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The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum is expected to arrive next year and Daedalic Entertainment has shared a new trailer and details about the project.
Set to arrive on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X, the upcoming game is based around the franchise antagonist, Gollum, and will be focused primarily around stealth-based gameplay.
A new cinematic trailer has released, and while it doesn’t delve into many new details, the footage sets the tone for the game and showcases Gollum skulking through a cave before approaching the foreboding Mordor.
Check out the new trailer below:
In an interview with IGN, lead game designer Martin Wilkes spoke to the site to give more information on what The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum is about.
“The game mixes stealth with vertical climbing parkour,” Wilkes explained to the publication. “If you want a reference you might think of it as similar to Prince Of Persia. It is mostly a non-combat game, but Gollum will be able to stealthily take out enemies. However, this will not be easy and always come with big risks. We want players to carefully weigh these encounters. After all, Gollum’s strengths lie in cunning not combat.”
As the game will be taking away the reliance of combat, Gollum will have to survive through other means. Wilkes explained what some of these elements might be.
“Gollum doesn’t use weapons, but he can distract enemies with throwables. In parts of the game, he will also profit from the abilities of special allies and can use the environment to his advantage.”
All of this will take place across structured levels and hub worlds. Some levels “are completely open in all three dimensions and can be explored freely, while others are more linear but often with alternative routes.”
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum will also lean heavily into the classic world J.R.R. Tolkien has crafted. The story will be set before the events of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, allowing the developers to incorporate some creative freedom, allowing Gollum the means to meet series famous characters.
Travelling across Middle-Earth will also present Gollum with branching decisions, which Wilkes stated can “affect the way the game feels.”
“You always either play as Sméagol or as Gollum as the ‘dominant’ persona,” Wilkes said. “And that can influence animations, soundscapes, certain gameplay situations, and in-game dialogue.”
To cause players to conflict with the decisions they make Daedalic Entertainment worked on the character model for Gollum to make him more palatable.
“With Gollum himself, our goal is to make him more relatable, as players have to be able to slip into his skin for the course of an entire game,” Wilkes revealed. “That’s why our Gollum looks less creepy (and has more hair) than the movie version.”
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum isn’t the only game getting created from the much beloved series. Fans have been rallying together to bring The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth back to life with a remake.
Known as Battle For Middle Earth: Reforged, the project recently released around twenty minutes of footage for the upcoming fan remake, which highlighted the graphical and gameplay improvements made since the original.
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