Many are familiar with the depiction of Gollum featured Peter Jackson’s acclaimedLord of the Ringsfilm trilogy, and the actor behind him, Andy Serkis, netted accolades, like a “Best Digital Acting Performance” award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, for his performance. However, Daedalic Entertainment has apparently decided to buck this well-known character design for its upcomingLord of the Rings: Gollum.
Lord of the Rings: Gollumwas announced in March 2019as a venture by the German development studio that is known for publishing titles like the point-and-click adventure seriesDeponia. The goal with the game is to create a narrative-driven, action-adventure experience that fleshes out parts of Gollum’s corruption and explores his subsequent journey through Middle-earth.
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Details about the changes to Gollum’s design are discussed inEdgemagazine issue 341, which will be officially released in February. Its featured cover story is a discussion with members of Daedalic Entertainment, including Game Designer Martin Wilkes and CEO Carsten Fichtelmann (both of whom recently commented on thepotential of next generation consoles), and this conversation indicates that the development team is looking to create a design for the game that is more closely inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s original drawings.
That’s not all the preview reveals, though, as the game’s release platforms are also discussed. Specifically, it is stated that the new interactive adventure in theLord of the Ringsuniverse will be released for PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X in 2021, on top of the previously-announced PC version.
Lord of the Ringsproves to be endlessly popular as time passes, and it has a long history both in its own series of video games and as references in others — such as an entirethemed side-quest inBorderlands 3. One of the most recent endeavors to create aLord of the Ringsgame came asMiddle-Earth: Shadow of Warfrom 2017, butLord of the Rings:Gollumpromises to be an entirely different experience than that action-focused RPG. It will reportedly have more of a focus on stealth gameplay and mechanics dealing with the character’s dual personality, according to theEdgefeature.
Peter Jackson’sLord of the Ringsadaptations have largely dominated the series' representation worldwide, but with games likeGollumand anAmazon Prime streaming showin the works, who knows what the future of Middle-earth will look like. Hopefully in the case of young Smeagol, it will at least be aesthetically pleasing.
Lord of the Rings: Gollumwill be available in 2021 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
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