The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is free to keep on the Epic Games Store this week and I'll hazard a guess that means you're suddenly much more interested in it. Because I know that I am! At the price of "free," the 2023 survival game where you're dwarves seems like an excellent addition to the dwarf-themed section of my gaming life.
The launch version of Return to Moria reviewed very poorly here on PC Gamer, with the reviewer citing bugs and frustrating combat as major issues. That was over a year ago though, and Return to Moria has had consistent updates since to the point where recent user reviews on most platforms are pretty dang good. It might just live up to the promise we saw in the early previews last year.
Return to Moria casts you and your friends as a company of dwarves tasked with going deep into a procedurally generated realm of Moria to reclaim the ancient mines and city for your people. As befits the great craftsmen you're tasked to make new wonders and recover the ancient, legendary dwarven armor, weapons, and tools scattered through the ruined city.
Its big feature is that you can customize your own new constructions as well as build on the old ruins, tweaking as you go to make a Moria all your own. The problem of course is that making noise by mining will attract the attention of things lurking deeper in the mountains: Goblins, trolls, and other forces of the Shadow lurking in the deep places of the world.
You know, nameless things and all that. I'm sure it's no trouble.
Return to Moria did just get a big free update packed with yule-tide fervor to decorate your mines. It also, after a year of updates and freebies, released its first paid content pack—cosmetic armor, weapons, and recipes themed around the horse lords of Rohan.
