It’s not often that we get Lord of the Rings games, that too centered on the manipulative Gollum. But Daedalic Entertainment’s The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is looking to explore that perspective, mixing in stealth with some vertical parkour. A new teaser is available now but there also new details courtesy of IGN.
Lead designer Martin Wilkes spoke to the publication and said that the movement is reminiscent of Prince of Persia. “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.”
Gollum will have choices to make on his journey, which means choosing between the Smeagol and Gollum personalities. Along with the narrative branching out, certain decisions will also affect the overall game feel. Animations, in-game dialogue, soundscapes and whatnot will change depending on persona that’s more dominant.
With regards to combat, Gollum won’t have weapons but he can distract foes by throwing items and ideally sneaking by. He can also use the environment and call upon “special allies” to help. These “special allies”, as per lead narrative designer Tilman Schanen, will be familiar to players and they play smaller roles “for the most part.” However, there are some cases where their roles will be “very significant”.
It’s all fairly interesting and offers a different take on the Lord of the Rings trilogy that we know and love. The Lords of the Rings: Gollum is out in 2021 for Xbox Series X, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details in the coming year.