Should You Play Lord of The Rings: Return to Moria in 2024?

Lord of The Rings but it’s a survival game?

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a survival RPG, which released in October 2023. Up to 10 players can join forces to survive, craft, build and explore the iconic, sprawling mines of Moria. 

This one flew under the radar for a lot of gamers, due to the fact it was released on the epic game store and on PlayStation 5. It’s worth noting that it’s expected to release this year on Xbox, so don’t panic too much if you have missed out… and to anyone waiting for a steam release… enjoy the wait you stubborn b..

When is it set? 

Set after the events of Return of the King, Gimli decides to go back and re-open the Mines of Moria, which you may remember from the Fellowship of the Ring. You play as one of the dwarfs who have come to help Gimli get into the mines and mine its riches, only for you to get trapped inside tasked with the job of getting out alive! 

What do you have to do? 

Like every other survival game, you are required to build and craft. There is a twist though, you will also need to leverage your building ability to get to higher or lower ground, whilst avoiding the horde or orcs who show up at night with the ultimate goal being to escape the mines! 

Although slow to start, once you get past the initial tutorial stage the game starts to pick up and is a lot of fun. I played solo but I can see this being better with friends, however I’m not sure how much the difficulty will ramp up, because personally speaking even solo this game isn’t too difficult. 

Is it worth a buy? 

If I’m being honest, I think the £35 price tag is a little too high for my liking, especially considering there is a whole host of other survival games with more depth and content. I truly believe you are paying for the branding on this one. I did enjoy my time playing it, but lets be real here, its been a busy year for survival games and I’m probably the first content creator to mention this game in 2024… 

As always though, if you want a full breakdown check out my video below. 

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