Last week, I was invited to a virtual event for the new Lord of the Rings Gollum Game,
where we got to see gameplay, speak to some of the developers, saw some new screenshots,
and were finally given a release date.
So today I’ll give you the lowdown on what I learned about this game, including not only
its gameplay, but the lore behind it.
First things first - now, 3 years after it was first announced, we know that Gollum will
release on September 1st of this year - no doubt looking to capitalize on the Amazon
series releasing the very next day.
This game has intrigued me since it was announced, and like many others, I immediately wondered
why they would choose Gollum as the game’s protagonist.
It has certainly allowed the developers to focus on the stealth gameplay, and take advantage
of Gollum’s unique physicality among Middle-earth characters.
In the gameplay we saw, which was still in an unfinished beta stage, the platformer and
stealth elements were on display, and the choices the player will have to make between
Gollum and Smeagol were hinted at and discussed.
We were told that as players side with Gollum or Smeagol as the story progresses will change
how other characters interact with us.
Also, we found out that while Smeagol may give you the “good” option, it won’t
always give you a good result.
So it may not be quite so easy to take the all good or all evil approach.
In addition to deciding between your better and worse halves, you’ll have to base your
movements on the time of day.
As we know from the books, Gollum has no love for the sun or moon, so we got the impression
that interior paths will need to be taken at certain times.
While this is no doubt primarily a stealth game and you’ll have to work out ways to
sneak past or distract foes, we did see an instance where Gollum kills an orc.
It takes longer than you’d be accustomed to in other games where you wield a sword,
but it felt like an appropriate adaptation of how it would go if Gollum snuck up on and
strangled a large orc of Mordor.
An interesting note here is the developers said it is possible to make it through the
entire game without killing anyone after the tutorial.
As we’ve seen in the previous images and trailers, Gollum looks and sounds similar,
but different from his film counterpart.
I’m not 100% certain on the approach, but it feels to me like they tried to make him
look and sound a bit cuter - perhaps more sympathetic.
Combined with the unique looks for Gandalf and especially Thranduil, I hope these come
off as their own versions of the characters and not just slightly off-kilter versions
of the Peter Jackson ones.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of Tolkien lore we could potentially be getting
in this game.
Now, I don’t really hold video games to as high a standard when it comes to the lore
as I do for movies and series.
I find the Shadow of Mordor games to be incredibly fun, despite their dodgy-at-best lore.
That being said, it was revealed that Gollum’s story will pickup 8 years prior to the War
of the Ring, as Gollum has been driven by his desire for his precious to pursue the
trail of Bilbo Baggins.
As we know from earlier videos here on the channel, Gollum is drawn to Mordor in his
search, and I get the feeling that is what the majority of this tale will be, though
we also got a peek at the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood.
It was also hinted that the game may end somewhere around the time when Gollum tracks the fellowship
in Moria.
One nugget of info I’m particularly fond of is the storytelling device hinted at in
our preview.
In one section of gameplay, as Gollum is making his way to his cave in Mordor, we hear Gandalf’s
voiceover, asking him questions.
I believe what we are seeing here is that the bulk of the game takes place in the past,
so to speak, as we are playing out what Gandalf learns of Gollum during his interrogation
in Mirkwood.
During the portion where Gandalf questions Gollum via voiceover, our attention was also
brought to some cave drawings, like we saw in the teaser trailer.
These allude to things in Gollum’s past.
In the teaser, I guessed what we saw was Smeagol and Deagol in their boat and Gollum bowing
to Shelob.
I’m even more confident in that guess now, as Shelob did make a brief appearance in the
preview, and it's hinted that we will work with her at times to achieve our goals.
Speaking of other character appearances, we also saw a winged Nazgul and a brief glimpse
of Gandalf and Thranduil in Mirkwood.
While those are the only other canon characters revealed so far, I wonder if we might also
see Aragorn.
We know at some point between Gollum being in Mordor and him being in Mirkwood, Aragorn
captures him in the dead marshes and takes him the 900 miles to Thranduil’s realm.
Personally, I’m hoping to see Aragorn tie Gollum to a log to get him across the Anduin
as we are told he does in the books.
In the gameplay we saw, there was even a name drop from the story of Beren and Luthien,
referencing their theft of a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth.
As someone who loves references to the deeper lore, this part made me smile.
It also made me wonder if this game could give Rings of Power season 1 a run for its
money on Tolkien references.
Now of course, I never expected this story to be entirely canon.
There’s obviously little more than a handful of notes to pull from for this specific period
in Gollum’s life.
And we saw in the preview that we will at one point team up with an outcast elf in Mirkwood,
who is an original character.
Her name is Mel and has some kind of unique powers - including the ability to communicate
through water.
While its certainly not anything that will quench my thirst for Tolkien’s canon, I’m
curious to see how this plays out and if things like the different clans and hierarchy of
elves will be explored within this part of the story.
While the gameplay we saw was still quite rough, we were told by the developers that
due to Gollum’s unique travel method - often being on all fours - particular attention
was paid to the ground textures and elements - more than would be expected in your average
game.
As someone who hasn’t played a lot of stealth platformers, I’m really curious to see how
much I enjoy this game.
There seems to be some good puzzles to work out in the process of getting from A to B,
and they seem to have focused quite a lot on how tricksy Gollum is as well as climbing
and sneaking ability.
While it is a small thing, it was pointed out that due to Gollum’s habit of talking
to himself, it makes it less cumbersome to give hints to the player during gameplay.
I believe this method was similarly used in Shadow of Mordor between Talion and Celebrimbor.
It was confirmed that the two primary locations we will be playing in are Mordor and Mirkwood.
It wasn’t said outright whether these would be the only two locations we will see, but
they will certainly be where we spend the majority of our time.
Among the locations we will find ourselves in is the interior of Sauron’s fortress
of Barad-dur, something we’ve seen little to nothing of in the past.
One thing I’ve wondered a lot about is if someone like me who hasn’t played many stealth
games, will be entertained by a game so heavily focused on sneaking.
I certainly enjoy the stealth aspects of the Shadow of Mordor games, but those are always
mixed with some intense combat and abilities.
I’m still really curious to see how this game will be received.
At the end of the day, I’m excited that there is a new major release game set in Middle-earth.
I’ve never been huge on mobile games as they never feel to have a true end to them
- or an actual story for that matter, so it will be nice to have a LOTR console game again.
It’s not necessarily the concept for a LOTR game that’s been on my dream list for years,
but so far it seems like something that will at the very least allow us to interact with
Middle-earth in a unique way.
I also like the idea of learning about Gollum in the same way Gandalf does in the books,
and I hope they really dive deep into his backstory.
You’ll notice that one of the big omissions in this list is how the game looks, and that’s
simply because I don’t really have much to go on from this preview.
As I said, what we saw was in an unfinished beta stage without final rendering.
We got some new screenshots, but I’ll have to see the game in motion to get a true sense
for the production value.
I’m guessing it will be stylized in a similar manner to Gollum himself, and I don’t anticipate
it having mind-blowing visuals like some of the all-time greats.
Hopefully they do the world justice and give us environments that are memorable.
After two games of nothing but Mordor, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing the Woodland
Realm for a change of scenery.
Obviously, the biggest thing is I hope the game is good and that it's fun to play.
I’m not 100% sold on the idea of being in stealth mode for an entire game, but that’s
just from my personal gaming experience and the fact that I’ve never played a purely
stealth platformer before.
Hopefully, this proves to be something entertaining while giving us some healthy doses of Tolkien
lore for one of his most intriguing characters.
We’ll see how this goes, but I really hope this is just the first of multiple Tolkien
games we will see coming out in future years.
Middle-earth games have been few and far between, and the great ones are something I go back
to again and again.
Like I said, at the very least, it’s nice to see Middle-earth take a big swing at gaming
again.
I’ll be sure to do some Gollum gaming streams here on Nerd of the Rings when it’s released
on September 1st, so hit subscribe for that and a healthy dose of Tolkien each and every
week.
Thanks so much for watching and we’ll see you next time on Nerd of the Rings.