One of the more off-beat games revealed in the last couple of years, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum puts us in control of the iconic character.It's offers up a curious blend of stealth gameplay, but repeated delays raised question marks about the game and now that it's out reaction has been sadly pretty negative. Find out all the key details, right here.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum release date
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum came out on 25 May 2023.
Gollum faced repeated delays - the game was first supposed to come out in 2021, before being delayed into late 2022. That window came and went too, before its eventual release.
How to buy The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
You can now buy Gollum on a range of platforms, so if you're a huge fan of Tolkein's world it could be worth a look.
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum
The stealth game is now available to order through a host of retailers.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum platforms
When it was first unveiled, Gollum was touted for as wide a range of consoles as possible, running the gamut. That means PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and even Switch.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum trailers
There have been a fair few trailers for Gollum, but at least a few are just really short teasers. The game was properly unveiled with a CGI cinematic trailer, below.
In mid-2022 we finally got to see some glimpses of actual gameplay, in a longer trailer that you can watch below.
This footage shows off some nice-looking environments but left fans a little worried about the game's overall presentation and fidelity. It was soon followed by the game's big delay, unsurprisingly.
We got the above trailer in March 2023, giving us many more hints about what shape the story will take, including the strong implication that Gollum will become allies for at least some time with a female elf.
That's a little interesting to fans of the lore that know of his fear and loathing for elves of all kinds, but doubtless will be explained in the game.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum story
Gollum will take us through the unseen story of the iconic character's journey from captivity in Mordor to tailing the Fellowship of the Ring in Tolkein's first book.
While there is established lore for what happens in this period, including a chunk during which both Gandalf and Aragorn hunt for him, most readers and viewers don't know about it.
So, it provides an opportunity to control Gollum as he avoids orcs, men and elves alike in his quest to discover what happened to the Ring after he lost it to Bilbo in The Hobbit.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum gameplay
Gollum looks a pure stealth game - something that fits pretty obviously with the nature of its main character.
We'll seemingly be sneaking past patrolling orcs, elves and more, with some clear glimpses of ringwraiths in one of the trailers.
We've also seen Gollum throwing rocks to distract enemies, a stealth game staple, and initiating takedowns on enemies he catches unawares. This was all expanded upon hugely by a major gameplay showcase in March 2023, that you can see below.
There's a lot to see including plenty of environments and gameplay moments, including plenty of climbing, sneaking, jumping and exploring.
Daedalic says that we'll be able to influence Gollum's personality through our gameplay choices, swinging him back toward his more benevolent Smeagol persona, so perhaps there will be multiple endings depending on how we play through the game.
That would be reminiscent of other stealth action games like Dishonored, so isn't a far-fetched idea at all.
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