Gollum's Journey: A Review of The Lord of the Rings Game

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a stealth platformer set in The Lord of the Rings universe, was announced by Daedalic Entertainment and Nacon in 2019. Players take control of the series' most tragic character, Gollum. Despite the anticipation for a video game adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, Gollum falls short. It is an uninspired, buggy, and repetitive game that fails to capture the essence of the franchise. Even the game's concept seems to be held together by duct tape, leaving players frustrated and bored. However, the game does have some redeeming qualities such as a superb soundtrack and a great character model for Gandalf.

The upcoming PC game, set to launch in 2023, is developed using Unreal Engine, which unfortunately comes with its own set of issues. Players can expect frequent stuttering, drastic frame rate changes, and a confusing graphical settings menu that lacks detail. The biggest problem, however, is the inability to limit the frame rate, resulting in a jarring experience as the game jumps from 40 fps to 60 fps or even 120 fps. The performance issues are so bad that even with an RTX 3080, we couldn't consider turning on ray tracing.

To make matters worse, the game's system requirements went through several changes before launch, ranging from an RTX 3060 to an RTX 4070 to an RTX 3070, just for 1080p medium settings. But based on the game's visuals, these specs are unnecessary as the game is simply ugly. The character models are low-poly, and the animations are stiff. The world is visually flat, and the UI is so primitive that it's hard to navigate. Overall, this game is not easy on the eyes and is likely to disappoint players who were expecting a visually stunning experience.

The technical failures of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum are numerous, but perhaps the most egregious is the game's tendency to simply give up. Midway through a conversation, characters' mouths stop moving while the dialogue continues, as if the animators just forgot to finish the sequence. Cutscenes feel surreal as characters stare blankly into each other's eyes, reciting lines like robots. And the game is riddled with glitches, constantly threatening to break at any moment.

But it's not just technical issues that plague The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The gameplay itself is a tedious slog, with about a third of the game consisting of Gollum following someone and performing menial tasks like collecting tags or feeding piranhas. Even the more interesting sequences, like leading animals into an enclosure, are marred by the game's clunky mechanics and sluggish pacing. Overall, playing The Lord of the Rings: Gollum feels more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.

The removal of Gollum's sprint ability forces players to slowly navigate through a poorly designed room to collect tags from prisoner remains, which feels like a cruel joke. The game's stealth and platforming mechanics are underdeveloped and unreliable, with enemies either having x-ray vision or being easily bypassed by crawling. The game's unpredictable temperament makes it difficult to plan and execute stealth sequences, and even the option to choke out orcs is largely useless. The biggest challenge in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is the frustrating and inconsistent controls and camera, which make even simple tasks feel like a struggle.

During gameplay, the camera in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum can be a hindrance, often obstructing visibility and unexpectedly switching to a first-person view in non-open areas. Climbing sequences are particularly frustrating as the camera tends to focus on Gollum's backside. Furthermore, the platforming mechanics are unreliable, causing numerous deaths. Gollum's basic jumping abilities often fail to land him on the intended platform, leaving players to pray for a miraculous teleportation or face restarting from a distant checkpoint.

There is a significant amount of downtime in Lord of the Rings: Gollum between platforming and stealth sections. This is mainly used to set up story moments, but unfortunately, it feels like a waste of time. Gollum and Smeagol repeatedly discuss things that the audience is already aware of, making it all seem like filler content in a story that lacks substance. Even the decision-making scenes between Gollum and Smeagol fail to captivate the player as there are only two options presented, and the correct choice is often obvious.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a hugely disappointing game, and the disappointments just keep on coming. The game hits rock bottom in Chapter 6 when there is a chase scene with Shelob that should have been a thrilling moment. Instead, it ends up being incredibly dull, even worse than the boulder chases in PS1 games. The camera angles are terrible, completely obscuring the player's vision of Gollum and the environment around him.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action-adventure game set in the world of Middle-earth, taking place between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. Unfortunately, Gollum's platforming abilities are clunky and frustrating to use, which takes away from the overall experience of the game. The linear stealth platforming gameplay is not designed to be smooth or enjoyable, making it a tedious and pointless game to play. Even if the bugs were to be ironed out, the poorly executed gameplay and baffling mission structure can't save it. In short, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a boring and clunky game that should have been left in the fires of Mount Doom.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A Switch version is in development. Game Rant was provided a PC code for the purposes of this review.