Announced late last year, The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game is a creation of Asmodee Digital and Fantasy Flight Interactive. The latter group has been especially active in offering anticipating fans a peek at gameplay and the game’s development progress through regular livestreams and updates. Though it has been a long time in the making, the creators have finally announced an early access release date on Steam.

Akin to the likes of Hearthstone and The Elder Scrolls: Legends, the LotR online card game compels players through story and deck-building. There are several narrative campaigns that lets your fellowship journey through various places on Middle-earth as they fight against the dark forces of Sauron. For a teaser of the adventure to come, check out the video below:

According to Fantasy Flight Interactive, the early access phase will last approximately 3 to 5 months; at this stage they intend to single their focus on balancing the game, refining stats, mechanics, the addition of new features and more. This will then be followed by a free-to-play model, in which they promise a “robust schedule of updates to follow.” To help Asmodee and FFI in their development of The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game, interested parties can purchase one of their Founder’s Packs or a limited edition pre-order bundle that includes tons of cards, unlocks, art prints, and several exclusive items.

The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game will face players off against Uruks, spiders, orcs, and other foes through Middle-earth. There will be challenges and quests that require tactics and finesse, all tied together by the lore-rich world of LotR.  There will be “fully-narrated story interludes,” branching narratives, a dynamic AI system, intuitive user interface, and visual and audio effects for every card, action, and hero. Here’s what the game is all about:

• Based on the hit Fantasy Flight LCG® The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
  The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game adapts the strategic gameplay of Fantasy Flight Games’ award-winning Living Card Game to digital platforms.
• Construct your Deck
  With numerous cards available day one and more on the way, decks in The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game are fully customizable. Build the perfect deck to topple your foes.
• Assemble your Heroes 
  Lead a team of up to three heroes through five distinct quests, with many more to come.
• Preset Packs
  The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game introduces an innovative economy system built around preset card packs. Get the cards you want to play with and enjoy all the depth and customization of card games.

The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game hits early access on August 28th, 2018 on Steam and Mac. What do you think of a LotR-inspired online deck-builder? Are you excited to see its free-to-play release or are you going to dive into early access? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on DFTG Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here’s some of our latest:

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