My son and I discovered this mod about a year ago and at the time it seemed like a fun diversion. You’d load it up, portal into the Middle Earth dimension and there would be Middle Earth biomes like the Shire, Mordor, Gondor, etc. along with appropriate inhabitants all randomly generating as you moved around.

I hadn’t played it in a long time so about a week ago I downloaded the latest version and fired it up again to see what changes had been made. I started out in the Shire and started walking to see more biomes. But all I got was Shire. Shire, Shire, Shire, Shire.

I went back to the web site to see if I was doing something wrong. No, I wasn’t. One of the changes implemented was to make Middle Earth actual size. So, if I wanted to get to Gondor, it was going to take a while (thank god for teleporting). Unlike a lot of mods, turns out this one is in it for the long haul.

Every main character, region, structure, and so on, from LOTR is planned to be added in the future. But – surprise surprise – there is a plan for the mod, and these things will come later on, along with the quest system, when the work on more basic features such as biomes, blocks and items, and NPCs is mostly completed.

So, if you like the Lord of the Rings and Minecraft, this one’s a good one to watch.