The Lord of the Rings franchise is getting a ton of new exposure in 2022, with both Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (releasing 2022) and a new novel from J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Brian Sileby), The Fall of Numenor, announced as well. For being dead for over 50-years and still have written enough material for full novels to be published to this day, just shows how Tolkien’s mind really was a treasure-trove of material and ideas. Anyway, the riskiest project coming from Tolkien’s works will be Daedalic Entertainment’s Lord of the Rings: Gollum game.
Set immediately before the events of the Lord of the Rings novel/movie series, Daedalic’s new game will focus on Gollum’s long, arduous journey to find the One Ring, leading him to travel all across Middle Earth. Obviously, we (the players) will be in control of Gollum as we try to find the One Ring before Sauron, Gandalf, Saruman Men, Elves, Orcs, etc. do.
Sound a little…boring, right? I don’t know, maybe it is just me. But I really don’t see the purpose behind this game as we already know that Gollum doesn’t find the One Rings. In fact, if you were already an avid Tolkien fan, you would know Gollum’s full “ring-searching” journey up until the point of his capture. It’s all written down in Tolkien’s many, many notes/sides/appendices.
I would say that there really is no reason to buy the game if I hadn’t seen the gameplay trailer.
Judging by the trailer, this game could be really fun if its visuals and mechanics hold up. With the game only set to release on the newest generation of consoles and PCs, it is clear that the game’s graphics will be stunning. The developers noted that we will be traversing through Mirkwood (home of the Wood Elves, Legolas, and King Thranduil), Khazad Dum/Moria (Dwarven city/mine we see in the movies), Shelob’s cave (giant spider from movie), and Mordor (Sauron’s lair).
There is so many great locations design ideas that could sprout from these places that I can’t even list them all. Furthermore, there was even glimpses of Gandalf and King Thranduil in the trailer searching for Gollum. Will we able to interact with them too? Hopefully.
(Nacon/Daedalic Entertainment-The Lord of the Rings: Gollum-Gameplay Reveal)
Scaling ruins and great halls, avoiding Elven and Orcish guards, and taking in the magnificent scenery of Middle Earth in the eyes of its most reviled creature all sounds exciting, but to what end? Like I said, the story is already very basic to begin with. And we know its ending.
Plus, we can’t really fight as Gollum. If Sam and Frodo were able to hold off the fallen hobbit in the novels/movies, then how will he fare against fully armored Orcs and Elves in the game? I’m guessing we won’t be able to fight anyone in a traditional sense, which sours my interest even more.
This game has a lot of Last of Us-vibes in terms of its design, genre, and stealth, but it will lack a great deal of excitement if all we can do is hide from enemies. You need to be able to take on challenging foes in many different ways for games of this genre to work. Can LOTR: Gollum pull that off with face-to-face confrontations already ruled out?
I hope I’m wrong about Lord of the Rings: Gollum, but I think it is more likely to miss than hit when it releases in September 2022.
PS: Are the character models for Gollum look a little…off. Or is it just me?
Images Source: Featured Image: (Nacon) (The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ | Gameplay Reveal – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Nacon) (The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ | Gameplay Reveal – YouTube)
