Return to Moria EP6 – Into the Deeps, a ladder-based tragedy, and Tel reaching her limit

Return to Moria EP6 originally streamed on 19th March 2026 – we went back into the Deeps feeling far too confident, immediately made some absolutely dreadful decisions, got stuck in what can only be described as a ladder-based situation, died repeatedly, and somehow still ended up with progress, potatoes, cranberries, and a camp.

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We started… suspiciously well.

Inventory sorted.
Mushrooms eaten.
Little bits of base admin.

That soft, almost cosy feeling of:

we know what we’re doing now

Which, in hindsight, should have been the warning.

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The dangerous energy of being organised

There’s a very specific kind of energy that appears when you:

clear your inventory
sort your food
finish your emails in real life
feel vaguely in control of your life

And it whispers:

go on
you can handle it now

We also discovered we had the recipe for Duran’s Lamp, which felt like one of those ooh the game is opening up moments.

Very exciting.
Very promising.

Very misleading.

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“Let’s just have a look”

We went back down into the Deeps.

Calmly. Sensibly. Respectfully.

And then we found the hole.

You know the kind.

Dark. Vertical. Slightly ominous.
Clearly not designed for casual exploration.

Tel, very reasonably, said we’d seen it before and decided it wasn’t worth it.

And I just…

could not leave it alone.

There is something in me – and I don’t think this is new information – that absolutely cannot walk past something like that.

“How can you not explore down a dark dank crevice?”

And that, really, was the moment everything fell apart.

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The Deeps gently say “no”

At first, it was just atmospheric.

Bones.
Shadows.
That slightly wrong feeling the game does so well.
A morale bar quietly draining in the background like a ticking clock we were pretending not to see.

And then:

I fell.
Tel glitched.
I died.

And from that point on, the session stops being about the idea and becomes about:

dealing with the consequences of the idea

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The ladder situation

I don’t even know how to properly describe this without laughing again.

Because it wasn’t dramatic failure.

It was… logistical failure.

We could get down.
No problem.

Getting back up?

Absolutely not.

Ladders overlapping.
Jumps not quite landing.
That horrible moment where you almost make it and then just… don’t.

And all the while:

darkness
despair
Tel very calmly trying to fix things
me still, somehow, believing this was a valid life choice

At one point she said:

“I am never coming back down here with you ever.”

And honestly?

Fair.

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My official role: liability

There is a moment in co-op games where you realise you are no longer contributing in a meaningful way.

You are not helping.
You are not supporting.
You are not even chaotic in a useful sense.

You are simply:

someone who needs to be rescued repeatedly

That was my role for a while.

Meanwhile Tel:

rebuilt paths
navigated
retrieved bodies
managed resources
kept everything just about functional

And I was… nearby.

Occasionally helpful.
Mostly not.

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The part where we fix it (somehow)

We did eventually recover everything.

Which felt less like a heroic victory and more like:

finally sorting out a situation that had got unnecessarily complicated

But it counted.

And more importantly…

we stopped trying to go down that hole.

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And suddenly… it works?

Once we stepped away from the worst possible decision available to us, the game opened up again.

We started actually exploring.

And it was lovely.

New mushrooms.
Potatoes (important).
Cranberries (very important).
Statues.
Little pathways and rooms and hidden bits.

That quieter rhythm of:

wander
collect
notice
repeat

Which is where Return to Moria really shines.

Even with goblins wandering about.
Even with poison lurking.
Even with Tel very gently keeping me on task.

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Small wins, big energy

The second half of the stream feels completely different.

We:

found materials
secured statues
set up a camp
started mapping things properly

Nothing dramatic.

But solid.

And after the opening chaos, that felt like a win.

Also, I cannot stress this enough:

we found potatoes and cranberries

So naturally, my focus immediately shifted to bangers and mash.

Priorities.

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The shape of this episode

This one has a very specific rhythm:

we feel organised
we make a terrible decision
everything collapses
Tel fixes it
we recover
we actually play the game

And somehow it all works as a story.

Not because it was smooth.

But because it was so us.

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Final thoughts

This could have gone completely off the rails.

Instead, the chaos became the point.

The ladder situation.
The repeated deaths.
Tel reaching that very specific level of calm frustration.
Me still insisting the idea had potential.

By the end, we had:

• recovered everything
• explored further into the Deeps
• gathered useful materials
• set up camp
• found statues
• and re-established some kind of direction

Which felt… earned.

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Next time

Next time, ideally:

• less falling
• fewer rescue missions
• more actual strategy
• and maybe a little more respect for very obvious danger

No promises.

I will absolutely want to look down another hole.