THE LORD OF THE RINGS: GOLLUM Prequel Video Game is Confirmed For PS5 and Xbox Series X
A few months ago we learned that Daedalic Entertainment was developing a new video game set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth titled The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. They’ve now confirmed that the game is coming in 2021 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Daedalic Entertainment CEO Cartsen Fichtelman previously talked about the game, explaining that it “follows the path of Gollum and what happens before Frodo and his companions find him trailing them in the Mines of Moria… We’ll tell his story until he first shows up. Sometimes they mention some things that happen to Gollum, but nobody knows exactly what happened. That’s our task, explaining what exactly happened there.”
I've enjoyed the Middle Earth games that have been made in the past, and I’m pretty excited to see this story of Gollum told. Fichtelman went on to tell The Hollywood Reporter:
“Our goal was to present a storytelling experience. About four years ago, I caught Middle-earth Enterprises in Berkeley, maybe like Peter Jackson did 20 years ago, and I said we’re interested in licensing Lord of the Rings. After some negotiations, it was clear that the Tolkien estate looked for a company that was capable of doing something which is more story-orientated than some of the other products that came out over the last years.”
When talking about the gaming experience, he explained:
“When you play Gollum, you’ll play Sméagol at the same time. You need to make some decisions, maybe some decisions that are more or less from Sméagol, and some that are from Gollum. You can decide for yourself what you’d like to see more. When you decide some things, it could be—this is reflected in the mechanics. The game forces you to convince yourself and find one of these two positions. When it comes to other iconic characters in the universe, in Middle-earth, we’ll see what happens around Gollum.”
This sounds like a very cool and ambitious game and it’s explained that it’s not just “choosing to be Sméagol or Gollum, because for Gollum as an entity it’s not that easy. Each personality is being attacked by the other; each has to defend himself.”
It’s also revealed that this game will invent its own version of the character. Not the version we all know from Peter Jackson’s films. Art director Mathias Fischer explained:
“Tolkien didn’t give a size reference for Gollum to begin with. So in the first illustrations, he’s gigantic! He’s like a monster emerging from the swamp.”
That would certainly be an interesting way to go, but there are no details on what Daedalic plans on doing visually. But, senior producer Kai Fiebig added that they don’t “want to displease the folks who have only seen the movies. But in short, he doesn’t look like Andy Serkis.”
I can’t wait to see how this turns out! What do you all think about the concept of this game?
Source: IGN