The upcoming survival crafting game The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria received an update yesterday as part of the yearly Durin's Day celebrations.

　　YouTuber Nerd of the Rings hosted a roundtable live stream featuring some developers from Free Range Games and Dr. Corey Olsen, known as “The Tolkien Professor” for his expertise in the lore created by J. R. R. Tolkien. During the lengthy stream, viewers were treated to new screenshots (available in the gallery below) and lots of new information on where The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria fits in the timeline, how dwarven history and society will be portrayed in-game, insight around the small details the team is committed to integrating for a truly authentic experience for lore buffs, and many of the potential dangers that await players deep in the Mines of Moria. The roundtable also revealed plans for character customization via the Comprehensive Dwarf Creator and how using procedural generation will ensure each adventure into the unknown is a unique experience.

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　　The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria was announced to the public back in June as the first survival crafting game set in Tolkien's beloved fantasy world. It will be the first game adaptation to take place in the Fourth Era.

　　Summoned to the Misty Mountains by Lord Gimli Lockbearer, players take control of a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils from the Dwarven homeland of Moria—known as Khazad-dûm or Dwarrowdelf—in the depths below their very feet. Their quest will require fortitude, delving deep into the Mines of Moria to recover its treasures.

　　Set in a procedurally generated Dwarven realm of Moria, no two adventures will be alike, and every expedition is traversable either solo or online with companions. Players can mine to craft greater gear and resources, but beware mining makes noise, and noise created in the quiet deep threatens to awaken the dangers below: where there’s clatter, there’s combat. Excavate the mysteries of three legendary mountains, extract precious metals, scrape to survive, and battle unspeakable forces to learn the secret of the Shadow that lurks within.

　　The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is scheduled to launch in 2023 for PC via the Epic Games Store.