I am posting this review on behalf of my wife who played via Steam Family Sharing:
So I just 100%ed the game and felt like I should write a review (I played the entire game solo.)
TLDR: More LOTR dwarf lore is always appreciated, game is suuuper mid. I did have points where I had fun which is why I'm giving it a thumbs up.
At the very beginning the gameplay loop felt fun. Go out from your base, mine, kill things, get materials, come back, craft. Basically the same loop of any other open world survival craft. There's a level of verticality that doesn't exist in other games of the same genre, specifically because you'll spend the entire game exploring mine shafts and caves. Learning how to traverse the world is part of what sets this game apart from others.
There's a part near the beginning of the campaign where you need a higher tier of pickaxe to get to the next zone. I spent a few hours mining and creeping around groups of enemies that'd rock my ♥♥♥♥ if I wandered too close. Once I got the pickaxe and fought off a horde, I opened the way to the next zone...only to find that my new pickaxe that I spent effort to get is now next to worthless. I can't mine several of the new materials that the new zone has. I need to progress FURTHER into the zone, with weapons and armour that are ineffective against the new enemies.
This continued for the rest of the game. For each new zone I'd enter, the pace would grind to a halt and I'd have to slog through the vast majority of the zone before reaching the equipment I'd need to pick the pace up again.
While there is a level of progression with new building options, weapons, armour, and consumables with each new zone, NONE of the unlocks felt like I had accomplished anything. The buffs you'd get from the new food didn't last too much longer. No matter the weapon, you'd swing it around as if you were in a PS1 game. The only thing I liked was the teleportation stone (mapstone) that you'd need to build to prevent the slog back to your encampment (if you forgot coal to build a fire so you can actually place a mapstone, tough ♥♥♥♥, the zone doesn't spawn any.)
As for replayability, I feel relieved that it's over, and I don't plan on opening the game again. I feel like that says a lot.
Great if you like LOTR, dwarves, and wanted more lore, but the gameplay is certainly nothing to write home about.
