The Lord of the Rings: Return To Moria Review

[@self1sch]

How there is not a AAA LotR game every few years is beyond me. The fanbase is huge and as long as you don't base it on the Amazon show it would sell bonkers!

[@mulberry8882]

Tolkien estate is not overly fond of sharing

[@deadshot0908]

​@@mulberry8882jokes on them cause its getting public Domain soon anyways so they would be smart to sell the license now and Milk it aslong as they can

[@copperfront]

@@deadshot0908 yeah real soon, just 20 more years.

[@LeaderYangEquality]

There is middle earth shadow war or mordor both are great beautiful games 💕

[@insomnibrit]

Right, I'm not sure why I've gotta go back to ps2 era to play a game that's actually about the Fellowship. Got the tech to do better now (in theory)

[@Callum.Thomson]

It looks like 90% of the budget for these LOTR games goes into just the license

[@jameswilliam8110]

This is actually true. Devs and publishers take a small slice of the pie.

[@MrKylljoy]

this has been the case for big license game for decades, 40+ years

[@DeityLink69]

Ill say this,compared to Gollum this game actually has some effort put into it and its got a lot of great ideas.

[@isaacrhodes4617]

Agreed, plus Tolkien's Dwarven culture deserved a title like this, though could be better :)

[@aafif5607]

That bad huh?

[@DeityLink69]

@@aafif5607 well clearly some effort was actually put into it,but could have bin better.

[@GO_EZ]

Compared to Gollum, every game has some effort put into it.

[@AILorer]

but it requires more effort to produce a turd than gollum so...

[@Psychonaut42]

Lord of rings needs a game like the Witcher, they could use the Silmarillion as time and place so they are not constrained to stick to the fellowships story.

[@targar2]

problem with that is, the silmarillion is not open for licensing

[@davet9820]

Yeah we need a LotR game like Skyrim/Witcher, and a Star Wars game like Star Citizen/Star Field and it's wild neither of these exist yet.

[@dgmt8789]

Its called the Shadows of Mordor series.

[@1BlazeGame]

@@davet9820 like Starfield? bro 💀

[@z4kst4n]

@@dgmt8789hardly

[@claudiofistmaster]

Now we understand there was a reason Tolkien’s family was always protecting the rights of the LOTR universe…

[@peterGchaves]

"Oh $hit!! We must protect it at all costs! 🥵🥵 The greedy companies will completely mess it all up!"

[@matthewwalsh1468]

Yeah, really?!

[@Tito_Orcheese]

@@UeOeUYT You don't have to be religious to appreciate LOTR. Anyone can watch the original movies or read the books and get that spiritual feeling without being religious. It's called being human.

[@Zagardal]

​@@UeOeUYTjfc what a caveman take

[@Amp661]

Took you long enough....

[@hieunguyenrileygekko]

ironically EA back then showed more respect toward LOTR franchise their LOTR games (and also the 2 Middle Earth games from Monolith and WB) have aged extremely well

[@b-l1969]

That's incorrect, and if you believe that, stop being a lapdog listening to others and explore the game for yourself. VERY much love and reverence for the Tolkien mythology

[@IamKnucks]

What's ironic about that?

[@atilla3100]

lol this return to moria game looks like its rel. in 1990s :D@@b-l1969

[@ElliottPiano]

Yeah these games are incredible and return of the king has actually better graphics 20 YEARS LATER than moria lol

[@iforgot87872]

Battle for middle Earth was excellent!

[@_Cetarial]

If you’re only here for the score: 4/10.

[@pinonpine9460]

Love u

[@keijijohnson9754]

Seems pretty dang harsh for something that’s leagues more polished than Gollum.

[@SeAv0r]

cheers lad

[@sanguine2552]

Damn that’s disappointing

[@ComicAcolyte]

😘

[@MrKrabz675]

Was really hoping this game would take inspiration from Valheim and push it even further, with the LOTR flare we’re desperate for. If it could contend with valheim it would’ve easily been one of the best games this year

[@martinivanov1303]

I’m still dreaming of a Skyrim type lord of the rings or another war in the North type game! I’ll even take War in the North remaster

[@Myst97]

To give this game a 4 but also give gollum a 4 should be criminal. This game is leagues better then gollum, at its worst its a 6 out of 10. Minimum.

[@christianjohnson2275]

My guy. 5 is average. 6 means it’s above average. This is not an above average game lol.

[@oceandrop7666]

@@christianjohnson2275 exactly. People in general rate games way too high for some reason.

[@Myst97]

Now if you get a group of friends together and play then this game is an easy 7 or 8 out of 10, but just solo 6 and Ill stand on this ground. This game is leagues better then gollum, and ign gave skull island rise of kong a 3 and thats considered the worst game of the year so far. Too say this game is just barely better the Kong, Come on what is ign smoking.

[@ian_sear]

​@christianjohnson2275 5 is not average. Only a handful of games each year get rated 5 or under by IGN so how could it be average?

[@OrenjiMura]

@@christianjohnson2275 Five to six is average lol. Seven is above average

[@BljesakiOluja]

Mediocre gameplay aside, the reason you get those LotR feels is because the team cared about the actual source material. They had a reading club and discussed book content and how to respect it.

[@austinsimon7307]

Just beat the game and enjoyed it quite a bit. Is there still room for improvement? yes. However, it’s still great fun. Especially if you’re a LoTR fan. 7.5/10 for me.

[@mauricioretamales4682]

8 /10

[@dillonsrt]

Imagine if the baldur gate 3 devs made a lotr game based on aragorn adventures after he became king elassar

[@agonsfitness7308]

Scrap that. Go for a young Aragorn who travelled all over middle earth fought with both Theoden and Denethor's father and was an all round badass.

[@faizanmckagan2827]

As long we see Liv Tyler's bazookas innit

[@glamderinggaming3859]

It never claimed to be a AAA game. Same score as Gollum is a bit harsh imo

[@rakuloe]

Pretty Harsh review. Got a few hours into it and the game is more around a 6 solo than just a 4. Sure there are some weird bugs they need to polish out, but considering it's a small studio they definitely didnt do bad with this game. Tons of Lotr-lore to find as well. For me the game ran really well, and because of the gameplayloop you keep playing. There are tons of resources to find, which makes the game a bit easy for survival fans. Its way better than Gollum, that's for sure.

[@changethetimes]

This was a harsh review, LOTR fans are as bad as Star wars fans, id personally give it a 6 solo.. 7 with friends.

[@joaquinnievas9079]

It's a great game to me, i'm having tons of fun

[@alucard624]

Gollum wasn't exactly a high bar to jump over in regards to quality.

[@changethetimes]

@@alucard624 and yet it seems to be the only thing reviewers reference on a LOTR game. The bullshittery of these reviews is because everyone expects triple As this isn't a triple a from a triple a studio.. It makes no lies as to what it is.. It just is what it is.

[@westris6790]

100% agree.@@changethetimes

[@yorgi2720]

you gave this game the same rank as gollum...

[@15thCrypt]

From seeing a friend play gollum (it was a trade off of making the other play the worse game) and judging from the 14min gameplay shown months ago both are bad for different reasons

[@JulianJohnston919]

With all the new tech, this could have been legendary.

[@josephiovine8952]

Fair warning. This game is a completely different experience solo vs with friends. Solo it was super frustrating to constantly fight off enemies while mining and exploring, but with friends the game takes on another life and is much more balanced. Enemy spawning does not scale to player count!

[@kevinmegannety1163]

Not an excuse, every game with co-op support is better with friends.

[@josephiovine8952]

better because the fighting is less tedious with more people. Which was a major negative by the reviewer. Did you even watch the video?@@kevinmegannety1163

[@RawRawson]

This game has full emeny scaling.... Not sure where your info is from but enemies are easier solo and harder with more players...

[@keithburgess5456]

Mobs go up by stars per person that enters your game. We play with 3 atm so mobs are 3*

[@Tyfuzzle]

@kiethburgess what does that even mean? Are you saying there's 3 times the number of enemies or that they have a level/ranking system?

[@WeirdAmerica219]

Shadow of Mordor or shadow of war are really nice games.even war of the north was ok. Would like something along those lines

[@spook8286]

IGN says 4 out of 10 but reviews on Epic say 4.5 out of 5 stars huh.......

[@A.Person8]

Often the players have different wants than the reviewers

[@pizza70123]

It's actually surprisingly fun if you're into this type of survival games, and Moria is a really cool location for it. I'd say easy 7/10 if you're into LoTR and survival games.

[@Ethan-fz6tp]

dude this game is WAY better than what they are saying.

[@ludahwolf3634]

Yeah you have to take bothe reviews into account and know what you personally like then make the choice

[@scott8448]

Do you expect anything more from someone that didn’t know that there’s a dodge button but still makes this review

[@taylorloewen4211]

Couldn’t disagree with this rating more. After a solid 20 hours in, I’m loving my experience. It’s LOTR Valheim….which is awesome. If you love survival crafters and/or LOTR, this is an easy 7.5/10.

[@Cherroxx]

If you like Valheim you like this game, the combat is better than Valheim as well, IGN makes no sense. The loading bugs were patched before you released this review. 6/10 minimum.

[@ImTheMan0fSteel]

This game is GREAT ignore these people. They dont like games, they like movies pretending to be games. Innovation is bad, just do the same thing with better graphics over and over and over and theyll praise you for it. Absolute joke.

[@ryanlowery4407]

If you are an LOTR and a survival game fan, you would rate it MUCH higher then a 4/10. I've put in about 10 hours so far into the game, playing with other players. A bit buggy, but overall I've enjoyed it very much.

[@scott8448]

Havent gotten any bugs yet but overall great game just finished the first boss and have my masterworks torch that’s always lit up on my back. Great to see Easter egg’s reference the times people have entered since the western gates were closed.

[@Musicreach101]

This game is fantastic. They’ve added a lot of mechanics that separate this game from others. Love that 2 people can use the same chest at the same time.

[@draconiandraco]

Is it really worth getting?

[@alvingarden4486]

@@draconiandraconope

[@Slit-throat]

​@@draconiandraco if you have friends to play it with and you guys enjoy LOTR, yes.

[@neiloconnor7776]

@@draconiandracoyes

[@Musicreach101]

@@draconiandraco as of today.. I’d say wait a few more months

[@bupp291]

Hmm. A lot of the theming actually sounds great here, but I'm not spending 20 minutes fighting basic enemies 😂

[@Blazein0812]

u dont need to, the guy playing the game doesnt once use the charged attack that one hits most enemies, bad gamer equals bad review

[@westris6790]

It looked to me, the review put on bad/lower tier weapons to enforce his bad opinion of bad combat. I've played the game for 51 hours and never fought a horde for 20 minutes. @@Blazein0812

[@jensk5993]

No need to. It is way too simple to spend that much time.

[@Ethan-fz6tp]

not once has this happened to me.

[@DaRkSLayer87100]

Another unfinished game on release that promised far more then it provided. Excited to see how this game changes as we get updates moving forward.

[@RaidenMei-p1y]

I’m not

[@EnzoJunkie]

The concept of this game is so awesome to me but can't bring myself to play it with what is shown on this review. Such a waste of potential.

[@raybloodypurchase1941]

You can't change something where the bones are inherently broken.

[@ashentwo6608]

​@@RaidenMei-p1ywho asked?

[@Izznogood76]

every game exclusive to epic store is equal to early access before it comes to steam

[@squifurgie]

Never trust IGN people . . . never

[@magneto44]

they were right about this one 🤷‍♂️

[@Quantumanticz]

@@magneto44nah they really werent

[@Fuuntag]

Glad to see John Rhys-Davies getting his. Pity about the by the numbers, not with the times survival game.

[@CynicalPOV]

Reading this hurt my head.

[@TheSoleDweller]

There was once a Gollum game that wasn't that at all. There is now a Moria Dwarf Takeback game that ain't that at all either. It is becoming disappointing to see how Tolkien grandcrafting is put to pieces. We still have Shadow of War/Mordor games in the Tolkien verse. Alas!

[@Hatecrewdethrol]

Dont forget Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2

[@pete7354]

At least warner bros is gerting millions of dollars for licensing

[@swayde1228]

Don't forget the war in the north ❤❤❤

[@scott8448]

How is this not a “return to Moria”? You literally turn up kill everything inside Moria, take it back and then exit to tell the boys it’s your place now.

[@jaketomkinson2310]

Imagine reviewing a co-op game without playing co-op

[@rottenmouldybrain]

Imagine having anyone to play coop games with.

[@jorgetagle3778]

Cool thing is this game is a long term project so there will be updates and improvements

[@francescofioroni70]

Nah a 4 is too bad especially for the developers that put their heart in this game

[@bananatiger3063]

Guess they should have put more than just heart into it

[@garrett3726]

You’re going to be the parent giving his kids participation trophies

[@legaldumper8902]

Yeah I’m genuinely enjoying the game and can tell they put a lot of passion and respect for the source material in it.

[@Fl1ckz_TV]

That song about the milk on the floor hits hard if you remember they are dead 😭

[@_Orothin]

No way is this game a 4. It's a 6 to 6.5 at minimum. It's a B quality survival game. Combat isn't THAT much worse than Valheim's, and sure, building could be improved, but lore, progression, and exploration hold the game up well enough. With your scoring logic of "it does everything by the numbers at best", wouldn't every sports game, or Total War game variant with barely any changes or improvements over the years warrant a similarly drastic "bad" score as well, since a previous game "did it first"? As someone else in the comments mentioned, it's criminal that this game got the same score as Gollum. Were you expecting a game based on Moria to not be primarily tunnels and caves? lol

[@Petumin12]

We got Shadow of War just 6 years ago, what the hell happened to get this low quality games? Even EA did far better LoTR games 20 years ago

[@gypsyenigma6032]

It seems like you have never played a sandbox game before, combat in these style of games have never been the best look at Conan Exiles, ARK, even newer Sandbox Survival games don't have amazing combat systems.... The reason to get this game is simple, if you love Tolkien and Sandbox Survivals than get it. It won't be for everyone but those who can look past its few flaws will love it.

[@FatBunny168]

devs who are not skilled should not be allowed to touch legendary titles like LOTR

[@Ghostone11]

Agreed

[@gtrzmbe9390]

Such a shame. I've been waiting for this one for a long while now. It's also crappy that it's only on Epic, so there's literally no update transparency.

[@Malhaloc]

The combat doesn't bother me. The game is actually pretty enjoyable...until the first or second night where a swarm of goblins attacks and all you have is an improvised axe. Like, give me some time to build and explore. Let me prepare. But no, we're immediately stalked and subsequently attacked as soon as the game starts.

[@whitenekos]

Sandbox mode right getting that clay sucks but shield bash is your friend.

[@Malhaloc]

@@whitenekos But weapon durability is not

[@the_og_shockwv3182]

Why can't anyone get a Lotr game right... Heartbreaking...

[@jeepneygang]

Modders are going to make this game a masterpiece

[@Bro-dot-]

Modders are not there to just fix/redesign games they have to at least enjoy the game first. Otherwise why would modders take their time away from working for Bethesda?

[@yungfeen4884]

​@@Bro-dot-that's extremely false lmao

[@SpectorEuro4]

That’s what they said about the MCC and here we are with barely any mods. If you gotta have mods for a game to be enjoyable then the game is not worth having tbh

[@Astrotamtv]

Theres already a better game than this called deep rock galactic

[@franciscabdul2828]

Drake returns to voice his titular character

[@jatyin117]

Guess I'll just play Valheim

[@Crafty-One]

miles better than gollum game. Deserves FAR better review score imo

[@HunterW2021]

Man we just need more middle earth shadow games…. Wtf

[@brandyn19901]

Without destroying it like they did the Arkham series with Gotham knights

[@infinityboom1842]

@@brandyn19901 exactly

[@TheKing-gn9br]

Pippin didn’t throw a stone down the well…

[@statusgreenrecords]

What are the better options you’re referring to?

[@Illier1]

More build options, less repetitive combat

[@johnkyl123]

“There are some parts like the combat.. “ Bro, that’s literally half the game. What do you mean. 😂

[@garrettgolden-o4s]

game deserves more than 4/10! at least a 7 due to poor character animations and crummy combat.... rest of game is super fun

[@ExploringAndMe]

8 out of 10 really fun give it a try everyone

[@draconiandraco]

Y is it fun

[@Ethan-fz6tp]

@@draconiandraco because the world is stunning, the lore is on point, the mechanics may be familiar but are executed well, there are a few unique things comparatively regarding staying nourished, sleeping, building and the way you work with friends(example: singing together while mining to inspire each other with a buff), awesome enemies fitting to lotr, decently well polished even if it isn't AAA quality animations etc. plus its lotr. sooo. im loving it with my wife seriously.

[@ilfra3022]

it's not a game of 4 in the slightest, it doesn't go below 6, in fact it's a nice full 7, no more, no less

[@MoistToys]

Gimli: sees gandalf fight off a balrog, and fall to his death, fight a massive army of goblins and trolls that almost immediately take out the entire fellowship in the first movie, run for their lives from that army, and a giant octopus outside.... "Yes, fellow Dwarven adventurer. Make Moria your new home, have Dwarven ale, mine, and raise the future of the dwarves in there." Great idea gimli!

[@loganponthier3119]

I’m still waiting for a LOTR narrative/RPG experience where you create a character, choose a start (shire, Gondor, etc.), and just adventure and pursue your main quest.

[@allandm]

Lord of the Rings deserves something like Jedi fallen order.

[@jakeb4547]

way too harsh, having fun with my buddies

[@LittleItaly69]

All they have to do is replicate the actual map give us a path choice which will put us in the right realm and we Skyrim style the rest .

[@jimjohnson6944]

The only franchise that game developers hate more than Star Wars is Lord of the Rings.

[@dblundz]

Imagine this concept but in the Dragon age universe, Being a dwarf and fighting back the dark spawn, clearing out the deep roads and taking back the homeland

[@ludahwolf3634]

Hahaha If that DA game was made instead, someone would say, imagine instead of DA, it was a LOTR game!. 👀 lol

[@andrews9719]

Anyone know if the game has improved since this review?

[@100pokusnajmeno9]

Shadow of war will always be the best lotr game.

[@krow7402]

Yo, wasn't the guy who couldn't do the tutorial level of Cuphead from IGN?

[@scott8448]

Same guy I’d say seeing he couldn’t figure out dodge, shield bash, heavy attacks or weapon attributes.

[@valterink8997]

"The game wants me to actually play this game, madness 4/10"

[@smoothoperator7219]

With the money spent on this and Gollum we could have had a brand new current gen Battle for Middle Earth. At this point we're better off continuing to download mods for Skyrim.

[@eternalbeing3339]

Or play the witcher 3 with mods another time.

[@scott8448]

What do you expect from small companies with small staff and extremely low budget games? This isn’t a triple a game so get off your high horse princess

[@Ivan-xk4uy]

Looks better than Gollum….

[@10191927]

This looks really several generations old as well, it looks barely passable as a PS2 game. What is it with this generation and the return to PS2 era graphics? I’m noticing a pattern here, Gollum, this game, Kong.

[@eternalbeing3339]

The return of the king on ps2 looks better.

[@Zach2795]

is it better than gollum yes, sadly they just didnt do enough to make it worth it in the end, maybe they can update and fix it. Like grounded when they added more bosses and story etc

[@Lovinmc69420]

This looks it was made for an Xbox 360

[@LastAyleidKing]

Literally had to call out their text review.....they said pippin dropped stone down well to alert orcs....... It was a dwarf skeleton head, then the rest of corpse tumbled

[@tinobeltran6964]

Skeleton in the Movie, Stone in the book. Less of an accident more of Pippin being a fool of a Took.

[@LastAyleidKing]

@@tinobeltran6964 yea....pippins foolery might lead to a bunch of immediate accidents that turn into instrumental saves later but fool of a took indeed

[@apotheases]

I'm starting to think that all LOTR games are going to be nothing but shovelwear crap going forward.

[@jordyboy321]

Its definitely better than 4.

[@Chrisebetz]

Such a shame, we all deserve a decent LOTR game but alas there are no backers to fund passionate creators 😢

[@MoonCakeone]

it is moria of course it going to spawn alot of goblins and troll!? havent you see the movie when frodon and all of them get attack thousen of them!? all this make sens! and they get surrounded of them.. all this make sens if you going to try take over and take back moria

[@iluvatarchem]

Another review that will look very bad down the road.

[@bonesxiii_]

It's weird, it looks shite, sounds shite, but I'm probably still gonna buy it.

[@michaelhansen1650]

I still love LOTR: The Third Age. Would love a sequel/spin off

[@MrFroggster]

Thats not a 4. Maybe a 6/7. That kong game is a 4.

[@ToadieBog]

A dwarven survival/open world game (with multiplayer) in Moria has massive potential, and this game should have explored those depths. Instead, it chose to just skim the surface, and has an astounding lack of vision or excellence. Why even bother? Hopefully at some point someone will do it justice, with true mining, decent character models, combat, exploration, etc.

[@BlackAngus69]

First Gollum and now this. Such a damn shame.

[@jacobfernandez-green3949]

4/10 if your wondering

[@raditz_awakened]

So by all his explanations he would give Valheim a 2 or 3, Game play doesn't look bad at all, player looks like they struggle at grasping combat. And if it doesn't do anything better, and is pretty much on PAR with other survival/building games, why is it so much lower?

[@Elros04]

it's a 4 normally, but it's a 2 if you play solo... the enemies are not scaled to single player, so you end up having to fight a group of 5-7 every 2 minutes and then comes a raid that it's not dangerous at all since you can bottle them up at the entrance of your base, but there are SO many that it becomes super boring and tedious...

[@Bennfredable]

The group size may not be scaled but the unit strength is

[@randysnoman]

I guess in a nut shell, the ideas of this game sounds cool.

[@____REDACTED____]

Lord of the rings meets valheim essentially. I’ll be playin it for the expansion of lore and scenery exploration mainly

[@jerrygoodpaster1882]

How can they honestly review a game that hadn't been released as Early Access on August of 2024?

[@3d1m4nd3r]

You saved my money. How can such a game be released?

[@dynamicvoltage9765]

for everything good this game does it does 3 things poorly. The engine is decent, but the design is horrendous at times. The map is completely useless. It's basically just one big block and it doesn't even show walls. Enemies are constantly respawning and always overmatch you because the gear tier you need is always in the next area. The game is completely linear so there's no way to actually get stronger, you're just trying to keep up with the enemies that level up in every area, despite being the same 4 enemies over and over again.

[@paraglox]

Lego lotr and hobbit was probably the best adaptations besides that one one ps2

[@qontentqreator6717]

Return to Moria 2077… before the updates

[@trillu7163]

Do you have companions? Other computer controlled dwarfs working with you?

[@westris6790]

Another common IGN bad take. There was much more effort was put into this game than Gollum, which you also gave a 4. The lore, the songs, the crafting, and the locations are interesting and fun to experience. In no way this game is a 4. In my opinion the game is a 7, and if technical bugs are fixed it could be a 8.

[@Makelikeatreeandgetoutofhere]

Way to harsh. This is a good game. One of the better survival crafting games I’ve played in a while plus…you get to be a dwarf. 7.5/10.

[@yukitadano5098]

Will there be a launch update?

[@Leaf__22]

looks like a mobile game

[@chueki5874]

People should be more aware of the Tolkien's state predatory practices. Gaming studios are only able to get like the 1% amount of lore lotr rights. How do you expect them to make meaningful games with that? Also, the Tolkien state doesn't protect Tolkien's legacy. It's just that they're only interested in the highest bidders.

[@MrGraveSlice]

How does this game compared to Valheim?

[@anthonyk1234]

That Amazon LOTR show made me really question anything new about the franchise, I’ll pass on this game.

[@chemicalwasted3450]

The King Kong game got a 3 so a 4 seems unfair for this game. The King Kong game should have got a 2 max if this gets a 4.

[@satekoi]

Let's hope this works better than Gollum.

[@neiloconnor7776]

It’s far better than Gollum