The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria Critic Reviews

Certainly grab a copy if you are a fan of Middle Earth and if you like the crafting genre… or even just if you are a fan of Middle Earth, there’s more lore here to absorb whilst traveling the halls of Moria (or digging them out).

Overall, Return to Moria is a solid entry in the survival genre. It has some unique gameplay mechanics that are fun to explore, while the Middle-Earth setting lets a dedicated fanbase venture into the world in a new way. Aside from bugs that will hopefully be resolved in soon-to-come updates, I can see it being a staple among players. I know it holds a solid spot in my survival rotation.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria tries to take a well-known license and connect it with the already classic ideas of the survival crafting genre. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t quite manage to deliver on either. There are some nice callbacks to the books and TV franchise but nothing to keep its fans engaged in the long term.

Return to Moria, from Free Range Games, is a fun experience for fans of survival titles and Lord of the Rings. It takes some of the better systems from the genre and marries them to the lore and setting of Moria, the result of which is a world that fans can be excited about.

Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria blends survival adventure and sandbox together fantastically. A very satisfying and rewarding experience all around.

Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria doesn’t take any huge chances with the survival crafting genre. Still, the Lord of the Rings overlay and familiar character cameos help make its familiar loops seem fresh enough. In the mixed-bag pantheon of Lord of the Rings-inspired games, Return to Moria acquits itself quite well.

Sure the combat is a bit basic, the narrative middling at best, the enemy AI and actions are awful and highly predictable, the pacing too steady, and there are a fair collection of glitches when you mine and rip apart a wall with your pickaxe, but besides from these issues Return to Moria is good return for form for the usually rather fun The Lord of the Rings video games.

Return to Moria tickles the Middle Earth nerve of every fan, but overstretches your patience with comfort shortcomings and technical problems.

Return to Moria is just a survival game that doesn’t do anything particularly interesting, but it can be fun if you like the franchise and play with friends.

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.

The Lord of the Rings Return to Moria unfortunately fails to stand up to the sacred monsters of the survival genre. Net of the excessive presence of combat, a construction system that is not too successful and a technical sector that is not the latest trend, the Free Range Games game succeeds in its aim of immersing players in the magical world of the Lord of the Rings and guaranteeing them a few hours of fun, especially if in the company of a group of friends.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is, first and foremost, a beautiful missed opportunity. If you are a fan of both survival games and The Lord of the Rings, we still recommend you step into the armor of a dwarf and experience what the studio has crafted, but the game is far away from achieving any modern standards in survival experiences, so stay away from it if you're not into Tolkien works.

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.

If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings and survival games, then you should definitely pick up Return to Moria. It offers a new side to the franchise that establishes a cozier take to these combat-heavy games using its entertaining building mechanics. I look forward to seeing how this unique aspect evolves the series, especially with the upcoming Tales of the Shire.

Lord of The Rings: Return to Moria doesn't mess with the formula we already know from survival games. The focus on Tolkien's narrative offers good moments, but still leads to a relatively linear progression, lightly sprinkled with references to the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring. The bugs and the overly basic combat bury too much of the fun that the game can offer, yet fans of the genre and The Lord of the Rings willing to sift through these problems may find some golden nuggets.

The lack of freedom in Return to Moria is probably one of its biggest faults. Along with that, the actual gameplay is not really doing anything fascinating with the concept. While the game can be fun, especially with friends, it is not that memorable when compared to other games in the genre. Besides the Lord of the Rings brand, it lacks anything truly special to make it stand out.

Return to Moria has a TON of potential, but overall I would say the worldbuilding and fantastic job they did on bringing Moria to life is what carries the title; not necessarily the survival mechanics or gameplay. Aside from singing mining songs with friends, I can’t think of much that it brings to the table that I haven’t seen done better in other survival games like Valheim or Conan Exiles. Return to Moria has definitely created an interesting and immersive world, probably one of the most lore-accurate ones I’ve seen in a while. I just wish that they had dedicated a little more time to making their combat and survival system as interesting too.

The formula for a game like this is well established, and while Return to Moria doesn't add anything new to the genre, it works just fine. It may seem strange, but it's boring in a somewhat safe and relaxing way – when the technical aspects works.

Though it doesn't stray far from the standard survival game formula and often lacks polish, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria offers a moody, atmospheric descent through Tolkien's world - with plenty of lighter moments to be found along the way.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is overshadowed by the name it carries: Free Range Games have indeed managed to recreate the atmospheres that Tolkien's fans will love but, in terms of gameplay, the game fails to shine as it should.