The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring is an early computer adaptation of Tolkien's famous fantasy novel, following the journey of Frodo and his companions through a dangerous Middle-earth filled with enemies, strange places, and considerably more walking than most modern games would dare to demand. The emphasis is on exploration, story, and adventure rather than constant combat, with the player encountering familiar locations and characters along the way. Its presentation is necessarily limited by the technology of the mid-1980s, but that can make the experience feel oddly intimate: much of Tolkien's world has to exist in your imagination. The game is certainly not the easiest introduction to Middle-earth, and its mechanics can feel archaic today, but historical curiosity alone makes it worthwhile. For Tolkien fans, it offers an interesting glimpse at how developers tried to translate a huge literary fantasy world into a computer game long before modern graphics could do the heavy lifting.