LOTR: Gollumhas finally been released, after many delays and troubles with production. While Daedalic Entertainment has finally managed to make the game available to the public, they seemingly aren’t finished with it yet. Despite a day-one patch to fix some major issues with how playableLOTR: Gollumturned out to be, gamers are still unimpressed.
Related:LOTR: Gollum Is One Of The Worst-Rated Games Of 2023Inspite of the problemsthat gamers have come across in this attempt at a Middle Earth-based stealth game, there are more things to addressthan issues with the gameplay. There are also a number of things that have changed in the game and its narrative about Gollum and Middle Earth which are worth addressing.
5Gollum’s Appearance
Gollum’s appearance is one of the major points about the game that wasn’t debated over when it was first revealed to the public through trailers. While nothing too major about the appearance of the belovedLord of the Ringscharacter was changed forLOTR: Gollum, it is clearly somewhat different from the version portrayed by Andy Serkis in the cinematic version of Middle Earth.
WhileLOTR: Gollumtakes place prior to the events ofLord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, it isn’t by very long. So, it is surprising to see appearance changes such as Gollum having significantly more hair left than he does by the time he appears in the films. Relative to the long life he’s led, the time between his interactions with Gandalf and his meeting with Frodo and Sam on their way to Mordor is pretty small and many fans would likely have been expecting him to be practically unchanged in appearance. Despite these shifts, Gollum/Smeagol is at least recognizable as the character fans are used to in many ways.
4Gollum’s Voice
Unfortunately, Andy Serkis did not returnto reprise his role as Gollum forLOTR: Gollum. Serkis played the character inThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy of movies as well as inThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. However, in the new game, Serkis does not appear. Instead, actor Wayne Forester voices the character, as well as doing all the face capture modeling for the role throughout the game.
The changes to Gollum’s voice are in line with what Daedalic Entertainment told fans to expect from their version of the character. Instead of being aligned with whatThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy did, presenting Gollum as desperate and conniving, the game gives his voice more of a pained protagonist quality. This was in an attempt to have fans not hate the character as much, and to turn him into more of a lost soul fighting with himself. Trying to turn Gollum into too much of a heroic, sympathetic character may have been one of the missteps which have lessened fan and critic opinions about the game so far.
3Gollum’s Nature
As Daedalic wished to bring about changes, somewhat significant ones, to Gollum’s character forLOTR: Gollum, it is unsurprising that the nature of the character does end up feeling quite different from the role he has played in other on-screen depictions. Gollum still loves the ring and refers to the lost item as his precious, but there is a great deal of focus on other aspects of his personality throughoutLOTR: Gollum. Despite the game beginning with Aragorn capturing Gollum and delivering him to Gandalf,Gollum manages to be presented as a herobecause he is pitted against even more evil creatures like the forces of Sauron.
Related:Underrated PS3 Stealth GamesLOTR: Gollumdoes whatever it can to showcase the pain Gollum is in after losing the ring and in continuing to struggle with himself. It also tries to paint him as a rebellious genius in his attempts to rail against Mordor and break out of confinement when he is locked in their prison beneath Barad-Dur. These changes to the character feel like they were the destined outcome of making a game entirely about the character, but they still feel quite jarring to fans of theLord of the Ringsmovies, and even ones who have read the books, which Daedalic insisted were where their inspiration for the character came from.
2Gollum’s Timeline
There are also some slight tweaks in terms of when Gollum was captured by Aragorn and Gandalf. The timeline of Middle Earth is an important thing, and even inThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy, there are numerous references to the various ages of Middle Earth that depict the history of the races and various wars which have been fought.
WhileGollum, the events ofThe Hobbit,and the events ofThe Lord of the Ringsall occur within the third age of Middle Earth, there is a slight change in history between the books of JRR Tolkien andLOTR: Gollum. Unfinished Tales stated that Gollum was captured in the year 3017, whereasLOTR: Gollumstates it was in 3012. These sorts of minor changes could be for story reasons, or merely because there was some other inconsistency in theteam’s history of Middle Earth.
1Gollum’s Conversational Ability
The entirety ofLOTR: Gollumtakes place within flashbacks as told by Gollum to Gandalf after being captured. While the game’s changes to Gollum’s voice and personality make some allowance for how talkative he has become, it seems like anincredibly unusual framing devicefor a story about a character who can hardly speak straight by the time he meets Frodo and Sam.
However, the game makes Gollum a lot more talkative generally, and he doesn’t just speak to himself all the time either. There are various small changes such as this, and how the game seems to have made him more powerful in some ways and less powerful in others. ButLOTR: Gollumdoes seem to have given fans ofThe Lord of the Ringsseries something to play that allows them a brand-new experience within the world of Middle Earth.
LOTR: Gollumwas released on May 25th, 2023, and is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.
