Nacon and Daedalic Entertainment have announced that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will release for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on May 25, with a version for the Nintendo Switch coming out later this year. A new 38-minute gameplay showcase video has been released where one of the game’s developers and a co-author provide a tour of some of its features and background story.
Description (via Steam)
“The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ is a story-driven action adventure. Take on a perilous journey as Gollum, chasing the only thing that is precious to him. Gollum is skillful and cunning but also torn by his split personality. One mind, two egos – you decide!”
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has players taking on the role of the tortured middle earth character Sméagol as he escapes the Dark Tower and encounters the Elves of Mirkwood. Players will have to use stealth mechanics to evade and manipulate enemies, while also experiencing the character’s ongoing torment to be good or evil as he transforms into Gollum. Daedalic Entertainment CEO Carsten Fichtelmann shared a bit on this in an interview with PC Gamer.
“When you look at our history with storytelling games, it was obvious that we needed to do something where the protagonist has a conflict going on,” says Fichtelmann. This is also something you’ll play in the game. You’ll come to decisions you have to make, and you’ll have the two voices talking to you. He may change his mind, and this is a clue about how it will play.”
A long road to travel
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was originally revealed in 2019, then planned to release in 2021 which then became its official announcement year, and later planned for a September 2022 release before being pushed out to this new date so the developers could add further polish to the game. The team in the showcase video does say that the game is still in Beta and getting improvements such as camera controls, movement, and graphics. They also add that even though the game is exploring a new story the developers strived to respect and be true to the original source material by J.R.R. Tolkein. Fichtelmann previously said that “We’re concentrating on the character of Gollum, and we’re telling his story before we learn about what happens to him in the books. So it’s definitely new content that we’ll see.”