The Lord of the Rings Online giving players double XP in advance of Helm's Deep launch

Lord of the Rings Online's Helm's Deep expansion was announced back in April , but it still hasn't seen the light of day, something I'm going to blame on Boromir, the treacherous git. However, it seems to be on track now for a November release, with the month (that's this month) leading up to it bestowing all players with a very special gift. No, not a single lock of Galadriel's hair: double XP.

LOTRO itself might be free-to-play, but Helm's Deep will require you to part with actual cash first. The expansion doesn't just comprise the orc-infested bowels of ruined Dwarf city Helm's Deep, but the plains of Western Rohan too. The level cap will also be raised, as you might expect, from a mighty 85 to a...slightly mightier 95 . Hey, I didn't say they were raising it a lot.

This recent trailer looks appropriately horsey:

(Ta, Massively )

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.