Total War Game from 2015 is Getting a Big Boost Thanks to a Lord of the Rings Mod

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Recently, the strategy game Total War: Attila has seen a big jump in players on Steam, and it appears a new mod based on The Lord of the Rings is the reason. Total War: Attila first came out in February 2015 and was generally well-received by reviewers. While praised for refining the series’ gameplay, many felt it played more like a large expansion to Total War: Rome 2 rather than a completely new game.

Data from SteamDB shows that Total War: Attila reached its highest number of concurrent players – 26,346 – shortly after its release in February 2015. This is lower than the peaks of other Total War games: Total War: Rome 2 hit 118,240 players upon its September 2013 launch, and Total War: Warhammer reached 113,019 in May 2016. Overall, Total War: Attila hasn’t attracted as many players on Steam as some of the more popular titles in the series.

Total War: Attila Sees Player Spike Following The Release of a Lord of the Rings Mod

Although Total War: Attila hasn’t been as popular as other games in the Total War series, it recently saw a surprising jump in players. Reddit user AceOfSpades0319 noticed the increase on December 14th, sharing a screenshot showing 11,147 active players – the highest number since March 2016. This surge seems to be due to a new Lord of the Rings mod released on Nexus Mods just two days prior.

The popular mod “The Dawnless Days,” currently in beta, is responsible for the recent surge in players of Total War: Attila. It dramatically transforms the strategy game into a Lord of the Rings experience, adding new buildings, groups, characters, and events based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth. The mod features a completely custom-built map of Middle-earth and a campaign based on the War of the Ring, letting players choose from nine factions and fight to either defeat the dark forces or conquer Middle-earth themselves.

While player numbers for Total War: Attila have decreased slightly since a recent Reddit post, it still boasts a strong player base for a game released a decade ago and often overshadowed by newer titles. Currently, SteamDB shows 8,908 active players, a significant jump from the 3,216 players recorded on December 11th, just before the launch of The Dawnless Days.

It’s unclear how long the recent popularity of Total War: Attila will continue, but it might last a bit longer since the game is currently on sale in the 2025 Steam Winter Sale. If you’re interested in trying the Lord of the Rings mod for Total War: Attila, you can get the base game on Steam for $11.24 – a significant discount from its usual price of $44.99.

The future of video games based on The Lord of the Rings is uncertain after Amazon canceled their online role-playing game. However, the Total War series is doing very well. At The Game Awards 2025, Sega and Creative Assembly revealed Total War: Warhammer 40,000, a new strategy game based on Games Workshop’s Warhammer universe. This time, the game will be set in the dark, futuristic world of Warhammer 40K, unlike the fantasy setting of the previous Total War: Warhammer games.

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2025-12-22 06:04