Hey, guys, so having spent a week with the new Gollum video game, I wanted to give you
all my final thoughts on it.
You may recall a few months ago I released a video talking about my experience playing
a preview beta version of the game.
And while the animations were rough, it seemed like a game with some promise.
It has an interesting premise and focuses on one of Tolkien’s most iconic, tragic,
and interesting characters.
I’ve seen a lot of reviewers panning the decision to have players play as Gollum, but
I gotta say I still think it’s an idea that could be interesting if executed really well.
First off, let’s start with the thing I was most interested in for some time now - the
lore.
As with anything adapting Tolkien’s world that’s dealing with bits and pieces of information,
there’s a fair amount of original events and characters within the story.
And for the most part, I think these original aspects work pretty well.
I found myself legitimately interested in the Candleman character around the time he
is recounting the tale of Earnur - the last king of Gondor.
There’s other things directly from the books, like a reference to Beren & Luthien, a brief
glimpse of Erebor, Gandalf’s interrogation, and a moment with Gollum just as it is described
by Legolas at the Council of Elrond.
However, it feels like these moments are just too few and far between to make this a must-buy
for lore fans.
Omissions like Aragorn capturing and traveling with Gollum seem like something that would’ve
made for a great cutscene at the very least, if not an entire level of the game.
Now, a lot of reviews have focused on the graphics and gameplay.
And as I’m just a Tolkien fan who tends to play only a few games per year, I’ll
defer to those judgements when it comes to things like performance and how this compares
to other stealth games.
That being said, even I could notice some of the buggy issues this game had at launch,
and I was surprised how taxing it was to run on my PC considering the graphics of the game.
Speaking of the graphics, much has been said of the quality elsewhere.
Personally, I didn’t mind the graphics looking like they were from the XBOX 360 era, as I
knew this game was coming from an independent publisher - I simply never expected this game
to compete with even last-gen games like Shadow of Mordor in terms of graphics, gameplay,
or complexity.
But the lower expectations I had in terms of these categories were not the same as the
gaming community at large - and for good reason…
And this brings up what is, in my opinion, the biggest issue with The Lord of the Rings:
Gollum - the Pricing.
Quite simply, this game had no business being released while priced as a AAA game.
As I’ve alluded to, I never went into this game expecting it to be the heir apparent
to the excellent Shadow of Mordor games.
It’s made by an indie developer, and as such, I went in expecting it to be more simple
in general, including the visuals and gameplay.
However, when a game like this carries a $60 price tag, and has an optional $10 DLC on
top of that, it communicates to gamers that this is a game of a certain caliber - a level
that Gollum simply does not achieve.
I think if this game came out and was priced at like, I don’t know, 30 bucks, the conversation
around this game would be totally different.
All of a sudden, the mindset shifts - because a $30 game doesn’t carry the same expectations
as a $60 game.
Things like graphics and animations that feel two generations old become more forgivable
in a more appropriately priced game.
And if the game had brought a bit more variety of gameplay to the table, and not had some
of the glitch issues at launch, I think it could’ve been seen as a charming throwback
to an older era, had it been marketed and priced as such.
Unfortunately, the Gollum game just isn’t as interesting or as fun as I hoped it would
be.
There’s a lot in this game that feels repetitive, mundane, or buggy, or a combination thereof.
The issues with performance were enough that Daedalic released an apology - something that
seems all-too-common with video games released nowadays - though an unfortunate typo certainly
made this one stand out.
I do think playing as Gollum is an interesting concept that has promise, but I wonder if
it would work better if it was only a level or two of a much larger game featuring more
playable characters.
Real quick I want to add just a general overall thought on the conversation about this game.
I’ve seen a ton of hyperbolic statements about this game, saying it's a cash grab or
the worst game of all time - and I don’t think either of these is actually the case,
and is just the latest example of how nowadays everything has to be declared the best or
worst thing ever.
I think folks are often too quick to label something a cash grab simply because they
don’t like it or it doesn’t meet expectations.
At the end of the day, every game, movie, tv show, and product based on Middle-earth
is made in hopes of making money - and being so cavalier to label something a cash-grab
I think is an insult to people on the front lines who pour a lot of effort into said product,
and as I’ve oftentimes found - have a real love of the source material.
In conclusion, I wanna give my final recommendation and thoughts on the game.
If I were to give The Lord of the Rings: Gollum a score, I’d probably go with something
like a 5/10 - and part of the reason it gets that high a rating is because of the lore
moments that I enjoyed.
There’s nothing in this game lore-wise as outlandish as what we saw in the Shadow games,
but when it comes to games, my personal opinion is that they should first and foremost be
fun to play.
Not that I don’t enjoy and appreciate adherence to the lore and deep cut references, it’s
just those things do little good if the game in question isn’t an absolute blast to play.
I might be willing to bump this game up a point or so if it were more reasonably priced
for the experience it provides gamers.
As for my recommendation, if you’re a big time Lord of the Rings fan or someone who
is really into stealth games, I’d say wait for the game to go on sale.
You’ll feel a lot better about the purchase if you do.
If you’re not a big Tolkien fan and just someone who is a general gamer, there’s
plenty of other things to be had that will get you more bang for your buck - especially
in the $60 price range.
So yeah, at the end of the day, the Gollum game wasn’t the smash hit I hoped it would
be, but I do think there’s reason to be optimistic for the future of Middle-earth
gaming.
There’s some things coming out this very year in both tabletop and video gaming that
show promise, and as I’ve said before, I think the Embracer purchase of Middle-earth
Enterprises will bring even more Middle-earth video games in the near future.
And yeah, there’s a chance we’ll get some clunkers in the years to come, but you never
know when we might get a new all-time classic.
If the reception to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum proves anything, I think it shows that
expectations are pretty high when it comes to adapting Tolkien’s world no matter the
medium.
Personally, I’m hoping at some point for a massive open-world game where we get to
explore all of Middle-earth, and something that has the kind of investment that we’ve
seen other nerdy cornerstone franchises get in recent years.
Only time will tell.