The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Reviews
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a decently fun time. While not perfect, it's a unique take on a sandbox survival game.
Overall ‘The Lord Of The Rings Return To Moria’ completely took me by surprise and exceeded my expectations. Not being the biggest fan of survival crafting games I found myself losing time by becoming immersed in the world created for me. It’s an absolute joy to play and feels so authentic to the world of ‘The Lord Of The Rings’.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a fairly mediocre survival game that partially rides on the popularity of a well-known brand. Unfortunately, at that price, I am in no way able to recommend a trip to mystical Moria, even if you are a huge fan of the LOTR.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a middling survival crafting experience set in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy world of Middle Earth. The lore, voice acting, and the characters are probably the only interesting ideas this game brings to the table, as the rest of the gameplay loop of mining, building, crafting, and surviving isn’t anything that propels the genre forward.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is the kind of game that doesn’t do anything well enough to satisfy any of its intended audiences. For survival fans nothing is done better than titles they’re already playing, and in fact does plenty worse. And for diehard Lord of the Rings fans, the strange lore deviations and limited vision of Khazad-Dum and the canonical events portrayed aren’t any more attractive.
When your dwarf is filled with joy and bursts into singing while mining, a little of The Lord of the Rings atmosphere springs to life. Exploring some areas without any care in the world is another moment when the game feels enticing and hints at the sandbox gameplay that could have been. But suddenly, you are reminded that the whole place is a procedurally generated mess with barely any memorable locations, combat is dull and flawed, mining is extremely limited, and the repetitive walks to the base with the goal of storing your recent loot become tiresome. Return to Moria is one for diehard fans only, and even those have to consider just how passionate they are about dwarves and survival in dark places.
Return to Moria doesn't challenge the genre, and instead of just tries to be a good game, and in that it suceeds.
The Lords of the Rings: Return to Moria has some very solid ideas. A game set in the Fourth Age is incredibly interesting and exciting. This is why it's such a shame that Return to Moria is not a success. There is a lot of heart in it, sure, but the core gameplay loop just isn't engaging enough to make the game worth buying over other survival titles, even if you are a big LOTR fan.
This is a competent survival game, adding nothing to a formula long since perfected by games like Subnautica, games that it falls far short of. It relies on the pull of Tolkien to keep players pushing through, otherwise it would be all too easy to give up on your mission and do something else, anything but mining. There are moments of magic, like when your team of dwarves begin to sing, deep harmonies echoing off the cavernous walls. But these moments are too few and far between, and the lore can only take you so far. As a space to hang out with fantasy-minded friends, Return to Moria is a nice jaunt. I just wish there was something more to do than swing this damn pickaxe at another damn wall.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is interesting, but niche. Anyone who is a fan of both the survival genre and Lord of the Rings will find a gameplay title that will require dozens of hours to be properly explored, especially with other players in multiplayer. However, it is worth highlighting that, for the uninitiated, there are other more innovative and/or inviting options.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Return to Moria has a decent core that could have used a little bit more time in the tank to reach its full potential. Hopefully, community feedback will be taken into account and post-launch support will focus on improving some of the basic mechanics. If they do that, it has real potential to be one of the better survival crafting games in recent memory.