The survival crafting game set in J. R. R. Tolkien"s iconic The Lord of the Rings universe, Return to Moria, is ditching exclusivity and coming to two new platforms. As it expands its reach, the game will soon be available on Microsoft"s Xbox Series X|S consoles as well as Valve"s popular Steam platform on PC.
Set during the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria fantasy title has players banding together under Lord Gimli Lockbearer, who is voiced in-game by actor John Rhys-Davies. As dwarves, players are given the ultimate goal of reclaiming lost treasure from the Dwarven homeland of Moria set deep underground.
Being a survival crafting game, it offers resource mining, crafting items, building camps, surviving the elements, and fighting classic enemies like orcs and cave trolls, all with eight-player cooperative play also being a feature.
Right when the game hits new platforms, the developer Free Range Games will also push The Golden Update to all platforms. This will add a nonlinear Sandbox mode for veterans to try, cross-play across all platforms, new building content and tools, improved object snapping, pausing in single-player, ambient music for Dwarves’ ventures through Moria, difficulty settings, and more as fresh features.
The studio adds that many loot drops, crafting costs, and spawn rates have been tweaked based on player feedback. Combat has also been overhauled with new sound and visual effects to feel "less floaty." The update"s frequency of combat encounters has been lowered in many areas compared to the launch version, too, letting players be dwarves in peace without running into patrols so much.
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is hitting Xbox Series X|S and Steam on August 27. The game is currently available on PlayStation 5 and PC, with the latter version only being available via the Epic Games Store.