Co-op survival comes to Middle-earth in Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
Gather some dwarves and carve out the caverns of Khazad-dûm in this co-op survival crafting game.
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A co-op survival crafting sandbox is coming to Middle-earth. The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is a multiplayer survival game set in the 4th age of JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth, where players will team up with their fellow dwarves and carve out a new empire under the mountains.
“Summoned to the Misty Mountains by Lord Gimli Lockbearer, players take control of a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils from the Dwarven homeland of Moria—known as Khazad-dûm or Dwarrowdelf—in the depths below their very feet,” reads a press release from publisher North Beach Games. “Their quest will require fortitude, delving deep into the Mines of Moria to recover its treasures. Players will join forces to survive, craft, build and explore the iconic, sprawling mines.”
Deep underground, players will band together to hunt for resources, build a subterranean base, and battle orcs, goblins, and even more monstrous foes attracted by the noise of the dwarves' hamming and chiseling. You’ll have to manage your sleep, temperature, and a “dynamic light system” to create safe zones in the darkness of the mines. Restoring and rebuilding ancient technology like forges will give players access to better gear and machinery.
Crafting weapons and gear isn’t the only way to swing your hammer:Return to Moriaalso promises a “Comprehensive Dwarf Builder” which is a fun name for a character creation tool. The realm of Moria is procedural to ensure “no two adventures will be alike,” and co-op will support up to 8 players, though the publisher notes it is also playable solo.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is coming exclusively to theEpic Games Storein 2023. Check out some rather murky screenshots (to be fair, it is set under a mountain) and the full list of features below.
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Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.
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