Warhorse Is Making KCD3 and a Lord of the Rings RPG

Warhorse Studios just dropped two massive announcements in one shot: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 3 is officially happening, and they’re also building a full open-world Lord of the Rings RPG. For a studio that was a scrappy underdog not so long ago, that’s an absurd amount of ambition — and honestly, we are here for it.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 3 Is Real

Warhorse confirmed KCD3 is in active development. The studio isn’t resting after KCD2’s massive commercial success — the sequel moved 2 million copies in its first two weeks, which is a spectacular result for a historical RPG without dragons or magic.

The interesting wrinkle: Warhorse is deliberately dropping “Deliverance” from the new title’s branding. The game is being referred to internally without that subtitle, suggesting this third entry could be a meaningful creative pivot — a new chapter in the saga rather than just the next sequel. Whether that means a new protagonist, a different time period, or a broader scope isn’t clear yet, but it’s a deliberate signal that something is changing.

A release window of fiscal year 2027-2028 has been mentioned, which puts it roughly two to three years out. Given how long and polished KCD2 was, that timeline feels realistic.

And a Lord of the Rings RPG on Top of That

Here’s where it gets wild. Alongside KCD3, Warhorse also revealed it’s developing an open-world Lord of the Rings RPG. No formal title, no screenshots, no trailers — just the confirmation that it’s being built.

This is a huge get for the studio. LOTR game rights have historically been messy (ask anyone who played the EA games, or remembers Amazon’s cancelled projects), but Warhorse has apparently secured what they need. An open-world approach makes a lot of sense given their strengths — dense, reactive worlds with historical authenticity, translated now to Middle-earth.

Think about what Warhorse does well: grounded, immersive RPGs where the world feels lived-in and your choices actually matter. Now apply that design philosophy to Tolkien’s world. The potential is genuinely exciting.

How Does One Studio Do All This?

The obvious question is: how? KCD3 and a massive LOTR project simultaneously? Warhorse has been growing fast on the back of KCD2’s success, but this still represents a huge expansion in scope.

The answer is probably parallel teams. It’s common for studios at this scale to run multiple projects with separate development groups under one roof. Warhorse isn’t unique in this — CD Projekt Red famously worked on Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 DLC simultaneously.

Still, stretching across two enormous RPGs is a risk. Fans will want both to get the full Warhorse treatment, and that’s a lot of quality to maintain across two projects.

What This Means for RPG Fans

For people who love story-rich, deeply detailed RPGs, this is a very good week. Warhorse has earned trust with two excellent games. The idea of them taking on Middle-earth — one of the most beloved fictional settings in history — feels like a legitimate match of studio strengths to source material.

No gameplay details yet. No platforms confirmed beyond “PC and consoles.” But the announcements alone are enough to put both projects on every RPG fan’s radar right now.

We’ll be watching both closely. Warhorse has earned that much.