Now that Dispatch has proven that Telltale-like stories are certainly back in a big way, it'll probably pain a lot of people to hear that a Lord of the Rings game featuring such a narrative was canned some time ago. The game, which was in development at Eidos-Montreal, didn't get too far before being sacrificed in the pits of Mount Doom, but some newly discovered concept art shows an early glimpse at what we could've had.
This comes from MP1st, which discovered illustrations from a former artist working at Eidos-Montreal at the time the game was in development. In the renditions, it's clear the game was opting for a top-down, CRPG-like look in its gameplay, with multiple familiar locations from Tolkien's universe shown off, including the Prancing Pony Inn.
Elsewhere, we see a lot of attention shown to the port city of Umbar, which is likely where the game would've been set. A hotbed for pirates, Umbar would have likely seen us facing off against plenty of corsairs, as well as the traditional orcs and uruks we fight in other Lord of the Rings games.
While it's certainly interesting to think about what a pirate-themed Lord of the Rings game could have been like, considering this title is never going to see the light of day it's probably not worth losing sleep over. Eidos-Montreal has moved onto its next project, and while it has been under heavy pressure in recent years, here's hoping its latest game can right the ship.