The Lord of the Rings tie-in Guardians of Middle-Earth is preparing for launch on consoles. To test their current vision of multiplayer-focused gameplay, developer Monolith invited a few professional gamers to give their opinion.

Monolith previously worked on another multiplayer title: Gotham City Impostors. This tie to the upcoming release of The Hobbit will be different, as it’s played as an isometric battle arena. Their goal is to make a multiplayer experience that is faster than on PC; whisking players from one match into the next. The top tier players are put to work to get a perspective of how the game currently feels. Console controls should ease newcomers in, while the game itself should still play well for competitive gamers. There is a limited time to put in load-outs that can be enhanced by unlocking more potential through leveling. Even though Monolith wants to create a balanced game, professional feedback suggested that it currently had some snowballing issues. This means that level advantages would start stacking up. There’s also a sense of stagnation after a while.

Monolith performed an overnight update towards the feedback before letting players play the new game per their suggestions. That must’ve been some fast coding.