LOTR Return to Moria bursts forth from Epic with a game changing update

After almost a year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria has escaped onto Steam. Part of the building and survival game boom that’s given us Valheim, Minecraft, 7 Days to Die, and Subnautica, this adventure throws us deep into the underground of Tolkien’s epic fantasy universe instead. Following in the footsteps of Gimli you’re tasked with retaking Moria after the fall of Sauron, but of course, the deep, dark underworld is anything but safe. To mark the leap to Valve’s platform Return to Moria is having a big launch sale alongside the big new Golden Update.

The first videogame set during the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is all about the titular city of the dwarves and their quest to reclaim it. The Balrog’s been vanquished, the War of the Ring is over, and Gimli has led a contingent to take back their home. You need to mine, build bases, fight, and most importantly survive. As of Tuesday August 27, you can do so on Steam.

Return to Moria’s Steam and Xbox console launch also coincides with an array of additions to the survival game. Not only does it now support crossplay between all platforms, but there’s an array of quality-of-life changes alongside The Golden Update. This patch contains the all-new sandbox mode, which drops you in a random Return to Moria seed while encouraging nonlinear gameplay and progression. Layout and difficulty vary wildly in Sandbox Mode, so make sure you’re prepared.

You can also get your hands on 14 new weapons, a collection of armor sets, over 100 new building objects like light fixtures, rugs, and banners, and an array of new difficulty settings that you can tweak individual mechanics with.

That’s not all though, as there’s an improved building system that makes objects snap together, just like in Halo’s Forge mode. This is a small change but an incredibly welcome one, as you’ll no longer struggle to make all the pieces of your base fit together perfectly, a problem I have with way too many crafting games. You can even finally pause Return to Moria in single player, letting you easily take a rest without having to fully close down the game each time.

You can pick up The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria right here, with a launch discount knocking the game down to $19.99 / £16.79 for a limited time.

As you start mining, we’ve broken down the best Return to Moria settings alongside a look at all the Return to Moria resources and how to farm them, to make sure you start on the right foot. Don’t forget about your Return to Moria inventory space either, as it’s one of the first things you need to increase.

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