Gollum Takes Leading Role in Upcoming Lord of the Rings Video Game

Prolific point-and-click developer Daedalic Entertainment is working on a narrative-focussed Lord of the Rings game following the corruption of Sméagol into Gollum.

Titled The Lord of the Rings – Gollum, the game will reportedly be based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s lore, though expanded with new events and details.

In the books, Gollum is estimated to be around 600 years old, his lifespan artificially expanded by the One Ring, which also resulted in the corruption and division of his personality.

While the developer is best known for point-and-click adventures, The Lord of the Rings – Gollum is billed as an action-adventure. Furthermore, the game is being built on Unreal Engine, as opposed to the in-house engine that Daedalic has typically used previously.

The team is currently targeting a 2021 release for PC and “all relevant console platforms at that time.”  Game Informer also notes that the project may only be the first Lord of the Rings game to come from Daedalic.

Daedalic Entertainment has previous experience in adapting epic stories to gaming, having previously brought Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth to the medium.

Meanwhile, the most recent game set in Tolkien’s universe is Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, which OnlySP’s Dylan Warman scored as a Distinction (4/5), citing the “the more in-depth Nemesis System and an evolving storyline” as improvements over its direct predecessor.