Digging into The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria development

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As all good Tolkien stories do, it started with the Dwarves.

Back in 2020, when Free Range Games was just starting work on what was to become an epic survival crafting game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth, the developers were still grappling with the totality of J.R.R. Tolkien’s rich fictional world and exactly where and when to set The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.

In the game, players will take control of the Dwarves as they reclaim and restore their homeland of Moria. The Free Range Games title, which hits in spring 2023, kicks off with Lord Gimli Lockbearer summoning a company of Dwarves to the Misty Mountains and ordering them to reclaim the lost spoils from Moria–also known as Khazad-dûm or Dwarrowdelf.

“We started with the Dwarves,” said Jon-Paul Dumont, the game director. “We love them and wanted to tell an authentic story all about them.”

To read the rest of this story, which first ran on Oct. 25, 2022, visit the Epic Games Store.