The new spin-off of the famous ‘The Lord of the Rings’ franchise, entitled ‘Gollum‘, is off to a catastrophic start.
Developed by Daedalic Entertainment, a German studio, the video game is receiving devastating reviews as the worst game of the year (at least for the PS5 version according to Metacritic), and without a doubt, as the worst game based on Tolkien’s work. Does it really deserve such a reputation? What are the reasons behind this fiasco?
First announced in 2021, ‘Gollum’ was conceived as an action and stealth game starring the charismatic character who made his first appearance in the novel “The Hobbit” and which places us a few years before the events narrated in “The Fellowship of the Ring”.
Initially scheduled to be released in 2021, the game suffered several delays, first to 2022 and finally to May 2023. Daedalic has been known for developing point-and-click adventures for almost two decades and in 2022 they were acquired by the French company Nacon after facing financial difficulties.
The game currently has a score of 40 on review aggregator Metacritic, based on 29 reviews. Our colleague Alberto Lloria has expressed his opinion in 3DJuegos, describing the game as “I want and I can’t”.
The international media have also shared comparable views; at Gamespot they commented that “if the developers’ main goal was to plunge the player into the shoes of such a pitiful and unlovable character, faced with constant pain and suffering at every turn, at least they succeeded.”
But what went wrong with the game? Basically everything. Apparently we rarely come across games this unpolished on the market: subpar graphics, stiff or non-existent facial animations, textured environments typical of PS2-era games, uninteresting storyline, Inconsistent physics and numerous bugs.
There are a lot of bugs that cause Gollum to fall for no reason from the areas he is climbing (one of the main game mechanics) and force the player to restart entire levels.
The backlash has been so overwhelming that Daedalic found it necessary to post an apology via his Twitter account.
They stated that they are “working diligently to fix bugs and technical issues”, while expressing that “creating a story set in Middle-earth has been a great honor and the greatest challenge we have ever faced” and that they commit to releasing patches that allow players to enjoy the game.
These apologies seem to fall on deaf ears, however, as technical bugs are just the tip of the iceberg in a game that’s been ill-conceived from the start.
‘The Lord of the Rings’ faces a problem as a franchise: on the one hand, the original literary work is very specific and limited, consisting of a trilogy and some additional books; on the other hand, the most iconic adaptation of the franchise, the films directed by Peter Jackson, have been unanimously acclaimed, which casts a shadow that is difficult to avoid.
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