Amazon Prime members can get a great Lord of the Rings game for free this month

An orc in Shadow of War
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

The next batch of free games coming to Amazon Prime Gaming has been revealed, including a brilliant Lord of the Rings action RPG. 

After Assassin’s Creed Origins was given away last month, Amazon Prime members will be able to pick up Middle-earth: Shadow of War for free on PC as part of October’s line-up. As usual, subscribers will be able to claim and keep the game forever, even after their Prime membership ends.

One of the best Lord of the Rings video games ever released, Shadow of War casts you as the ranger Talion in an open-world RPG. You’ll be fighting orcs in slick melee combat and jumping about their strongholds, as you go behind enemy lines to bring down Sauron. It really stands out for its Nemesis System, in which orc chieftains gradually rise up Mordor's ranks and remember your past fights with them. An extra strategic layer also lets you gradually amass an army of your own and command it in battle.

Amazon subscribers had the chance to pick up Shadow of War’s predecessor, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, as part of last month’s Prime Gaming line-up. What better time to get in the Tolkien spirit than now, when the Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series is well underway?

Amazon giveth

Talion fighting an orc in Shadow of War

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

If Middle-earth isn’t to your liking, several other games will also be up for grabs. Bethesda’s online RPG Fallout 76 will be free to pick up, alongside fantasy strategy game Total War: Warhammer 2, old-school point-and-click adventure Loom, puzzle game Glass Masquerade: Origins, strategy RPG Hero’s Hour, and platformer Horace. All of them are available on PC only.

They’ll be joined by a few freebies, including an Apex Legends cosmetic bundle, weapons pack for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the Dressed to Kill bundle for Deathloop. As part of Amazon’s ongoing partnership with Niantic, you’ll also be able to nab a Pokémon Go pack containing a few ultra balls and max revives. 

All of those freebies will go live at the beginning of October. You’ll be able to claim them from the Amazon Prime Gaming homepage, although you might not need to. If you’re an Xbox Game Pass subscriber, you already have access to Fallout 76 and Shadow of War. You can even find Total War: Warhammer 3 on PC Game Pass, which comes bundled as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Callum Bains
Gaming News Writer

Callum is TechRadar Gaming’s News Writer. You’ll find him whipping up stories about all the latest happenings in the gaming world, as well as penning the odd feature and review. Before coming to TechRadar, he wrote freelance for various sites, including Clash, The Telegraph, and Gamesindustry.biz, and worked as a Staff Writer at Wargamer. Strategy games and RPGs are his bread and butter, but he’ll eat anything that spins a captivating narrative. He also loves tabletop games, and will happily chew your ear off about TTRPGs and board games.