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The fourth age of Middle-earth dawns for fans of survival/crafting games today, with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.
The iconic world returns
One of the most memorable sequences from the original The Lord of the Rings book and movie, Moria is a death-trap for the Fellowship. It’s also a fallen kingdom by the time that the group delves into its depths, overtaken by the forces of Sauron and occupied by a swarm of goblins.
But that was then, and by the time that The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria opens, things are a tad different. A brand new title out today from North Beach Games and developer Free Range Games, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria takes players back to the title realm, but in a whole new era. That would be the fourth age, after the War of the Ring and the fall of Sauron was recorded.
Featuring the voice of Gimli himself, actor John Rhys-Davies, players will head back to Moria to re-conquer it for the Dwarven race. Fans can go it alone or team up for some online co-op play in the procedurally generated mine, and will have to gather resources, build a base to operate from, and contend with orcs and other creatures as they try and reshape the once grand kingdom.
The story of The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria takes players beyond the books and into the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, the fantastical world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Summoned to the Misty Mountains by Lord Gimli Lockbearer (voiced in-game by actor John Rhys-Davies), players band together as a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils from the Dwarven homeland of Moria — known as Khazad-dûm or Dwarrowdelf — in the depths below their very feet. Their quest will require fortitude and teamwork, delving deep into the Mines of Moria to recover its treasures in the hopes of one day restoring them to their former glory.
North Beach Games press release
Create your own Dwarf and reclaim the long-lost realm of Khazad-dûm on PC today, as The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria has arrived. Console editions will soon be joining the party, as the PS5 version will be along on December 5th, and the Xbox Series X|S’ installment will hit that console some time in “early 2024”.
