See The New Gameplay From The Best Trickster In Lord of the Rings: Gollum
It looks... precious?
This article is more than 2 years old
Jumping from the Lord of the Rings novels into the two in-universe trilogies, Gollum was always an essential part of the Lord of the Rings narrative, as he indirectly influenced the events that have decided the fate of all Middle-Earth. Last year, Daedalic Entertainment announced Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a stealth-based action-adventure starring the eponymous character, and after a year’s worth of game development, the studio just released a gameplay trailer.
As reported by ComicBook.com, Nacon, the company behind the game, just dropped another Lord of the Rings: Gollum trailer, showcasing some of the gameplay elements of the upcoming game. Most of those show Gollum crawling and climbing through different terrain in the in-game world while circumventing various threats in the form of orcs, humans, wraiths, and spiders. Stealthy world traversal and distractions were the only gaming elements showcased in what appears to be the game’s longest-running trailer to date.
The new trailer is courtesy of Nacon, a gaming publisher who recently bought Daedalic Entertainment, the studio developing the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The game was initially announced in 2021 when Daedalic shared in-game screenshots, which showcased decision-based storytelling — an element that fits nicely into Gollum’s personality disorder — allowing gamers to make key decisions at specific points that will affect the protagonist’s personality, subsequent actions, and the narrative’s conclusion.
Considering how Gollum is basically split between his former self (Smeagol) and his current self, the choices would basically come down to fight or flight and good vs. evil. Following the game’s initial announcement, Daedalic released the first Lord of the Rings: Gollum trailer, which didn’t showcase any gameplay elements as such but showed fandom what kind of game they could expect. Unfortunately, the gaming experience has taught us that game trailers lie, for the most part, so the end result might not be as awe-inspiring as the reveal trailer was.
One element is continuously withheld from the fandom and not showcased in the trailers — the combat element. Daedalic promised that the game would feature some form of combat, but the main focus of Lord of the Rings: Gollum will remain stealthy instead of open-combat. While disappointing to action fans, this decision does Gollum justice, considering that the novel’s most tragic character almost always relies on stealth and cunning rather than physical combat — as seen in various interpretations of J. R. R. Tolkien’s works.
Ultimately, accentuating combat in a stealth game such as Lord of the Rings: Gollum has very little sense, especially if you look at other stealth titles, like Styx and Thief, both of which are successful releases with pretty underdeveloped combat. It’s safe to assume that combat won’t go any further than running away from conflict or an occasional stealth take-down by inflicting head trauma to unsuspecting opponents.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum is scheduled to release on September 1, 2022, on various platforms, including PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and even on Nintendo Switch — of course, at a later date.
