Since its announcement and gameplay reveal trailer, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has become a title that many are cautiously optimistic about. The prospect of exploring Middle-earth through the viewpoint of Gollum is both a surprising and intriguing choice; however, it's been hard to gauge how entertaining the experience might be, given that Gollum isn't an action-oriented character like Aragorn, or even Talion from Middle-earth: Shadow of War. Thanks to a recent hands-on preview event hosted by developer Daedalic Days, Screen Rant had the chance to jump into this world and see what it will offer players.
Starting with the story, the events of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum occurs in the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring; the same period in which the alternate world of the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor series takes place. As expected, it follows Gollum's search for the ring, which will take him to places like Mordor, Mirkwood, and many more. He will also encounter various important characters in Middle-Earth's history such as Gandalf, Thranduil the Elvenking, and the Mouth of Sauron. It quickly becomes clear that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is very focused on the lore and world of Middle-earth, something the developers confirmed and emphasized during the presentation.
To develop this original story, Daedalic Days brought on Damiri Knapheide, a Tolkien expert who has spent years studying Tolkien's writing. The goal is to tell an original, Gollum-centric story that fits into the established history of Middle-earth without changing any major events; but like Resident Evil 4 Remake, some story changes were made. Some examples include the establishment of new groups, such as Elven Magicians, to justify certain magic later in the story, as well as Thranduil bringing "The Girdle of Melian" to Mirkwood.
The Girdle of Melian is an enchantment that creates a barrier which prevents anyone from entering without the king's permission. Knapheide made sure that changes like these would be something that's possible in Tolkien's lore and to make sure it was, the narrative team worked closely with the Tolkien Estate, which reviewed and approved everything players will experience.
This was by far the most engaging part of the preview, as the gameplay was lacking and some design choices felt out of place. A prime example of the latter is the confusing character designs which tend to feel at odds with the game's tone. The confusion isn't because the characters look different from the ones in the film trilogy, but because they look a little too cartoony for a story that is surprisingly dark. This would work if the decision was purposeful, but that doesn't feel like the case here. Conversely, the environments look fantastic and right at home in Middle-earth, but they struggled to feel alive.
When it comes to gameplay, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum definitely won't be for everybody. As many assumed, it is heavily reliant on running, jumping, climbing, hiding, and sneaking. Stealth is the most fleshed-out part of the gameplay, with Gollum having a variety of stealth tactics such as distracting enemies or destroying lights by throwing rocks or bottles like Corvo in Dishonored.
Despite being an important part of sneaking around, the aiming system feels clunky and way too slow to be used for tense situations like escaping enemies or quickly distracting them. By far the most scarce and unengaging mechanic, however, are the stealth takedowns. Gollum has to get incredibly close to do it successfully - so close that in testing, an orc was alerted twice before the prompt to perform it even appeared, which in turn just tells players to hold down a button while a long animation plays out with no further player input.
It's important to note that this was a beta build, so the feel and timing of those mechanics, as well as some collision bugs and unclear navigation systems, may improve by release. This doesn't change the fact that the core systems currently in place are clunky and unengaging - but it does offer hope for a more refined future release. Despite this, vision and emphasis on story in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum may be enough to draw players into this unique adventure, as both remain strong elements that will certainly engage veterans of the Tolkien universe enough to whet their appetite for more.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum releases on May 25 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was given access to a hands-on PC build for the purpose of this preview.
Source: PlayStation/YouTube
