Lord of the Rings-based multiplayer online battle arena game Guardians of Middle-Earth will be released on December 4, Monolith Productions has announced.

The studio also revealed two new characters: Beregond, who was the twentieth Ruling Steward of Gondor; and Felgrom, "the vanguard of a company of soldiers of Mordor", according to Monolith.

Beregond and Felgrom join Hildifons, Wulfrun, Nori, Gandalf, Gollum, Uglúk, Thráin, Witch-king, Legolas, and Galadriel in the announced character roster.

A further eight characters are yet to be unveiled, which will bring the total playable number to 20.

Additional characters will be available via DLC, as will extra maps and a new gameplay mode.

The game will be available on PlayStation Network for US$14.99 (AU$14.62) and Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points.