The Lord of the Rings Gollum review – far from precious

I’ve at all times been a large fan of J. R. R. Tolkien’s creations. From experiencing The Hobbit as a younger baby with my father to writing up my college dissertation on ladies in Center-earth, his writing has had a profound influence on me. Sadly, my quest to overview The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has proved to be an unexpectedly perilous journey.

I used to be hoping for an expertise wealthy in journey, story, and puzzles, and regardless of my considerations concerning the myriad methods it might go incorrect, I used to be curious to dive right into a considerate exploration of Gollum as a personality. Upon beginning, nonetheless, it rapidly grew to become clear that it provides none of this stuff. As an alternative, I used to be caught in a dreary platformer with weak stealth sport mechanics and a deeply uninspired plot.

Whereas it does sometimes draw from Tolkien immediately, Daedalic Leisure is basically content material to supply up an inferior mixture of concepts and tones from Peter Jackson’s movie variations. Gollum’s origin story and character as offered listed below are too acquainted, because the developer has not taken the leap of religion required to tell apart its model of Gollum from what we’ve seen earlier than.

I got here throughout the odd unfamiliar face whereas enjoying that I want I might have discovered extra about. It’s in these moments that the sport reveals some potential, because it toys with the thought of creating Tolkien’s extra obscure characters, however – as soon as once more – it by no means commits.

Gameplay-wise, Gollum feels prefer it’s been dragged out of a bygone period, although not in a comfy, nostalgic means. Its janky platforming brings to thoughts a poor man’s Styx or Crash Bandicoot, which left me questioning why I wouldn’t simply play these way more polished video games as an alternative.

One factor I did genuinely take pleasure in, although, was the morality system. You don’t play merely as Gollum or Smeagol. As an alternative, you play as each, both, or neither, actually. In some conditions, you get the choice to reply as Gollum would (often aggressively) or as Smeagol would (typically passively). In concept, that is an attention-grabbing strategy to exploring the character’s inside battle, however I want it wasn’t so half-baked. The choice-making course of is in the end by no means given a lot punch because of the lack of weighty penalties.

The sections the place Smeagol should ‘battle off’ Gollum after selecting to aspect with the latter character present no actual problem. I by no means misplaced to the opposite internal character, and I’m undecided I wanted all the probabilities the sport gave me. Extra riddles and further taste from the supply materials additionally wouldn’t have gone amiss.

I discovered myself craving so typically for added plot and fewer tailing sections straight out of 2010, or patience-testing platforming gauntlets that I’d must run time and again.

Graphically talking, I’m additionally dissatisfied, particularly given the Gollum system necessities. The advertising and marketing showcased the sport’s supposedly spectacular visuals, even going as far as to accomplice up with Nvidia to promote its DLSS capabilities. Whereas among the maps are certainly enchanting or whimsical to traverse, it’s all harking back to how I bear in mind low-budget, late-noughties releases trying. It’s clearly removed from a 1:1 likeness in actuality, however that’s actually the, effectively, aesthetic.

Character fashions are equally off. The faces specifically make some bizarre expressions when talking, and the general type is surreal, simply not in a means that feels intentional or nice to spend hours taking a look at. Gollum himself is the spotlight design-wise. He’s a bit creepier than different variations, which isn’t essentially a nasty factor.

It’s additionally inconceivable to disregard the font decisions. Sure, you learn that proper. I might have slightly checked out Comedian Sans all the time. Including salt to the wound, the sport additionally provides virtually no actual accessibility options or settings. You may make the textual content larger, however there are not any choices for color-blind gamers, disabled gamers, deaf gamers (apart from the subtitles with the atrocious font), or visually impaired gamers.

I do respect the thought on the sport’s core – to discover an typically ignored character – however from a gameplay, narrative, and technical perspective, The Lord of the Ring: Gollum by no means places ahead a convincing argument for letting this bizarre little man carry a complete venture.

All in all, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum actually was… a sport. It was not, nonetheless, a great sport, nor was it a great Tolkien-inspired expertise by any means. After years of improvement and a number of delays, Gollum is downright disappointing. Your time can be higher spent on grabbing an outdated PlayStation 2 and a used copy of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. We are able to solely hope the brand new Lord of the Rings MMO fares higher.