Gollum is finally getting his own Lord of the Rings game. Originally announced in 2019 and baffling audiences worldwide, the project has been delayed several times. Now, finally The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a May release date.
The game explores the story of Smeagol, a Hobbit that discovered the One Ring. The upcoming action-adventure game is set long before the events of The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins’ discovery of the creature named Gollum.
Players get to control Gollum, who is struggling between his cheery and playful personality as Smeagol and the vile creature corrupted by the One Ring. The two warring personas play a central role in the plot of the upcoming video game.
The game will have stealth elements as Gollum tries to navigate through the land of Mordor. As an action-adventure game, it also has platforming elements that are reminiscent of the Tomb Raider series. Players need to traverse ledges, steep drops, and narrow pathways all whilst managing a stamina bar.
Gamers will also make choices that are dependent on Gollum’s two personalities. Gollum has strong survivalist instincts while Smeagol is more sociable and meeker. The choices players make will ultimately determine which personality will dominate.
A faithful recreation of Middle Earth
The story and setting is designed to be faithful to Tolkien’s vision of Middle Earth. This is largely thanks to the game’s co-author Damiri Knapheide, who is the studio’s resident Tolkien expert and is in the process of writing a Ph.D. on the renowned author.
"As a fan, I like to see more," Knapheide said. "We're definitely coming out this year, but now it's polishing. The other games and movies? I'm not so concerned about them, because we're really in this tunnel, we have to get our thing done and we have to get it to the market."
He adds, "I'm happy that it's still something people are interested in. I love Lord of the Rings so obviously I'd love for other people also to show that they are interested and to take inspiration from it."
Knapheide revealed that the Gollum project was started by a smaller studio before Daedalic took over development. "We noticed that was a good choice because we have this timeframe where we have space where we can do our own interpretation," he shared.
"We chose to develop our own art style that is more or less Gollum's way to look at Middle Earth," Knapheide explained. "So you don't necessarily see the deluxe version of Middle Earth, but you see the deluxe version of Gollum's version of Middle Earth. Then our artists chose this kind of style, which is - I think - a more artistic approach that would more fit to a book."
The Lord of the Rings” Gollum is arriving on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on May 25, 2023. The Nintendo Switch version of the game will be coming later in the year.
