The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action adventure game set in the Lord of the Rings universe. It was developed by the German Daedalic Entertainment studio, famous for their work on the Deponia series.

Plot

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is set between J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books. The game tells the story of Smeagol - better known as Gollum - after his encounter with Bilbo Baggins. In search of the thief who stole his precious ring, Smeagol wanders all the way to Mordor. Once there, however, he's captured by the Dark Lord's minions. Now, he must escape them and get back to safety.

The developers tried to stick to the book canon, so the story's conclusion is foregone. The writers did, however, have a lot of freedom when coming up with Smeagol's adventures before meeting the Ring-bearer.

Gameplay

The developers of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum describe their game as being similar to Prince of Persia with stealth elements. The game makes use of third-person perspective (TPP), with the playable character exploring locations divided into more or less open levels. These can be traversed horizontally and vertically, as Gollum is an excellent climber, just like the Prince of Persia himself. He is also, however, much weaker in combat. Even attacking enemies from hiding is extremely risky. Most of the time we must sneak behind (or above) foes, avoiding detection at all costs.

Throughout the game we'll encounter potential allies who can help us on our quest. Other Mordor residents aren't the only people we'll talk to. The titular character has two personalities: Smeagol and Gollum. Both prefer different approaches to various issues, more complex than the usual binary good or evil choices. The more often we side with one of the personalities, the more dominant it becomes. This affects both the audiovisuals (animations, ambient sounds) and gameplay. While we can try to keep balance between Gollum and Smeagol, the task is rather difficult.

Last updated on 30 May 2023