Return to Moria™ Review - Best Tolkien game in years?

[@cavalr1002]

I personally think this game is fantastic. I'm a huge fan of Lord of Rings universe. Without spoiling anything. The story does touch on a subject that is very interesting.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah I totally agree! It’s sad to see how many bad reviews there are of this game

[@Wulfrygg]

The game definitely is NOT a failure BUT the game I wanted to play (and though I would get by reading the title of the game) is the part AFTER the end where you would go in with your kin and make sense of all the mess, eradicate Orcs and Goblins, bring the mines back to work, find the endless stairs etc. Like....the title promised something that we didn't get to do (in a sense). Was more like a "Escaping from Moria" to me. The game certainly has much potential to grow (maybe future DLC, Expansion or sequel) but it definitely was NOT a bad game. And you really felt that and the love of the devs for the lore. For example: When I saw the crow and talked to it, I instantly was reminded of listening to the Hobbit audiobook so many years ago and was in bliss.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Ahh yeah, I kinda expected it would be something about going through Moria (like The Fellowship). I've heard some rumours the game's ending hints to reclaiming Moria, so who knows if it will be added or come in a sequel? Idk. Would be cool with a game like that too (but then it should happen after Gimli's time).

[@wulfgraad3857]

i love that one of your friends is playing as your son! i've been beyond excited for this game since it was revealed and can't wait to get my hands on it.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Hahaha yeah that wasn't even planned 😂

[@fernandocorona5411]

I never understood the nay sayers. What were people expecting? I just want to play as dwarf exploring moria with survival game mechanics. Cant wait to play it on Xbox! My main gripe is actually the eastern European accent for one of the dwarves lol.

[@brissinger9560]

If you played more survival games then there is nothing exciting to do actually. It'good to play with your non-player girlfriend though. That's the point.

[@fernandocorona5411]

@@brissinger9560 That much was obvious from the articles and trailers. Was to me at least.

[@brissinger9560]

Sadly it is using Middleearth license. It deserves proper game.

[@CounciloftheRings]

I always saw it as an RPG game with survival mechanics. I came for the RPG and lore not survival (too many of those games tbh) XD

[@kalvinmeyer6445]

Here’s my friend’s pros for the game. I agree with them

[@Maryondo]

Not the game I was waiting for, but the game I needed :)

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah far better than I expected too!

[@semreh20]

thank you for the review - I want to try this!!!

[@CounciloftheRings]

No problem! It’s worth it!

[@EmilMarlindMusic]

Groin son of Loin sure had a lot of fun! Great review :)

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks man!

[@johnofbrabant]

You should do more reviews on Lord of the Rings games

[@CounciloftheRings]

Thanks! I might actually do that! Perhaps even some mods, there are certainly some out there that deserve it!

[@johnofbrabant]

@@CounciloftheRings looking forward to that content!

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah so far I only covered the Gollum game XD @@johnofbrabant

[@johnofbrabant]

@@CounciloftheRings I will get that Gollum game as soon as its 5 euro Btw, maybe check out War in the North? It's also a good co-op game.

[@AndyOdin22]

Outside of not respecting the lore, as Tolkien was very specific when he described the peoples of Arda when making 'diverse' characters it's only ever white people they swap, that is my issue. And so I must ask outside of player creation does it have NPC elven or dwarven characters you interact with that have been thusly swapped?

[@CounciloftheRings]

No it doesn’t. I think there’s a dwarf or two in the background when you start the game, but that’s it. They also made up “the coastal mountains of the south”. Not sure if that meant as an explanation for darker skinned dwarves, but I guess it could be. I hoped that was clear in the review though 😄

[@AndyOdin22]

@@CounciloftheRings Thank-you for the reply, I am a little wary after the Rings of Power coupled with the current state of both the gaming industry and Hollywood. It seems there are a lot of activists there these days, Tolkien's works are the one area that I can't bear it.

[@thewingedringer]

I like it, though I've played a few hrs at the release date and haven't since. I would hope they release DLCs in the future which make it more open world. I know people thought it'd be like Gollum which it fortunately wasn't. The devs actually cared when building this. Not bad at all.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Yeah dlc’s or major updates would be nice

[@nitotech]

I spent 1 week playing Spiderman 2. I plan on spending more than 3 months on this game. That should tell you something.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Exactly my own thoughts

[@shivan2418]

Wow this take is sooo different from WorthABuy's verdict. He totally panned the game.

[@CounciloftheRings]

Really? I gotta watch that 😁

[@CounciloftheRings]

just watched his video. Looks like he didn't even figure out the basic combat mechanics nor get through chapter 1. He basically went through the tutorial area and made a lot of assumptions. Terrible review tbh, but he probably tried to get out his video as fast as possible for easy clicks (like most KZbinrs).

[@shivan2418]

@@CounciloftheRings interesting

[@CounciloftheRings]

Sadly KZbin is often more about who gets videos out fastest and not the content of the video that matters. He should have played more of the game before he made a review imo. I also think he kinda misunderstood the game and thought of it more as a survival game than an rpg with survival mechanics. I can't blame him though. I sometimes try to rush videos out too, so they don't get drowned, but I think this game deserved a deeper dive, before I made too many assumptions @@shivan2418

[@crazylazylee892]

Tbh it needs to be harder and the combat needs reworking

[@HerodsRevenge]

Game is quite nice and has the tolkien flavor but it could be so much better and missing out the opportunity.

[@CounciloftheRings]

What do you think it's missing?

[@HerodsRevenge]

​@@CounciloftheRings it is a typical survival game and there much better survial games out there but it could be more go to the RPG genre like lvling and skills. Hmm... i mean... its Moria and still could be like look more stunning an so on. Why need to be generated world? Moria is so big. Cool would be also when you can reclaim it really by itself, npc like the dwarfs come back and you can bring back Moria to life. Its could be also more dark fantasy but that is more my personal taste. I still enjoy it.

[@CounciloftheRings]

I kinda like how it's procedurally generated, so it's hard to find your way through Moria, sort of like how Gandalf can't remember the way :D But yeah I get what you mean. I guess the lore stuff compensates many of my complaints about the game @@HerodsRevenge

[@HerodsRevenge]

@@CounciloftheRings but to the end i enjoy go back to middlearth and with friends it is double the fun.

[@immortangamer]

4 out 10 on IGN, poor AI, multiplayer lag, bugs...any better after patches? The bad enemy AI and poor scaling for solo would kill it

[@CounciloftheRings]

I don’t trust IGN they gave Gollum the same score and this game is far far better

[@immortangamer]

i could see that. it is getting raked over the coals for the AI and lag though

[@tazman8487]

I played it for more than 20hrs , it is nothing like Valheim. Combat is terrible and if playing solo your base will get overrun multiple times by hordes of goblins that just disappear on a timer. Bosses keep respawning goblins to attack you so you have to just focus all your effort to down the boss first whilst dodging mindless goblins. It has potential but is just too clunky and the combat will eventually frustrate you and hinder your progression.. It is much better with co-op as having friends reduces the amount of grind.

[@therealsuperkyl3]

6/10 as a tolkein game, 2/10 as a game

[@CounciloftheRings]

Feel free to elaborate what you like and don’t like

[@therealsuperkyl3]

Quicklist: 1.) Minerals/Trees dont respawn (aka had an elven wood shortage my whole playthrough because I spent it on elven arrows which became outdated the very next zone.) 2.) Despair mechanic is retarded 3.) getting hungry and tired after fast travel sucks. Then, if i put a bedroll next to where i fast travel to, i cant sleep when hungry? And I have to eat to fall asleep and i wake up hungry and have to eat again before leaving? So I gotta eat 3 times just to travel somewhere? There HAD to be a better way to design that to not be so ridiculous. Youre telling me that I gotta cook 3 separate times for 1-2 minutes a piece for a total of 6 minutes just to competently fast travel somewhere? Why fast travel at all? 4.) Healing items???????????? I gotta grow crops for days just to make something other than meat sticks? Wheres the bandages? 5.) the final boss phase 2. I spent 30 mins stabbing the boss before i realized it was a staged fight and had to break the pillars to shine the light to then kill it in 3 hits. No other boss in the game had environment mechanics, unrealistic to expect everyone to figure that out. 6.) Baranzibar was the most toxic zone ive encountered in any game. I had to backtrack and slowly map out every passage until i found the way to the dragon i missed. Took me 6 hours. 7.) game is too centered on buffs. You really think im gonna grow crops for days to craft 1 beer for 30 real world minutes for a slight buff? I dont think so. Brute forced it w/o buffs besides the shrine and gold pile. 8.) the balancing in the game is awful. Throws the pacing off. At one point i struggled to find 20 diamonds to repair the lift but by the end i had 70 diamonds too many but not enough slags to build 1 full durins set. 9.) because of all the reasons above i found it pointless to maintain different bases. So i spent 4-5 hours total picking up my base a total of 4 times and moving it all deeper into the new zones. If resources dont respawn why would I stay in an old area like the elven quarter? Fast travel hurts you too so why bother going backwards? 10.) Lots of unfinished mechanics. Old gear? Why can i not dismantle it? Conan Exiles has this mechanic. Organizing loot, why so toxic? Shift click drops stuff on the ground if it cant stack? What about masterwork items not being able to be stored? Cant craft gold bars but i can find 3 of them? Makes no sense. Feels unfinished. The lore is completely fine. The game sucks though The lore accurate LOTR aspect is what drags it from a 2 to a 6 for me just from how well it does LOTR. The moment im playing a game and i start questioning the design of the game im no longer playing and enjoying it for what it should be - escapism. If im playing total war for example and my archers stop shooting for no reason and its not because they're out of arrows ill become unhooked from the game and realize what im playing sucks. Thats what return to moria does to me.

[@lingricen8077]

waiting for it to be out on steam

[@CounciloftheRings]

I don’t think it will be, but understandable