The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 hack and slash game developed by EA Redwood Shores for the PlayStation 2 and Windows. It was ported to the GameCube and Xbox by Hypnos Entertainment, to the Game Boy Advance by Griptonite Games, to mobile by ImaginEngine, and to Mac OS X by Beenox. The game was published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the 2002 game The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 2003
- Developer
- Visceral Games
- Platforms
- 2 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 31 October 2003 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Visceral Games |
| Publisher | Electronic Arts |
| Platforms | Nintendo GameCube, Xbox |
| Genres | Action Adventure |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q440046, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King? How long to beat it
Total play time for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is about 20.5 hours to do everything, and around 8.3 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 8.3h | 108 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 13h | 49 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 20.5h | 36 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 64ahead of 17% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 38ahead of 79% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King appears
The ranked lists and finder pages The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Part of the The Lord of the Rings series
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is one of 4 The Lord of the Rings games we track. See the whole series ranked by the GamingPickz Score, plotted on the grid, and listed in release order:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King head to head
See The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King compared side by side, on score, price, specs and more:
Common questions about The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
What platforms is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on?
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is available on Nintendo GameCube, Xbox. It first released in 2003.
Who made The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts.
How long does it take to beat The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?
about 8.3 hours for the main story, 13 hours with the main extras, 20.5 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.