REVIEW – It’s been almost a year since the release of Free Range Games’ game (it came out in October 2023), and it got a major update last week, but is it still worth picking up the Lord of the Rings-based game, or is it just worth taking a flyer and investing our time and money in something else? The answer is pretty clear.

It’s a bit of a tricky release, as the survival and crafting game was first released on PC via EGS, then on PlayStation 5 in December, and last week it hit Steam on PC alongside the Xbox Series…

The Golden Update

A sandbox mode has been in beta on the Epic Games Store for some time, but now there’s a linear mode on all platforms that generates everything procedurally, so you’ll never have quite the same experience, and the difficulty level will depend on what the game throws at you. Another new feature in the update is cross-play. Up to eight people can play together (on Steam, the host can start a game and it doesn’t matter where the others are from). There are also fourteen new armors and weapons, but they are only available in sandbox mode. That’s why it’s worth releasing this mode, and if you equip your dwarf with these items, you can carry everything over to Story Mode.

They also added new items to our base (cosmetics, so carpets, furniture, tables, chairs, things like that). The construction itself has been improved because the stability system for buildings has been changed. There was no way to pause the game when playing solo, but Free Range Games has finally fixed that, with an option for ambient background music, more ways to adjust the difficulty level (for combat, enemy aggression and survival; loot that appears in the world and during mining; frequency of hordes, attacks and patrols) and bug fixes. But let’s have a look at the game itself…

I will survive (as if it were Gloria Gaynor)

For the first time, RtM takes the Lord of the Rings into the survivalist genre in Middle-earth’s Fourth Age, after the events of the main series. Gimli leads the Dwarves in their quest to reclaim Moria, their homeland, so that the kingdom of Khazad-dum can once again function. However, getting out of the mines is not so easy, the influence of Sauron is still present, and something is corrupting the area. You can create a custom dwarf, but the character creator isn’t that deep, then it’s time to build your first base and then mine for your first resources. It’s very similar to the survival and crafting games, but one innovation is that you can use mining chants to get better performance down there so you can come back with more resources. You can only break through certain walls, but that was more of a problem before because the sandbox mode can change that. While exploring, it will be important to upgrade destroyed bases and equipment because you will be relying on them at first. The exploration element doesn’t seem that exciting, and the world itself isn’t that exciting to look at.

Especially not compared to the mines. Even though there are several environments, you can get bored of them in a very short time. Then there are the battles, which will be wolves, bears, and orcs, but the battles themselves don’t seem to be that exciting, even though there is new equipment, because mostly spamming your attack will do, and we’re not so sure that the big update has changed that significantly. So the question is, is this game worth playing with friends? The answer is clearly yes: it makes it easier to get through the constraints of the game, as freedom is somewhat lacking in RtM, but it certainly offers a stronger end result than last year’s other Lord of the Rings game, Gollum, as Daedalic has delivered not only a refined but a polished experience despite repeated delays. (If it had to be rated, it would only get a 3/10 for humorous bugs, and even that would be a bit of an exaggeration…) Still, there are some good things to say about Return to Moria: for those who like Lord of the Rings, the atmosphere and backstory will be a good way to get a feel for it, and the art style is mostly acceptable, but beyond that it did not really try to go down a unique path, and that is why its rating is what you will read a few lines below as this sentence ends.

Only with friends, only for fans

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria was a 6/10 by default, with the update and cross-play this has gone up to a 6.5/10. Not a bad game, but certainly not revolutionary. If you like the Lord of the Rings franchise, you can add another half a point to your score, and if you have someone to play with in co-op, you can add another half a point. So it’s not that bad, but it’s not that revolutionary. You can buy it now on Steam for about $20… it’s probably worth it.

-V-

Publisher: North Beach Games

Developer: Free Range Games

Style: survivalist/crafter

Release: October 24, 2023 (Epic Games Store/PC); December 5, 2023 (PlayStation 5); August 27, 2024 (Xbox Series/Steam/PC)