There is no shortage of survival crafting games for players to sink their teeth into. The Norse-inspiredValheimis one of the more prominent titles, along with games likeRust,Ark: Survival Evolved, and theearly accessV Rising. Fans might soon be adding another game to that list, with the upcomingThe Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.
Developer Free Range Games announcedThe Lord of the Rings: Return to Moriawith a gameplay trailer on June 10th. The first survival crafting game set inThe Lord of the Ringsuniverse, players can delve into the depths when it arrives on PC next spring.
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CasualLord of the Ringsfans may remember Moria as the abandoned dwarven city home tothe Balrog inThe Fellowship of the Ring. However, as the trailer explains, the dwarves are being called back to the ancient, underground kingdom. Players can join bands of eight dwarven explorers to delve into the underground realm of Khazad-dûm, searching its crumbling mines and ruins for lost treasures and forgotten wealth. The trailer shows bands of player-controlled dwarves mining, crafting, and building as they fend off the forces of darkness infesting the halls of Moria.
The trailer certainly makesReturn to Morialook big. Moria has an impressive amount of open space for an underground city, with some genuinely gorgeous vistas on display.Return to Moriaalso boasts a procedurally generated world, guaranteeing theoretically infinite replayability. Hopefully, the trailer is indicative of what players can expect fromReturn to Moria’sprocedurally generated environments, and players won’t be spending all of their time in interchangeable, randomly generated caves.
While theReturn to Moriatrailer showcases examples of the game’s core mechanics, the developers go into more detail on theReturn to Moriawebsite. As one expects froma crafting survival game, players will spend much of their time gathering resources and turning them into something useful. However, mining ore, forging weapons, tools, and armor, and building bases all produce noise. The more noise players make, the more attention they gather from the sinister Shadow that drove the dwarves from their home long ago. To quote the developers, “where there’s clatter, there’s combat.” Players will need to plan well and prepare to repel the forces opposed to the dwarves’ return.
The developers also claim thatReturn to Moriawill have plenty of treats for fans ofThe Lord of the Rings’ deep lore. Players will find the series lore woven into the game’s world as they rebuild Moria and unravel its secrets. Hopefully,The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moriacan live up to its developer’s big promises.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Morialaunches for PC in Spring 2023.
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