Return to Moria Is A Loveletter To Tolkien But A Mixed Survival Bag

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a survival game that provides an immersive experience. It throws in a few unique survival elements that don’t feel out of place. Otherwise, there won’t be much to shock anyone who’s picked up at least one other survival game. The dwarf, and your companions if it’s a multiplayer game, sing songs from or inspired by Tolkien. It adds a cozy feeling to the atmosphere. There are plenty of enemies, however, and things like too much light can draw in more than you can handle. 

This is a major con for the game. Enemies mainly consist of wolves, goblins and orcs, which you will see a lot of. The story and even base building elements are a backdrop to the dungeon crawling. So much so that it’s easy to forget there is a story. If someone is playing alone progress can slow to a crawl or stop completely as encounter difficulty curves drastically. With combat taking up such a large focus, if you don’t love it at the start the experience will only sour further by the end.

Despite taking place entirely underground, Return to Moria has many locations to find. Camps will be set up in the city’s ruins and forges will be repaired. The enemy AI can feel lacking but once orcs come into play, they complain and give each other grief. It feels like the world exists outside of the player. Gameplay does feel linear. There’s no specific order to find anything, but players are tunneled towards unavoidable fights. Between these moments there’s going to be a lot of monotony. 

Return to Moria may not reinvent the survival wheel, but it offers hours of content to go through at your own pace. It’s better to grab some friends beforehand. Though the game can, eventually, be beaten solo. Reclaiming the dwarven homeland might be a little anticlimactic after the struggle to get there. LOTR fans might get the most out of this if they’re really chomping at the bit for anything Tolkien inspired.