Secret best Tolkien game Return To Moria gets Steam release with Steam Deck support and new sandbox mode

Golden Update also introduces offline pausing, new building props and difficulty settings

The dwarven engineers of The Lord Of The Rings: Return To Moria have formally entered the Golden Age of Steam. The game is now available on Valve's digital storefront, after a year in the comparatively barren underdark of the Epic Games Store, and developers Free Range Games have also released a Golden Update, which adds offline single player pausing, around 100 building objects, and a sandbox mode allowing for non-story-led excavation and settlement of the game's procedurally generated mountains. Plus, new hats and axes! Try not to get dragon sickness.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Max Davy

I haven't played Return To Moria since October last year. Back then, it was a comfortingly vast survival game with crunchy torch-lit aesthetics, many gorgeous biomes to uncover, and a fair amount of jank. (For the purposes of Immersion, please find on the right an image with a translation of "jank" into Khuzdûl, the ancient runic language of the Dwarves, care of Tengwar Transcriber.)

I'm definitely up for another crack at this particular seam of lore-digging, as long as they've fixed that thing where all your interior decorations end up at tortuous 45 degree angles to the layout. Here's an 11-minute talkthrough video from game director, detailing both what's in the Golden Update and what they've added since launching on EGS.

If you don't have time for a video, here's my own breakdown of the Golden Update. Let's start with the sandbox mode, which has already been available in beta on EGS. This lets you generate worlds from "a wide variety of random seeds, meaning each playthrough can vary significantly in layout and difficulty". There are "minimal tutorials" in sandbox, and as such, the devs recommend that you only play if you're familiar with the game's campaign or with other survival sims. Sandbox brings with it crafting recipes for 14 new kinds of weapon and armour. These include the Wolf Skin Hat and the Barôkamlut, or mithril battleaxe. You will probably find the Barôkamlut useful when seeking to acquire the materials for Wolf Skin Hats.

The update also adds crossplay functionality, allowing the proud longbeards of PC to mingle with the upstart stonelords of PS5 and Xbox in sessions of up to eight players. If you'd rather excavate Khazad-dûm on your lonesome, you can now pause the game by hitting escape while playing offline.

As for the new building objects, these range from rugs and banners to light fixtures, tavern signs and chairs. The improvements to the building system itself are probably of greater interest to players re-Returning to Moria. "Restoring Moria is now easier than ever with the changes made to the stability system as well as improved object snapping," explains the press release. "The pre-placed buildings throughout Moria are now stronger than ever, expanding players' ability to build expansive bases wherever they choose."

They've also expanded the game's difficulty settings, with options for enemy aggression, the frequency of hordes, sieges or patrols, and the abundance of mining drops. Add in the promise of Steam Deck compatibility, together with new ambient music, and you have a game I'll try to carve out some fresh hours for this weekend. It's no Dwarf Fortress, but it's got charm.