This is largely down to the fact that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is not a good looking game. The same can be said for much of Lord of the Rings: Gollum's production value, too, which often feels like a rough-edged facsimile of Tolkien's rich and epic fantasy universe. You end up wishing Daedalic had considered a performance built around a completely new interpretation of the character, but by instead skewing too closely to the one that everyone knows and loves, this Gollum never manages to truly escape Serkis' shadow. His voice actor, in particular, takes direct inspiration from Andy Serkis' iconic performance in Peter Jackson's films, but in doing so, only invites himself to unflattering comparisons between the two, right down to his phlegmy "GOLL-um" cough. Unfortunately, much of Lord of the Rings: Gollum's writing is undermined in the execution. "Even if it wasn't so derivative, Gollum never feels particularly fun to play" Hyde of the two personalities, for example, but his cynicism often carries a lot of self-preservational common sense that Sméagol is too naive to even consider. These choices result in some minor plot changes, but are more interesting as a way for you to determine the balance between Sméagol and his ring-corrupted alter ego, while also illuminating some of the more nuanced dimensions to both. It also helps that you have a certain degree of freedom to lean into either side of the character's dual personality, too, offered via dialogue options or even full-blown internal arguments between Gollum and Sméagol, where one must convince the other of how to proceed. Some of this characterisation doesn't always quite correlate with the feistier, more manipulative Gollum that many of us are more accustomed to, but it's certainly a unique perspective that allows you relate to him a little better over the course of the game's two dozen hour runtime. This is partly due to Daedalic adopting a more sympathetic view of Gollum than other adaptations have, exploring the suffering that the deformed Hobbit has endured under those who too often underestimated him, and even giving him a few friendlier faces to bond with along the way. Thankfully, even if The Lord of the Rings: Gollum doesn't land as a compelling chapter in the tapestry of Middle-earth's history, the game can still hold interest as a character study of its tragically corrupted protagonist. It's an awkward experience, to say the least, but running up against these types of bizarre, broken sequences that add little value to the overall texture of Tolkien's fantasy are sadly far too common an occurrence in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.ĭeveloper Daedalic was always going to have a hard time justifying why audiences needed to know what its titular character was up to in the events preceding The Fellowship of the Ring, but throw in off-putting visuals, shallow gameplay, and a litany of bugs, and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum offers an experience that's not so much an unexpected journey as it is one to avoid altogether. Not only that, but these bug-eyed beasts are sadly as stupid as they look, barely registering my presence until I'm right in front of their sightlines, and even then, it's touch-and-go as to whether they actually start galumphing towards me, or get stuck in a clipping war against the ground. Instead, the one I'm playing currently involves herding Borocs into a pen via a minigame that feels (and, unfortunately, looks) like something you'd expect to play in a title released two generations ago. ![]() Over the last two months alone, publishers have apologized for the half-baked states of big-time games including The Last of Us Part 1, Redfall, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.Platform(s): PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Oneīut that's a tale for another day. Some of that over-the-top backlash against Gollum may be hyperbolic or a heat-of-the-moment reaction, but the frustration with botched game launches is understandable. I'm a fan of the Lord of the Rings series. "Release the patch," faceless wrote in response to the apology on Steam. A few take a more nuanced approach to the situation, but there are clearly limits to how much patience remains. Predictably, the reaction to the apology is also ugly, with many accusing Daedalic of either incompetence-pushing Gollum out the door without knowing what a state it was in-or corruption-knowing what a state it was in and pushing it out the door anyway.
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