For Tolkien fans, The Lord Of The Rings: Return To Moria is one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year. The survival crafting game came seemingly out of nowhere and has shown us nothing but good news. Unfortunately, we have thus far had very little information about the game aside from the reveal. Today, however, that all changed when the official world map for LOTR: Return To Moria was shown off, along with some other juicy information.
Lord Of The Rings: Return To Moria World Map
As seen in the image above, Free Range Games has officially shown off the game’s world map. Furthermore, according to the developers, this is indeed final. The decision to have the world map for LOTR: Return To Moria look as though it was ripped straight out of Middle Earth will assuredly gain favor with the fans. There are also versions of the map that are written in the official Runic Alphabet
The map was disclosed via an interview between GameInformer and the game’s art director. The interview wasn’t purely focused on Return To Moria’s world map, however. In fact, plenty of exciting details regarding the game and its development were also discussed. When asked about the game’s combat, art director Bradley Fulton stated the following:
One of our core design principles is that Dwarven power comes from craft. We wanted to ensure that it was the players’ efforts to fashion ever-more-powerful gear that drove their success in survival, including combat. To this end, we worked very hard to make the fundamentals of combat such as dodging, blocking, charging up an attack, etc. feel satisfying. However, as the challenge grows, players need to think more about their choice of weapons and the ways that they upgrade them to solve the varied problems that each new enemy presents.
Art director Bradley Fulton, Free Range Games
Fans of the LOTR trilogy should also be seeing some familiar faces. Although hesitant to give a clear answer on who might make an appearance Fulton did give something of a response.
Even before the events of the trilogy, certain members of the Fellowship were known to have ventured into the long dark of Moria. For now, all I can say is that they may have left some signs of their passing. Beyond that, Moria also holds many mysteries of the Dwarven people. Balin’s doomed expedition left traces throughout the darkened halls, and the kings of the line of Durin feature prominently in the story.”
The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria will be released on PC on October 24th. Furthermore, the PS5 version drops on December 5th. An exact release date for the Xbox Series X/S version has not been provided, though it is expected to arrive some two months into 2024.
