A new Lord of the Rings game was unveiled at the Epic Games Show. Return to Moria is what you wouldn’t expect from Lord of the Rings: a survival game. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus could hardly be happier.
Having loved Nightingale so much, I didn’t think this year’s event season – admittedly a bit disappointing – could get much better.
But the new Lord of the Rings game taught me otherwise. Midgets, beards, beer. Return to Moria gameplay takes all the things that make every game better and builds a new survival game around it.
The trailer for the new game lasts just 1:16 minutes, but the first 30 seconds grab me as a Lord of the Rings fan. The films and books are for me the best fantasy epic ever and Return to Moria lures directly with the legendary “friend” door.
Right after that comes what every survival fan wants to see: crafting and building. The game doesn’t just show lame pickaxes and wooden huts, but true dwarven art: elaborate, sturdy armor and weapons, hopefully made of mithril, and massive stone buildings for protection.
Everything that makes the heart of the dwarf ancestors beat faster. And as the icing on the cake, there are also opponents on which the new forge products can be tested. Splendid! After a storm of horror trailers, Return to Moria hits the spot. But see for yourself:
Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria gameplay trailer
Survive at Gimli’s command from 2023
What kind of game is this? Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is set in the world of The Lord of the Rings. At the behest of Gimli himself, a group of dwarves are returning to Moria, or Khazad-dûm in their native language.
We are this group, we can create a dwarf according to our own preferences and play alone or in co-op with up to 8 players. Apparently the focus is on PvE and exploration.
The game itself is mainly about exploring the Misty Mountains and securing the lost treasures and deposits. Ores and precious metals are found in 3 different mountains, all of which are procedurally generated for more variety.
The great feature, however, is the sound system. Mining rock makes noise, and noise wakes up things better left to sleep. This will spawn enemies for us to defend against – or hide in the shadows until we can continue.
But any Lord of the Rings fan knows what happens when dwarves dig too deep…
When is the game out? So far there is no specific release date for Return to Moria, only “spring 2023” is targeted. The game will be released for PC on the Epic Games Store. Other platforms are not yet known.
Incidentally, Return to Moria is being created by Free Range Games, who previously worked on Oddworld: Soulstorm and currently support The Callisto Protocol, which was presented at the Summer Game Fest.
The studio is supported by North Beach Games, who also helped the developers of Stranded Deep and 7 Days to Die with the release. So we have quite experienced, albeit smaller studios at hand. I hope for success!
By the way, 7 Days to Die is already one of the best survival games ever. Let’s see if Return to Moria can make the list too:
The best survival games of 2022 for PlayStation, PC and Xbox