The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria™

Yet another survivalcraft game with a decent foundation, brought down by head-scratching design choices and balance issues

he Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria — это одна большая эксплуатация любви к вселенной Толкина. Если убрать знакомые названия, гномьи песни и атмосферу Мории, останется унылая гриндилка с бесконечным сбором ресурсов, одинаковыми коридорами и раздражающим интерфейсом карты. Первые часы игра ещё пытается увлечь: спуск в шахты, мрачные залы, орки, факелы — всё это работает на атмосферу. Но очень быстро приходит понимание, что игровой цикл здесь один и тот же: копай, таскай ресурсы, крафти, иди дальше по очередному серому тоннелю. Локации настолько однообразные, что спустя время перестаёшь понимать, где вообще находишься. Отдельный ад — карта. Настолько неудобного и бесполезного интерфейса навигации я давно не видел. Многоуровневые шахты отображаются ужасно, ориентироваться невозможно, а поиск нужного прохода превращается не в исследование, а в мучение. И это в игре, где тебе постоянно приходится бегать туда-сюда. Боевая система тоже не спасает: драки топорные, враги быстро начинают повторяться, а искусственное затягивание прогресса только сильнее утомляет. В какой-то момент игра начинает восприниматься как работа. Самое обидное — потенциал был огромный. Атмосфера Мории и любовь к лору действительно чувствуются. Но вместо интересного приключения получился выматывающий survival с кучей рутины и спорных решений. Игра держится исключительно на фансервисе для поклонников «Властелина колец». Всем остальным тут делать особо нечего.

Malgré les bugs, C'est de mes jeux préférées en mode construction/survie! Vivement d'autres contenus!

paying for half a game avoid

What a let down. For a game that is practically begging you to build, you can at least figure out how to have a working grid system. Things snap onto everything but the spot you need to place them. Things (floors, stairs etc) are not proportioned with each other so trying to put a floor and attach stairs to it is just a purely annoying challenge. I almost had an aneurism trying to build a second floor within a high ceiling building and attach a stone stairs to it. I though building in Green Hell was annoying but this takes the honeycake. Blegh.

To anyone playing this game, Gandalf would say: [i]Fly, you fools![/i]

Unplayably broken but just far enough into the game that you can't get a refund. :) The first 20h of the game are fun enough to give you hope that it'll at least stay the same dubious quality as it has been so far and then you get to the orc boss and you stop playing the game. Honestly? Garbage Addendum: The devs responded to this with a message that makes it seem like they fixed the issues I was having with the game. This is misleading because the update they mention was the same one I had these issues with (They didn't fix their game design issues).

the developers really did this game dirty. tons of broken things and boss fights are completely unplayable.

Sounds like a cool game, but honestly is a waste of time. It feels like a cheap, unfinished copy of enshrouded - which would be ok because this game more about the storytelleing. Nonetheless there are so many wrong game design choices which makes the experience not really enjoyable over time. Building system is whack and lacks details. parts are most of the time not snapping making everything look kind of junky. Also you have to place a fireplace first before building anything beside basic structures. Fireplace needs coal - which is hard to find in most regions (why is it only found in the starting regions??) Fighting system only consists of attacking and dodging/blocking while being constantly surrounded by large groups of enemies. Most of the game you are undergeared and fights take way too long. Slowest stamina recovery imagineable. This would be fine if fighting was not big part of this game. But if i have to constantly fight, then at least give me a more satisfying fighting systems besides a shield that seem to can block attacks from every angle but is quickly destroyed. Exploring the map makes fun if it werent for the constant hordes attacking and nihilating your base (yes you can remove the appearance of hordes by cleaning the ork camps in each map section, but thats problem reappears in each new discovered map section. Vertical maps are the best thing in this game if it werent for the terrible map/minimap. And also for gods sake give the dwarf higher/double-jump. Exploring is no fun if you get killed (mostly because you get kicked by some flying enemies into a deep hole) and then have to backtrack and get back your stuff. Next thing is your limited inventory, beacuse it takes way too long to fully upgrade to the biggest backpack - stupid game design, i do not wanna constantly run back to base just to clear my inventory or have to be constanly leaving things behind which i then would desperately need later on. Storytelling is nice. Oh and also why come that in a set region you never find the correct material to upgrade the statues - you always have to carry those resources over from a complete different region (which feels stupid and unneccessary). Looking at you Ithrazit being only found in one region and being needed in every later on region for unknown resons. TLDR: If you are into the story than you will have quite some fun, but besides that it is just a cheap and unfinished copy of enshrouded with poor game mechanics.

As a Lord of the Rings fan, I really want to love this game, and there's genuinely a lot to like, but I'll be honest: I'm giving it a pass on flaws I wouldn't forgive in any other title, purely because of the franchise. The gameplay itself is clunky. Controls feel average, combat lacks punch, and armor breaks down almost instantly (within 20 seconds of a fight). Item durability is a problem across the board, everything wears out too fast, armor, tools, weapons. Buffs from activities like eating or singing while mining are short-lived, and in-game days pass so quickly that you're often caught trekking home just as night falls, leaving you cold and exposed. Fast travel adds to the frustration: repairing a point costs 1 black diamond, making a new one costs 3, and orcs, who are supposed to drop the keys to the chests holding these diamonds, fail to do so about 70% of the time. On top of that, progression feels backward at times, since deeper mines don't reliably offer the resources you need, forcing repeated trips back to earlier bases just to retrieve what you'd already gathered. Where the game really shines is atmosphere and graphics, easily a 9/10 there. But that alone isn't enough to make it a great game, let alone a good one.