The player behind the YouTube channel Emulated Vintage Gaming (EVG) literally walked (and occasionally rode) every inch of Frodo’s route, from the cozy hills of the Shire to the fiery pits of Mount Doom, even restaging the final showdown with Gollum before tossing the One Ring into the flames - complete with Serkis’s narration pulled from the official audiobook. The video doesn’t rely on mods, cheats, or cutscenes - just the in-game world of Lord of the Rings Online and a ridiculous amount of patience.
EVG told PC Gamer the whole thing took months of planning, location scouting, and cross-referencing Tolkien’s text to make sure everything matched. It’s strangely beautiful - no dragons, no flashy boss fights, just an honest digital pilgrimage through Middle-earth.
And honestly? He’s right when he says it’s the closest anyone can get to living in Tolkien’s world without actually moving to New Zealand. Lord of the Rings Online might be two decades old, but it’s still one of the most faithful recreations of Middle-earth ever made.
Ten hours of slow, pixelated walking may sound extreme, but there’s something oddly wholesome about it - a reminder that sometimes, the geekiest journeys are also the most epic ones.
