The team over at Free Range Games has given us a lot of new information about their upcoming dwarven survival game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria. We’ve learned about the story, survival mechanics, and release window.

Survive in the grand halls of Moria

The game is set during the 4th age of the dwarves (after when the movies took place). Moria will be semi-randomly generated so no two worlds will feel exactly the same. Some locations however will be similar, but these are the big well-explained areas from the books. The deeper you go down the more damaged the halls will be. You can clear the rubble and rebuild Moria to what it once was or build your own base. Your shelter will be an important part of the game. This is where you craft, cook and hold large feasts and play music (there will both be known songs as well as a few new ones.) to keep your moral high and the shadows away. Moral will go down the longer a dwarf finds themselves in darkness so be sure to light up the tunnels as you go.

During your expeditions down into the depths, you will find large ancient forges that will need to be repaired and fired back up in order to use them for crafting. Players can craft different weapons, and armor and imbue them with runes to make them stronger in combat. New recipes can be found that will help you on your journey like crystal lamps, which are one of the most powerful light sources in the game. 

The game will have an in-depth stealth system to avoid alerting big hordes of orcs or trolls. Some screenshots were shown where orcs are holding different types of weapons, This will most likely mean they will have different attack patterns as well. The confirmed enemies during this sneak peek were the orcs and trolls as mentioned before but also mysterious nameless ones and the flames.

Why are you in Moria?

After peace has returned to Middle-Earth, Gimly sends out a message to all the dwarfs. Telling them the time has come to reclaim Moria. You get to design your own dwarf by choosing the clan they come from, the gender, voice/accent, and the finer details like hair (and yes female dwarves can have big bushy beards). Dwarves will also speak in their own language; Khuzdul. The game is focused on the dwarves so you will not be able to play as any other race. When you are ready to go down into Moria the game will have multiple objectives. 

Mithril needs to be mined from the depths of the mountain to create an impenetrable door. This also confirms that mithril will be a resource we can farm and use. Later you find notes of Durrens axe, this is where the main focus will shift towards. Find the axe, repair the forges and restore it to its former glory.

When you go deeper you find out this expedition is not as easy as one thought. Some hallways will be blocked off by barriers made with runes so you will need to find a new way around it. While exploring keep an eye out for secrets and easter eggs. You will be able to find the lore of what Gandalf was doing in Moria a long time ago, what the Balrog was doing here, and smaller things like the pebble that Pippin threw down the well. 

The inspiration for the story of Return to Moria was of course the original books and the movies, since there is not a lot of information about the dwarves in Tolkien’s work, and most of it is written from the elves’ point of view we can expect some gaps were filled in by the story writers.

You will be able to play solo or with up to eight players when the game is released on the Epic Game Store sometime in 2023. It has also been stated there are no plans for any betas or demos of the game before launch.

Are you excited about The Lord of the Rings Return to Moria? Let me know in the comments.