Nathaniel Herbig

By

Nathaniel Herbig

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Return to Moria | QA Analysis

Date: 2/16/2025
Version Tested: Version # 186305

1. Introduction

Why I Chose This Game

I chose this game for several reasons. First, I am a huge fan of the Tolkien universe and survival games. The aesthetic looked great, and the premise of venturing into the mines of Moria seemed like an exciting prospect. The co-op aspect was also a huge selling point.

General First Impressions

The first playthrough was a bit cumbersome, as some of the netcode had issues, and using the Unreal Launcher was not an enjoyable experience. However, the core gameplay loop was fantastic—killing goblins, orcs, wolves, and, of course, snack rats was exciting. The pre-established base-building system was a welcomed feature, and the free-form base-building is excellent. The only issue I initially found cumbersome was the east-west-oriented building snapping and rotation.

The combat was simple yet satisfying, with animations feeling weighted and impactful. The movement and stamina system felt a bit annoying at first but required frequent returns to the base, which made it feel like home. Some balancing issues seem prevalent, particularly with elven wood scarcity. The recommended workaround was to load a new world and strip-mine it for resources, which I found disappointing. Fortunately, this issue has since been addressed, and now trees respawn after several sleep cycles.

2. Technical Issues & Bugs Found

A. Major Bugs (Game-Breaking or Progress-Blocking)

1. Fast Travel Crashes

  • Where It Happens: Map Stones
  • What Happens: Fast traveling between different zoned map stones can cause crashes.
  • How to Reproduce:
    1. Two players fast travel to the same distant map stone.
    2. If the host has not traveled to the area first, the client player may load into a black screen.
    3. The host then crashes.
  • Expected Behavior: Fast travel should load players into the specific zone without issues.
  • Impact on Gameplay: Hard crash, but usually with minimal progress loss, as reloading generally resolves the issue.

B. Minor Bugs (Glitches, Graphical Issues, UI Problems)

1. Network Issues & Disconnects

  • Where It Happens: Everywhere
  • What Happens: Host-client lag and frequent disconnects.
  • Expected Behavior: A stable connection with no disconnects.

2. UI Artifacts in Inventory

  • Where It Happens: Inside the inventory UI.
  • What Happens: Visual artifacts appear in the inventory, especially when the game is minimized and reopened with the inventory widget active. Slot icons may become slightly misaligned.
  • Expected Behavior: UI elements should remain correctly aligned and responsive.

3. Gameplay & Design Critique

What Works Well

✔️ Progression Through Building – The gradual unlocking of recipes feels rewarding and prevents overwhelming the player.
✔️ Pallet System – The visual representation of collected resources is fun and immersive.
✔️ Combat System – Blocking is functional and effective. Stamina use for power attacks creates engaging combat pacing.
✔️ Difficulty Scaling – Playing on hard with two players was challenging and rewarding.
✔️ Farming & Brewing – The farming and beer brewing mechanics were highly entertaining. The buffs from beer and ale were well-integrated.
✔️ Singing Mechanic – Surprisingly well-executed and enjoyable.

What Feels Off

❌ AI Exploits – Some enemies can be easily manipulated into getting stuck.
❌ Resource Scarcity & Ranged Combat Issues – The lack of elven wood makes using ranged weapons feel unrewarding or too costly.
❌ Enemy Spawning Logic – Orcs randomly falling from ceilings, sometimes 300 feet, breaks immersion. Spawning behind players while holding a choke point feels unfair.
❌ Armor & Gear System – Armor feels weak, and constant repairs become tedious.
❌ Map Stone Placement – Some are well-positioned, but others feel arbitrarily placed, sometimes with multiple in a row reducing the challenge.
❌ Backpack System – No way to remove old backpacks early, leading to cluttered areas with discarded backpacks in the early game.

Personal Suggestions for Improvement

  • Implement inventory favorites and improve storage box sizes. The lack of elven wood and small ornate chests means most players rely on wooden chests with very limited slots.
  • Add a system to scrap lower-level gear for base resources.
  • Introduce enchanting or durability improvements for armor.
  • Provide tiered shield upgrades to allow more variety in sword-and-shield builds.
  • Consider adding a skill tree or character progression system beyond just gear upgrades.

4. Performance & Optimization

System Specs:

🖥️ i7-12700K | RTX 3080 12GB | 32GB DDR5 | 980 Pro 2TB SSD

FPS Stability

  • Significant frame drops and stuttering, particularly in the Elven Quarter and large indoor rooms.

Loading Times

  • Generally good, but fast travel sometimes takes 30-60 seconds, especially over long distances.

Multiplayer Syncing Issues

  • Some rubber-banding and loading lag, but nothing game-breaking.
  • Early network disconnect issues were present but have since improved.

5. Final Thoughts

Would I Recommend This Game?

✔️ Absolutely! One of the best survival games I’ve played. The art and sound design are incredible. Anyone interested in survival games or LOTR will enjoy the first 10-15 hours. However, the game becomes repetitive later, and the shadow system’s punishments can be frustrating.

Overall QA Score:

⭐ 9/10 – Excellent, but with some frustrating mechanics and bugs.

Would I Revisit This After Patches?

❌ Probably not unless new content updates are introduced, as this was already my second play-through.

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