Lord of the Rings in Bannerlord Hailed Most Anticipated Mod on Mod DB

The season for all sorts of summaries of the passing year is slowly beginning. An example of this can be the Mod DB website, which is a huge base of fan mods. Over the past few weeks, its users had the opportunity to vote for the best, in their opinion, unofficial projects of the past twelve months and the most interesting upcoming positions. The results of the vote may appeal mainly to lovers of the universe of Lord of the Rings.

The best upcoming mod

The most interesting upcoming mod according to Mod DB users is Kingdoms of Arda for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. The project has been developed since March this year. Just like the extremely popular The Last Days for Mount & Blade and Mount & Blade: Warband, it will take us to the fantasy world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. We will begin our adventure in January 3016 of the Third Era, two years before the Fellowship of the Ring embarked on its journey. During the game, our character (human, dúnedain, elf, dwarf, hobbit, orc, goblin or uruk) will be able to take part in many events known from the pages of the British writer's novels and their movie adaptation, meet over 35 different factions, acquire a number of weapons and armor inspired by those from Peter Jackson's films and, of course, fight spectacular battles.

Source: Mod DB

Interestingly, Kingdoms of Arda is to offer a story campaign alongside Bannerlord's classic sandbox mode. According to the plans, it will be a collection of scenarios, during which we will be able to play as Aragorn during the Battle of Helm's Deep or Eowyn during the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

Unfortunately, there will also be some limitations. When playing Kingdoms of Arda we won't be able to establish our own faction, only to participate in the ranks of one of the available sides and own lands. In addition, there will be no dragons and flying mounts of the Nazgul, chariots or other kinds of creatures that could be ridden like a horse. This is due, among others, to possible problems with game balance.

Source: Mod DB

If you would like to learn more about Kingdoms of Arda mod for Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord, details are available here. There is also an application form, in case someone would like to help with the project.

Kingdoms of Arda is thus shaping up to be a very ambitious project and it will probably take some time before we see the full version. So far, the creators are cautious and have not given even an approximate date of release of their work.

Just behind Kingdoms of Arda, Mod DB users voted for Half-Life: Dark Matter for the first Half-Life and Entropy: Zero 2 for Half-Life 2: Episode Two. You will find the top five below.

The best mod of 2020

In turn, the first place in the Mod DB user voting the best mod of the past twelve months was taken by Age of the Ring for the iconic strategy game the Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II with The Rise of the Witch-king expansion. It was originally released in 2017. The main goal of its creators is to improve the experience in EA's game. They regularly add new heroes, factions, maps, buildings, models and even entire campaigns to the title. They also don't forget about constant improvements in the game's balance and performance. So if someone plans to return to Battle for Middle-earth II, Age of the Ring is a must have.

Source: Mod DB

The second place was taken by Mental Omega for Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 with Yuri's Revenge expansion, and the third place by Project Reality for Battlefield 2. Here's how the whole top ten looks like:

The full list of games nominated for Mod DB's community awards for the best mod of 2020 and the most interesting upcoming project can be found here.

1. Mod DB - official website