The Best LOTR: Return To Moria Feature Is Completely Overlooked

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria takes place long after the events of the trilogy, as evidenced by the appearance of an older Gimli and signs in different areas showing that the fellowship had been there. With the focus of this game being on rebuilding the territory that once belonged to the dwarves, crafting and repairing bases make up essential mechanics. However, the full potential of base building has gone largely unrealized.

The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria follows a group of dwarves who are working to reclaim what was once their empire. In the process, one or several dwarves – depending on whether it’s a single or multiplayer world – are stuck inside the mountain after the initial explosion to try opening the door. From there, the group works to survive in the mountains by scavenging for supplies and building weapons to fight the goblins while also starting to repair structures from the old Dwarven Empire. However, structures don’t need to be limited to those that are repaired, and entirely new camps can be built from scratch.

Repairing Bases Takes Attention From Building New Bases In LotR: Return To Moria

Starting LotR: Return to Moria, the dwarves come across the Old Camp first, using the area as a tutorial for game mechanics. While there’s a limited amount of building new structures included in the tutorial – mostly in the form of bedrolls, torches, or wooden chests – it focuses on rebuilding the existing structures located in the Old Camp. The rest of the focus is put on the importance of LotR: Return to Moria resources like coal and how to fight and block attacks against animals and goblins or orcs. Then, the next objectives shift to finding other areas and rebuilding the structures that have been left there from the past empire.

Return To Moria Doesn’t Put Enough Emphasis On Base Options

Reviews of Return to Moria also focused on rebuilding bases rather than starting one from scratch, which is a shame because that detracts from one of the most enjoyable features in the game. However, the game itself doesn’t help in this aspect. The design for the early section includes a lot of tunnels and halls, and the lack of open areas can result in the feeling that the areas with broken structures are the only places suitable for bases. While it’s still possible to free-build in those areas, later sections where the design opens up gives the feeling that bases are meant to be custom-built in those larger areas.

Later in the game, the areas open up more and become great spaces for custom bases. But without progressing far enough to reach a point where it’s more efficient and fun to build a base from scratch rather than reclaiming one, the base-building feature ends up feeling overall lackluster. Yet it’s unfair to declare Return to Moria as a failed base builder while overlooking a large portion of the potential that comes with a custom-built base. There’s also the option to add onto a reclaimed camp and make it into a base that’s much larger and serves the needs of the dwarves staying there better.

Return To Moria Isn’t Perfect

Of course, Return to Moria isn’t a perfect game. The way it runs and some of the systems within it could use polishing, and it ends up having the feeling of an Early Access game instead of a fully released one. However, it’s not as bad as Gollum. Instead, it’s a decent survival crafting game that has the potential to become something great with the help of a few updates, or the modding community if the developers support mods. LotR: Return to Moria‘s fast travel even helps set it apart from other survival crafting games, where travel can end up feeling limited.

There are a few features that the tutorial could’ve been clearer on aside from base building and the potential of custom bases. The cooking and food system, for example, leaves out details that could’ve improved the perceptions of these elements. Since the tutorial focuses on the Stone Hearth during the cooking section, it seems like the only food types available in the game are those that need to be eaten at the table, meaning they can’t be taken outside the base, and they have a time limit until they expire.

That isn’t the case. Progressing in the game unlocks the Oven, which can be used to make Rations. Rations can then be taken outside of camp, and they don’t expire, addressing some of the largest criticisms of the food system, but the tutorial doesn’t mention this as a possibility. It’s not until later when the Oven is unlocked that Rations come up. As such, it’s too easy to miss crucial mechanics in Return to Moria because they come up late enough in the game that they might not be seen by every party of dwarves depending on how deep they progress.

A Quality Of Life Update Could Emphasize Overlooked Return To Moria Features

LotR: Return to Moria takes a different look at the franchise, and it does well as a survival crafting game. Well enough that many issues and criticisms could be addressed through updates that make some of its features clearer. Including a section in the tutorial about free building and the possibility to create fully custom bases would bring attention to perhaps the most overlooked feature, and one that makes the game much more enjoyable. A similar addition could be made to the cooking tutorial, mentioning that Rations are possible to create and can be taken along when exploring, unlike other meal types.

Survival crafting is a unique take on a Lord of the Rings game, and so is a story that focuses on the dwarves and reclaiming their lost empire. It’s not the smoothest game, and there are features that are more hidden than they should be as even a mention of what’s possible for building, crafting, and cooking later could go a long way in keeping interest. In the end, overlooking some of the best features leads to criticism that’s really due to not progressing far enough rather than being an intended part of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.