Out of all the character-rich world of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings that are deserving of a game, the last individual you would expect would be the former Hobbit turned ghoul, Smeagol, or as he’s known by his more nefarious nickname/personality, Gollum, who is reviled in the books but was sort of a fan favorite in the Peter Jackson films thanks in part to the talent of Andy Serkis who voiced, and motion captured the character. Anyone who’s seen the movies is familiar with Gollum’s part in the stories of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films, but not about what happened to him between the events of the two film series. Daedalic Entertainment has filled in the gaps with their stealth game The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum follows, well who else… Gollum, and Smeagol, for those not familiar, the title character has split personality after being consumed by the power of the One Ring and taking ownership of it, torturing his mind. The events of the game take place 60 years after Gollum lost the One Ring, which he calls his Precious, and has spent years searching Middle Earth for the one who took it, Bilbo Baggins, but finds himself drawn to Mordor.
Now onto the game itself! The Lord of the Rings: Gollum‘s controls are surprisingly simple and the game has a great tutorial level at the start, but thankfully still gives you prompts of what buttons to press to perform certain mechanics. When it comes to the game’s soundtrack and the voice acting of the title character Gollum, sorry fans of the films, Gollum sounds nothing like Andy Serkis’ Gollum, and the soundtrack, though epic, is nothing like the films. I’ll get more into this later.
When it comes to the game’s art, it’s decent, but don’t expect characters from the films to look the way you would like them to. The same can be said about the world the game takes place in. Just like mentioned above, I’ll go more into that in a bit.
As for the gameplay, it’s actually pretty fun. You’ll have to use Gollum’s skills in climbing and sneaking to traverse the world around you and at times may have to throttle an Orc or two from the shadows. Gollum has, for lack of a better term, “Gollum-Vison” that will help guide you to where objectives are located as well as the direction Gollum should head. You’ll have to keep an eye out for things Gollum can eat to help regain health that he might lose from hazards in the world as well as fall damage, which I’ll admit, the ragdoll effect when he hits the ground and dies…can be kind of funny.
OK, I’ve said I’ll get more into the look of the world and about Gollum himself. It’s hard to get a handle on the direction that Daedalic Entertainment is taking with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. First of all, the game is licensed by Middle-earth Enterprises, so it would be safe to say that the devs could go hog-wild with making the game look, and sound like Peter Jackson’s films but Gollum sounds like nothing from the films, and his appearance looks bad, he looks more like a Mockbuster version of the Gollum from the films, mainly because they gave him this weird Emo hairstyle. The world in general, even down to the Orcs, looks like imitations of the film series, coming across more like a fan-made indie game.
Overall, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is… OK as a game I guess. Nothing really world-shattering, but it will probably be more of a disappointment to fans of the film series. When it comes to it being canon to Tolkien’s works, I can’t really give an answer to that but I’m sure there are some Tolkien Scholars who have checked out the game for themselves and would give a bit more of an insight in that regard. With no clear identity of being a stand-alone interpretation, or being part of the Jackson films as it is clearly trying (but sadly failing) to copy, I have to give The Lord of the Rings: Gollum a 4/10.
If you’re still interested in checking out The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for yourself, it’s out now for PlayStations 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
