The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™ News

Survival games generally lean towards sandbox and non-linear gameplay, where players have the freedom to explore and create their own stories. However, the world of The Lord of the Rings thrives on epic journeys and well-defined narratives. In creating The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, we faced the challenge of merging these two contrasting approaches. Our solution? Offering two distinct world types: Campaign and Sandbox.

Campaign Mode: An Epic Journey
For fans of The Lord of the Rings, the Campaign mode delivers a rich, story-driven experience. This mode is designed to be linear, providing a structured journey with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It’s crafted to give players a traditional adventure that aligns with the grand narratives found in Tolkien's works.

In Campaign mode, the dynamics cater to those who prioritize story over survival mechanics. Here, you’ll find a finely tuned balance where the narrative takes precedence, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the lore and culture of the Dwarves. This mode is perfect for players who want to absorb each game mechanic and atmosphere deeply before progressing, ultimately ending their journey with a profound appreciation for the Dwarven race and their rich history.

Sandbox Mode: Embrace the Unknown
On the other hand, Sandbox mode draws inspiration from traditional sandbox survival games, offering a stark contrast to the linearity of the Campaign. This mode is inherently non-linear, providing minimal story guidance and leaving the player to forge their own path.

In Sandbox mode, the game world is generated with a wide variety of random seeds, meaning each playthrough can vary significantly in layout and difficulty. The dynamics here are vastly different: there's no hand-holding. From the moment you start, you make all the choices, and can face dangers that don’t necessarily match your skill level. This mode doesn’t push you forward; it lets you move at your own pace, encouraging exploration and experimentation.

Fine-Tuning Your Experience with Difficulty Settings
Both modes offer a range of difficulty settings, allowing players to tailor their experience. And the diverse difficulty options extend beyond combat, allowing control over various aspects of gameplay to ensure that everyone, from solo players to those seeking a hardcore challenge, can find the right balance for their adventure.

Choosing Between Campaign and Sandbox
Deciding between Campaign and Sandbox ultimately comes down to what kind of experience you’re looking for. If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings and crave a structured, story-rich journey, the Campaign mode is your best bet. It offers a traditional adventure that pays homage to the epic tales of Middle-earth. To learn more please check out our preview video we made when Sandbox Alpha released earlier this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKkhZPSvU68

If, however, you prefer the freedom to explore and create your own stories without the constraints of a linear narrative, Sandbox mode will be more to your liking. Its open-ended nature and varying challenges provide a fresh experience each time you play.

Gear up and let's delve deep into Moria!
In summary, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria masterfully blends the narrative depth of Tolkien’s world with the freedom and challenge of survival games. Whether you choose the guided journey of the Campaign or the unpredictable adventure of the Sandbox, you’re in for an immersive experience that celebrates both the lore of Middle-earth and the thrill of survival gaming.

We set out to make a game that felt 100% authentic to Professor Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Something for fans, by fans. The response from The Lord of the Rings community has been wonderful.

The podcast Keep on Tolkien said, “There are so many things... so many little lores that they created for this game that fits so well I couldn’t tell if it was just something I didn’t know or what. That’s good lore building. It's believable.”

And on YouTube, The Nerd of the Rings said, “It feels like this game was built specifically for me.”


Building out the lore started with the Dwarves. We knew we wanted something with a lot at stake. And what better place to survive than Moria? The great realm of Khazad-dûm would let us explore their entire history.

But fans like us know the War of the Ring inside and out. How do we avoid rehashing the same things we’ve seen before? With help from our friends at Middle-earth Enterprises it became clear: the Fourth Age! We could go beyond the end of the Ring to tell the epic tale of how the Dwarves reclaimed their ancient homeland.


When our story begins, decades after The Return of the King, there are two great Dwarven realms. To the north lies Erebor and the current King Under the Mountain: Thorin II, called Stonehelm. To the south lies the Glittering Caves, led by the new Lord Gimli.


He has promised his old friend Aragorn to rebuild the gates of Minas Tirith with Mithril. That precious metal is only found under the mountains of Khazad-dûm. And this makes Gimli impatient to get in there and take it back!

King Stonehelm refuses to let Erebor help. He believes they must wait “Till Durin Wakes From Sleep.” It’s a phrase the Dwarves often say to each other as a farewell, to remind themselves that their work here in Middle-earth is not done. But the King takes it very literally and believes any attempt to enter Moria is doomed unless led by the return of the great father of the Dwarves.


Gimli, being a less traditional Dwarf in experience and thinking, does not want to wait. That is where our players get involved in this tale. Along the way they’ll discover the history of Khazad-dûm, what happened when the Balrog emerged, the Dwarves’ own creation myth and how they see their role in the world.

That is a lot of weighty topics to adapt or invent! It had to be done in a way that felt authentic. So how did we do it?

It started with the team's experience. The game's Director, Jon-Paul Dumont, previously worked as the loremaster for The Lord of the Rings games at Electronic Arts. Many of the engineering team worked on The Return of the King game for the PlayStation.

Together with the rest of the team, we dove into everything Professor Tolkien wrote about the Dwarves. We set out a few key values that stayed with us the entire development of the game.

1. Only use Professor Tolkien’s actual words. Avoid secondary interpretations.
   
2. Every choice must honor the spirit of Middle-earth, as described by the text, its influences and his letters.
   
3. Reinforce and never undercut the stakes of the published works.
   

This last value is the reason we do not have a Balrog. We had to live our values and that meant we would not lessen Gandalf’s sacrifice to Durin’s Bane. That was his story, not ours.

With our values in hand, we enlisted the help of four experts to aid in our quest.


Writer TS Luikart
First, we brainstormed how the world building and gameplay could come together with veteran tabletop game designer and writer, T.S. Luikhart. He contributed to many of the published Lord of the Rings role-playing games. These sessions are when the framework for the player’s journey came together.


Second, we wanted to immerse ourselves in what it meant to be a Dwarf in the same way J.R.R. Tolkien would have – through language! We turned to famed linguist David Salo, who consulted on all six of the Peter Jackson films and published a book on the Elvish languages. For Return to Moria he invented an entire lexicon and grammar for Khuzdul. He also translated much of the game’s spoken dialogue.


Third, we needed to know if we were on the right track. Well into development we had concept art, built environments and a full story treatment. This is when we reached out to The Tolkien Professor, Corey Olsen. We frustrated him by refusing to tell him anything about the game until he read our planned narrative. We needed him to come in cold and tell us if our plans would feel authentic and would pass muster with fans who studied the lore as much as him.


Finally, it would only be right if everyone’s favorite dwarf reviewed things. It was a highlight of the entire project to work directly with John Rhys-Davies as he reprised his role as Gimli. Hearing him say the opening lines of the game just felt right. Only the real Gimli could say “Everything you know about Dwarves was told to you by Hobbits and Elves. It is time we told it ourselves.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFYTKnwRItA

From the beginning we knew the story of Khazad-dûm and Durin’s return is not our story, it belongs to Professor Tolkien. We were just the next set of hands and minds to try our best to tell the tale. And for those of you who have experienced the journey's end know its just the first part of that grand adventure.

The result is world building and a campaign story we hope will feel right at home with your love of The Lord of the Rings!

Turugnî hisgin! That means “Greetings!” in the Dwarf language of Khuzdul.

The team behind The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™ is excited to share that it’ll be coming to Steam in Fall 2024!

Return to Moria is a grand new adventure in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth starring everyone’s favorite: The Dwarves. In the coming weeks we will show how we strived to create an authentic experience for fans of The Lord of the Rings. This includes the bucket-list opportunity to work with John Rhys-Davies as he reprised his role as Gimli.

It is also a multiplayer survival crafting, building and combat game in that darkest location of Moria. Up to 8 players can join and play PvE co-op in the story-focused campaign or the more open sandbox mode. We can’t wait to show you the glorious things players have already accomplished and built together.

We know there’s a lot of future and current players who’ve been looking for this so we hope you’ll join us in wishlisting the game. This ensures you’ll be notified when it drops later this Fall, so you can answer Gimli’s call with no delay - and of course we’ll let you know the release date as we get closer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2933130/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Return_to_Moria/

This version will feature all of the updates and changes that have come to previous platforms. The Steam community will benefit from nearly a year of continuous development and iteration on the quality of life and content in the game. Many thanks to our great community and player feedback we have received along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ETmqtscIWc

For those new to the game and the world of Return to Moria, we’ll be sharing more about development and design in the run up to release, so stay tuned to the Steam Community for more. Please feel free to ask us any questions in the comments section and we’ll try to answer in the coming weeks and months.

And please join our existing Discord community and ask your fellow Dwarves what they think of the game! Find the link at https://returntomoria.com/community

⚒️Back to the forge for us for now!🔥

Baruk Khazâd!
- The RtM Team