedicated perspective either way.

Capcom also showed off the return of Ink Ribbons for game saves, some new crafting mechanics, and a new enemy type in the game: zombies that retain some minor characteristics of their past lives. The humanity is lingering within the undead this time, and it makes for some unsettling behaviors.

While the rest of the showcase was full of ads for things like collabs with Porsche and Hamilton watches, many left disappointed that there were no real big reveals or a demo shadowdrop like people were hoping for, myself included.

Still, RE9 is one of my most anticipated titles of 2026. It drops in just over a month on Feb. 27, and I can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it, so check out the showcase from today to tide you over.

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