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The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, the upcoming survival crafting game set in Tolkien's Middle-earth, has debuted some new screenshots and buckets full of lore.
We haven't seen anything from The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria since it debuted during E3 2022, but it's back with a few fresh screenshots and about a full hour of enthusiast-level Lord of the Rings lore. We knew from the reveal trailer that the game centered around the dwarves of Middle-earth, but now we know it's basically a playable history book on their race. I suppose North Beach Games didn't hire "Tolkien Professor" Corey Olsen as a consultant for nothing.
In a new round-table chat hosted by YouTube channel Nerd of the Rings, Olsen joined the development team to break down Return to Moria's setting and background lore in detail. They also revealed a few high-quality screenshots to pore over while we wait for the game's 2023 release:
The story takes place during the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, after the One Ring and Sauron were vanquished in the Third Age. A company of Dwarves, led by Lord Gimli Lockbearer - yes, that is the same Gimli you know from Lord of the Rings - is keen on entering the underground kingdom of Moria and reclaiming its lost spoils from the goblins, orcs, and trolls that took over after the Balrog ravaged its population.
There's a good chance Return to Moria will teach even the most well-read Lord of the Rings lore buffs something new about the fictional history of Dwarves, Moria, and the legendary Durin I, the first of the seven fathers of the Dwarves, as well as at least one of his descendants. That said, it's still a survival crafting game supporting up to 8-player co-op, so even if the story is little more than background noise, you'll still have plenty to do.
One thing that really excites me are the songs, which Olsen said are "totally his favorite game mechanic." Some of the songs will be adaptations of Tolkien's own works and others will be all original, and you'll be able to perform them as your character - just be careful not to alert the nearby trolls unless you have at least a few friends in your company.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria certainly looks promising, but only time will tell whether it ultimately joins the ranks of the best survival games out there.
