Is War in the North Legacy Edition worth it in 2026?
Short version: on PC and Xbox, mostly yes if you have any nostalgia for it. On a base PS5, hold off — the complaints are loud and specific.
At $17.99 launch pricing it's the cheapest the game has been in a decade. But "worth it" splits hard by platform this week.
The PS5 problem, straight up
This is the thing you'll hit first if you search. A r/PS5 thread from Aug 15 is titled "The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North is broken - beware", and the poster says the Legacy Edition is unplayable on base PS5. A r/lotr thread the same week is blunter: "Lord of the Rings war in the North legacy is awful (at least on PS5)".
We're not going to sugarcoat it: if you own the original PS5, search "War in the North Legacy PS5" before you buy and judge for yourself. There's no patch announced yet, and Aspyr hasn't publicly addressed the performance reports as of Aug 17, 2026.
What people who are happy say
On the other side, the reception on PC and Xbox has been noticeably warmer. The top r/xbox post of the week: "FYI they fixed the coop in the legacy edition of LoTR war in the north. The game is pure fun." Reviews that landed in the first few days — DualShockers called it "an exciting remaster of a fan-favorite LOTR game," and waytoomany.games singled out the voice acting as the strongest part — mostly read like people glad to have it back.
The original has over 6,000 reviews on Steam from its 2011 run, and that crowd is the target audience. If you were one of them, you know exactly what you're getting.
What you're actually getting for $17.99
- A fifteen-year-old action RPG with dated combat and enemy AI — this is not a remake.
- One of the only full-length LOTR campaigns playable start-to-finish with two friends in co-op.
- Quality-of-life improvements over the 2011 release, plus a few things that got removed along the way (full list of changes).
- A 10% launch discount that brings it to $17.99 (was $19.99).
Buy it if
- You played the original and want it on a modern machine or console
- You have a co-op group of exactly three people and a LOTR itch
- You're on PC or Series X|S and fine with 2011-era game design
Wait if
- You're on base PS5 — check the performance threads first
- You already own the 2011 version on Steam and don't care about the QoL changes
- You want modern action-RPG polish — this will feel old
Bottom line: this is a nostalgia product with one genuinely good hook — co-op LOTR — and one genuine problem — the PS5 build. Priced at $17.99 it's an easy yes for the people it's for, and an easy skip for everyone else.