Developer Free Range Games and publisher North Beach Games recently showed a trailer for their co-op and survival crafting game set in Middle Earth. Called The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.
The game takes place in the Mines of Moria. The dwarves can harvest resources and treasure for crafting and building with forges to smith more powerful weapons and armour as they venture deeper. This will allow them to rebuild their lost kingdom.
In the game, you create your own dwarf and explore procedurally generated environments, alone or online. It will use lighting, noise and temperature systems to add difficulty. The main loop is building, crafting and exploring the mines. The gameplay is in some ways similar to Minecraft and Deep Rock Galatic.
Even if you don’t care about The Lord of the Rings, if the gameplay is good, then it should be a worthwhile game to play. However, this game reminds me of the feeling I felt the first time I saw The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, so it might be underfunded and rushed.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria will release on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X in winter 2023.
King Toko 