When they announced Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria a few years ago I was very excited. It looked and felt like a version of Valheim just set in the mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings universe. There's not a single nerd out there who wouldn't be excited to see one of their favorite gaming genres incorporated to the Lord of the Rings universe. It had a rocky launch but as far as I've gathered it's gotten better after a few updates.
What is Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Return to Moria is an open world survival game set in the Lords of the Rings universe. You play as a dwarf who is part of a group dead set on reclaiming Moria to it's old glory. On the way there's a lot of exploration to be done, orcs ot be fought and resources to be mined for. It wouldn't be a game about dwarves without some proper mining. You can play the game solo or with friends and it feels like the game is mostly built to be played with a small group of friends.
First impressions
The first thing that hit me was how fun it was to create your own dwarf with their own magnificent beards. The character creator isn't very in depth but you get to pick and choose from a decent amount of face, hair, beard and tattoo options. There's also no direct gender choice, but instead you decide how big your bust should be while some of the face options look a bit more feminine than others. I guess it sits true to Dwarf lore where you can barely tell the two genders apart.
Past the character creator the game feels good from the get go. Movement is a bit quirky but it works. What I like the most though is the great atmosphere of the mines of Moria. They really nailed the feeling of darkness and solitude of being deep underground. Shadows look really good and do a lot to build atmosphere.
One thing I didn't like very much is that the game sort of wants you to build your base in predetermined locations. You'll find remnants of old camps where you can just make a few reparations and you'll have your base set up. Some of the magic of Valheim and other survival games comes from the full freedom to build your base anywhere.
I've only played the game for a few hours so far and I reached some sort of Elven Ruins. I'm gonna have to explore the game some more before I can give it a final verdict. At the moment it's definitely making me want to come back for more.
All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.
I have that game in my library, but I haven't given it a chance yet.
I didn't know about this game or its release, its mode is like World of Warcraft? on what console is it available? what a great post! cheers! 🧡
It's quite far away from World of Warcraft. It's a game you play alone or with a small group of friends.
So it is not a MMORPG game? It gave me that impression. 🤔 Either way, the graphics look great, I would like to play it
My cousin got the game but I hadn't asked, if it was good.
But it sounds interesting and I love survival games plus Lord of the Rings.
That will be one for me to keep an eye on for specials when I can afford it.
Glad it is something you are enjoying for what you have seen, except pre determined base locations.
For a second there i was hoping to find smiggle in the game, but it seems its a different story from the movie