The story-driven action adventure about the strange and lovable Gollum from The Lord of the Rings was released today on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. A release on Nintendo Switch will follow later this year.
Explore the journey of Gollum as he flees from Mordor, escapes the Mouth of Sauron, and gets into the dungeons of Thranduil. Players will meet familiar faces from The Lord of the Rings as well as new characters introduced in the game. The adventure is very narrative-driven and you can influence the way Gollum reacts to other characters by picking an action or response in the style of Gollum or Sméagol. These choices will not influence the main outcome of the game but they give flavour to the way you prefer to tell the story. The game has been developed close to the original material written by Tolkien.
The main gameplay features of the game revolve around stealth and 3D platformer mechanics. Gollum possesses exceptional agility and perception, allowing him to climb the highest walls, scale objects and jump over wide gaps. He can enter a focus mode in which he can sense danger and infiltrate high-security locations in Middle Earth.
Watch the story trailer below to see what the narrative and setting of the game is like:
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has received mostly negative reviews upon launch. Critics point out that the gameplay features feel outdated and repetitive, even reminding some of PlayStation 2 era games. The dialogue choices you can make during the game do not shape the main course of the storyline, which is something that could be expected of a modern game.
While these points are fair and can limit the fun of playing the game for some, I think it is important to consider that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is not a AAA title and has been developed by a small German studio – making this game the largest IP worked on by a studio from Germany! The gameplay is reminiscent of games like Styx rather than big titles such as Lara Croft.
If you want to try The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for yourself, you can buy the game here: