THE LORD OF THE RINGS: GOLLUM

A stealth adventure with an identity crisis

- Ted Litchfield

NEED TO KNOW

RELEASE Autumn

DEVELOPER Daedalic Entertainment

PUBLISHER In-house, Nacon

LINK bit.ly/3tdzHuT

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum seems to share its titular character’s split personality. In a 20-minute remote preview, I got to see the Gollum: contextual stealth takedowns, ledge shimmying, and ‘Gollum vision’, but also the Smeagol: an open-ended, combat-free platforming puzzle. Which one will win out is hard to say.

The demo begins in one of the game’s two primary locations: Mordor. I was a bit uncertain before the demo at how well this grey and red hellscape could carry half of a game, but Daedalic’s done a decent job injecting more colour: some yellow sulphur and even a bit of greenery that differentiates its Mordor from Peter Jackson’s portrayal.