The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was an enormous shock to followers when it was revealed a couple of years in the past. It appeared like one thing that nobody was asking for, nevertheless it nonetheless supplied a good idea. As a recreation primarily based on the unknown actions of Gollum from The Hobbit till Fellowship of the Ring. this could’ve been one thing that may have broad enchantment from the informal viewer to probably the most fervent Lord of the Rings fan. Because it seems, the sport itself feels prefer it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) enchantment to anybody, ever.

Picture Supply: Daedalic Leisure through Twinfinite

The story begins with Gollum locked in a cell and being interrogated by a really insistent Gandalf. This then serves because the narrative body that takes gamers again to Gollum’s days on the mountains of Cirith Ungol. He spends his days dodging Orcs, Ring Wraiths, and the hulking spider Shelob. That is earlier than he’s captured and imprisoned within the tower of Barad-dûr.

Nonetheless, this setup solely holds up for the primary chapter and utterly disappears for the subsequent a number of. Unsurprisingly, the story does come full circle. Although, the sport doesn’t present how Gollum got here to be captured by the elves in Mirkwood. As a substitute, that’s delivered in solely a pair sentences of expository textual content initially of the associated chapter. There’s a quick associated point out in a line of dialogue, however in any other case, it occurs completely off-screen.

There’s no actual option to describe the gameplay itself apart from easy fare that rapidly grew to become uninteresting. You soar, you climb, you crawl, you sneak, and you’ll throw rocks to function a distraction. There’s nothing that Gollum can do this felt distinctive to the character. Although, I’ll say he’s bought some loopy agility relating to large jumps. This additionally had a disadvantage, because it’s extremely simple to overshoot a soar and die because of his acrobatic prowess.

The one spotlight is that Gollum possesses a particular extra-sensory imaginative and prescient skill that makes every part nearly photo-negative. It pinpoints enemy areas and provides options on a path to take. It was the perfect device for getting round within the areas with extra dense enemy patrols. Plus, it highlights areas that make Gollum virtually invisible to enemies who aren’t absolutely alert.

Gollum Vision — Picture Supply: Daedalic Leisure through Twinfinite

The controls don’t do maneuvering any favors both, as there are such a lot of occasions I might be climbing a ladder or a protracted mess of vines and get to the highest, just for Gollum to leap straight up into the air as an alternative of clambering over the ledge. This was particularly irritating when that very same ladder was my solely hope of escape after alerting the enemies. One mistaken lengthy soar and I used to be assured to be lifeless.

Not precisely a management difficulty, however there are a lot of occasions merely strolling Gollum ahead could be met with issue. There have been far too many events the place he would simply cease completely like there was some invisible impediment. This was additionally dangerous throughout the tight tunnel sections that go first-person the place there have been corners, as he would simply get hung up completely. It will ultimately repair itself, nevertheless it all the time took a couple of seconds to right.

Checkpoints within the recreation are extraordinarily inconsistent, which is sort of unfair with how simply you’ll be able to die. Generally I might discover myself just a few ft behind the place I met my demise, however different occasions I used to be compelled to do a protracted part over once more. I found out that checkpoints labored by unlocking behind me after a sure distance somewhat than proper as I reached them.

As for graphics, there have been many occasions I couldn’t imagine I used to be taking part in a recreation that was truly popping out in 2023. Between the beautiful horrible textures and commonly substandard character designs, the sport doesn’t supply any compelling visuals. As with all trendy video games, it does supply a High quality mode, however the scant few occasions I examined it, I couldn’t inform any distinction.

Gollum and Sméagol Deliberating — Picture Supply: Daedalic Leisure through Twinfinite

I’ll give the story some credit score, although. Even when it looks like nobody requested for this recreation, Gollum continues to be an attention-grabbing character. There might be moments in dialogue the place you select both Gollum or Sméagol’s reply, and then you definately go into one other little bit of selections the place one facet has to persuade the opposite. That is fairly neat, however I by no means bought the impression that my dialogue selections mattered even just a little bit within the grand scheme of issues.

For probably the most half, Lord of the Rings performs simply advantageous. Nonetheless, one thing completely damning occurred to me greater than as soon as: I hit two separate game-breaking bugs that compelled me to restart a whole chapter. The primary bug occurred a couple of chapters in after I died from a fall. As a substitute of letting me checkpoint again to security, the sport checkpointed me dying from a fall in an space the place I hadn’t even died. It seemed prefer it checkpointed me falling by way of the map. This meant I might restart from the checkpoint and immediately die in an infinite loop.

The second bug was within the recreation’s closing chapter when attempting to finish a puzzle. For the lifetime of me, I couldn’t determine the puzzle, and restoring the checkpoint wasn’t serving to. So I did the conventional factor: I closed out of the sport and began it again up. Sadly, this solely made issues worse.

No choices would work every time I interacted with the puzzle, and I couldn’t even get out of it. I may nonetheless restart from the checkpoint, nevertheless it simply put me again earlier than a damaged puzzle. This made me extremely reticent to begin the chapter throughout as a result of, close to as I may inform, there wasn’t a assure it wouldn’t occur once more.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum doesn’t do something enjoyable or attention-grabbing like related (higher) video games like A Plague Story: Innocence and Requiem. It’s arduous to say if even probably the most loyal Lord of the Rings followers would truly discover one thing worthwhile right here. Contemplating good Lord of the Rings games exist, this one feels extremely misplaced.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

Reviewer: Cameron Waldrop | Copy supplied by Writer.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Review

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