The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
I spent a lot of time before sitting down and laying out this article trying to decide if this was going to be a defense article or a review piece. On one hand, the game is currently sitting at 59 on Metacritic. On the other hand, it is a newer release and does need to be approached in a way that allows me to help you make an informed purchasing decision. I think my ultimate solution is that this will be a review, but I’m going to be completely upfront: this game is very niche. I can tell you right now, as a die-hard Tolkien fanatic, this game is contending in my top three games of the year right now, despite its overwhelming lukewarm critical reception. That being said, if you have no love for the lore of Middle-earth and if you’re looking for a survival crafting RPG to contend with the likes of Valheim or Conan, steer clear of this, as it will be a hard pass for you. However, if you are a fan of not only the movies but the deeper lore of Mr. Tolkien’s universe, just stop here, just go get it, and delve (har har) into its incredible understanding of the nuances and complexities of the very niche realm of dwarven society.
Do you remember the sorrow and the pain of Gimli, as he first entered the Western gate, and saw his fallen brethren, expecting to see a kingdom of Dwarves welcoming him with “fresh meat off the bone and malt beer”? I remember first watching the movie, not understanding why he expected such a warm welcome. How, if these dwarves had been slain for so long that they were entirely decomposed, had he not heard of the failure to take back this kingdom? What deep, and unknowable things was Gandalf referring to? This game fills in many gaps and does an incredible job of creating this understanding of why Moria itself is such an important kingdom for the dwarves. You’ll understand what it means to be “Durin’s Son” and how Important Durin himself is to the rich history of the Dwarves and why the heck there seem to be so many dwarves that carry that name.
The game uses the very “heavy on lore but light on story” approach to its narrative. It starts you off with another cutscene of a group of Dwarves making another attempt to re-enter and take back Moria. This scene includes Gimli fully voiced by his original actor John Rhys-Davies to my utter glee. Many with a deeper knowledge of the events of Middle-earth after the third age will find their first differences with the established lore here but I promise you; nothing goes so far as “sexy Shelob.” After creating your Dwarf with a decent amount of customization options, you fall down a mineshaft during an attempted explosive entry and start the game with little to no cut scenes for the rest of the game. The game takes on the guise of a survival-crafting RPG; as I mentioned earlier though, I would argue that the developers did not set out initially to make a survival-crafting RPG. Instead, I feel they set out to make a video game revolving around the idea of Dwarves returning to reclaim Moria and a genre that allows players to craft tools and repair structures, as they navigate through a mysterious network of tunnels, rooms, and massive corridors, never knowing what will be around the next corner: perhaps an incredible discovery or a horde of orcs ready to end your quest early just happens to fit perfectly with that idea.
The game begins with the creation of your Dwarf from a fairly limited but stylistically appropriate number of beards, hairstyles, and outfits. There is a quick cutscene as I mentioned before where Gimli explains the goal of reclaiming Moria. They decide to blow a hole into the mountain to gain entry, and that’s when you fall into one of the starting halls and begin the tutorial. The game is a survival crafting adventure that will have you crafting armor, weapons, food, and bases as you delve deeper into the Dwarven realm fighting hordes of orcs, goblins, and other creatures from Tolkien's bestiary. The major thing that sets Moria apart from other survival crafting games are the cramped hallways and corridors stitched together like an 80s grid paper RPG map. However, when I did stumble into areas that open up into large caverns and cities it would leave me in awe at finding such grand locales after squeezing my way through narrow tunnels and claustrophobic side caverns. Especially when considering all of this lay so far beneath the earth. Also, where in most games of this genre you are encouraged to explore the vast world to create a sort of life with the goal of endless playability, this game has a very specific beginning and end with the goal to beat the game more traditionally. Some of the bosses, which I won’t spoil this review, even have a traditional Zelda-style combat model, with glowing weak points needed to hit a certain number of times versus a health bar. Some of these bosses will have a mini-wave of creatures between each successful hit of its weak point. The survival mechanics of hunger and tiredness are bog-standard, with certain buffs tied to eating specific meals, and debuffs coming from getting tired or hungry. Certain cooking places will give different foods, for example: a hearth will give you a one-use food pick-up that you consume once crafted to improve your hunger, while an actual stove will cook items that you can keep in your inventory for consumption later to increase your health and hunger. There are other things throughout your base that you can set up such as treasure piles which you can stop to admire, or monuments to fallen heroes that you can pay respects to for extra bonuses. Smelters and forges will allow you to craft ingots and equipment, with a repair table that will let you fix up deteriorated weapons and armor. A workbench allows you to make bows and lighter equipment. There’s even a dye station that will allow you to customize the color of your armor for a nice bit of visual flair on your travels. Finally, you can create gardens that will allow you to grow food for ingredients and a station to brew beer which will allow you to sing songs while drinking the brew for more buffs
Combat is very simple if not weighty and does its job satisfactorily with a good punchy feeling. There are a variety of damage types such as slashing, piercing, and bludgeon that will do damage effectively to a variety of enemy types. Exploration works in a grid-based procedurally generated network of tunnels. I’ve always been hesitant upon hearing “randomly generated” or “procedurally generated” in any game I play, as it usually feels less special and hand-crafted during my time exploring. However, the game does a good job of making its world feel handcrafted in just exploring the tunnels, shafts, and abandoned cities. I would never assume it was all on a grid until I looked at my map. The procedurally generated environment can result in some wonky structure such as a path leading to a stairway that runs into a flat wall which elicited a few eye rolls, but never hurt my enjoyment of exploration. Each area is separated by a clear doorway, or column of rubble that needs to be mined through with your pickaxe, and more areas will open up as you upgrade that tool.
To me, escapism is synonymous with Immersion and is one of the most important parts of a video game for me. Return to Moria handles immersion less through a living, breathing world, and more through how it encourages you to interact with its systems and the environments around you. Whether that be clambering through tunnels gathering the needed materials to keep you on your feet, or keeping yourself as unobtrusive as possible hoping to avoid a horde of orcs coming down on your head. The game does an excellent job creating that suspense viewers felt in the first film as the Fellowship worked its way through Moria as well as the nail-biting excitement when they were finally discovered, fighting for their lives or fleeing with scores of goblins nipping at their heels. Also, recreating the feeling of a giant creature out of myth revealing itself to make your silly mortal goals feel insignificant in its majesty? To prevent spoilers I’ll say no more, but be ready for anything.
Return to Moria accomplishes its goal of transporting you to Middle-earth in spades. The game accomplishes this with its deep and respectful attention to the established lore, allowing you to feel distinctly part of Tolkien’s world in a way that I don’t feel any game has accomplished short of Lord of the Rings Online. You constantly feel like every inch that you successfully navigate was earned through your careful preparation: slaving over a stove for a quick meal to keep you on your feet, taking extra care in keeping your base to survive the next orc raid, or hammering away at the various materials that you gathered and smelted yourself to create that new sword. Not only crafting the weapon but inscribing runes upon its blade making it all the more deadly against those orc scum.
If you are familiar with Dwarven society in Middle-earth you will know that Dwarves also tend to be a musical bunch. Barely a chapter went by in The Hobbit without the merry band breaking into verse. Whether that be the somber reflection on the destruction of their home over the Misty Mountains, or a playful song teasing a bewildered Bilbo about trashing his dinnerware as they clean up after themselves. We get to immerse ourselves in this very specific facet of dwarven culture through songs that can be sung while mining an ore vein. There is a wide variety of these tunes as well; rarely did I hear the same one twice and some had me laughing out loud. One, in particular, involves a series of songs wherein your hungry Dwarf threatens various encountered enemies being roasted on his fork if they dare mess with him. To top it all off, if you are playing with multiple Dwarves, each song has a variety of parts for more depth and voices depending on how many dwarves are taking part. My favorite part about these songs is the practical aspect as well. They aren’t just songs for the sake of songs, though even then they would be a welcome addition. They also act as a stat boost, allowing you to mine elements without losing stamina.
All told the game has excellent immersion and kept me invested, feeling like I was taking part in this part of the 4th age of Middle-earth. If I’m being completely transparent, much of this enjoyment came from a place of love for the source material, so your mileage will vary depending on your attachment, but I truly believe there is an engaging experience for anyone jumping in.
The graphics in Return to Moria are a product of their place in the AA development space. It is built on Unreal Engine 4, and I feel the engine has mostly been squeezed dry and pushed to its limits by the industry. Art direction is really where this game finds its main identity. Moria finds a space somewhere between the Peter Jackson trilogy to keep itself familiar with more of a mass audience while taking its own creative liberty to create something wholly new.
As far as technical performance, I can only speak to the PC version as that is what I played. I understand from online discussion that the PS5 port has suffered pretty major performance issues but to be clear I have not played that port. That being said, the PC port has suffered its own technical hiccups. The worst of which has been quest markers on the map that will not go away after being completed. I’ve had my own issues with the map outside of bugs, even though the map is split into simple grid squares it still manages to be difficult to read, having no good way to switch between higher and lower levels that I can find. I have not experienced game breaking bugs so far and there have been multiple updates while writing this review. At this stage the game feels solid.
The audio design for Return to Moria was a risk that paid off in my mind. There is little to no background music. Every sound in the game is completely diegetic. The music you will be hearing will be your own Dwarf humming and singing along, potentially with other Dwarves, as you clink and hammer your way through this winding twisting dungeon delve. The echoes of creatures off in the distance can create an unsettling atmosphere and I’ll never forget the first few hours of the game before I began to encounter any real orcs. I was gathering materials for my first small base and I could hear the voices of orcs talking between each other about their plans to hide, and torment my newly minted dwarf. Rocks falling as bits of dirt trail behind, orcs arguing in the distance, the satisfying sound of pick to stone: this is the background of Return to Moria and it is extremely effective in creating an extremely lonely and oppressive atmosphere that perfects a mood you can just cozy yourself into. My biggest complaint is the aforementioned arguing Orcs who use a handful of frequently reused dialogue lines that did grate on me after a while, but ultimately the package is an excellent one.
If you are already a fan of Tolkien's universe and are interested in more stories in that world, this game is going to be for you. It’s difficult to recommend this game to a general audience because if you’re just looking for a survival crafting RPG there are an ocean's worth of other and frankly better options available. However, this game does an excellent job of using its mechanics to shape the adventure that it’s building. What one person may call simplistic crafting and base building serves to keep your momentum continuing to that next level, and finding the game's myriad of surprising and exciting moments. The lonely oppressive atmosphere of Moria perfectly captures the tenseness from the book and films that it is clearly drawing from.