Summary
Enough has been said regarding how inadequateThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumwas and Daedalic’s internal studio being shut down is certainly unfortunate regardless. There isn’t much to redeem aboutThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumbut, while that game failed in nearly every aspect, the IP it’s a part of will continue to thrive as long as fantasy is a popular genre.Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Gameis seemingly on the right hairy foot, for instance, and it’ll be interesting to see what other games are in the works, if any, because there are many more stories still forThe Lord of the Ringsto tell.
ThisGollumgame’s deserved downfallwould have presumably been the final time anyone sees a Gollum-centricLord of the Ringsstory, at least not untilThe Lord of the Ringsdried out of other content. Prime Video’sThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerairing its second season trailer was a sad reminder of howGollummissed the first season’s hype train by a handful of months, and yet a more startling announcement has been made concerning J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth epics. There is reportedly a Gollum-centric movie now being made, which effectively sticks a second Morgul blade in the heart of Daedalic’sGollum.
Andy Serkis’ Gollum Movie Ensures Daedalic Can Never Live Down Its Botch Job
It seems ill-timed if nothing else that a movie titledThe Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollumis in the pipeline soon after theGollumgame was lambasted. No amount of publicity or relative iconography could’ve savedGollum’s gameplay, to be clear, but there’s no telling how it would’ve been initially perceived if it was released around the same time as Andy Serkis’ upcoming Gollum movie and behaved like a licensed tie-in.
Moreover, since it’s apparently exploring Gollum around the time of the earlier movies, it’s likely to dive into familiar content that theGollumgame alluded to or explicitly featured, such as him maneuvering Mordor and the slave pits of Barad-dur. This story also involves Gandalf as Gollum recounts his recent experiences and would be aprime opportunity for Ian McKellen to once again assume the roleamong several other iconic characters who could feature.
However, it’d be a shame if the same narrative from theGollumgame is regurgitated for the sake of a live-action adaptation because it would double down on Daedalic’s blunder. Either way, it’s a lose-lose scenario for Daedalic.
An Oversaturation of Gollum is Evidence of How Insistent on Iconography The Lord of the Rings is
If this story wasn’t gripping enough to make for a thrilling game then it likely wouldn’t make an intriguing adaptation, either, but Gollum evidently persists as one of the IP’s most notable pieces of iconography. It’s terrific hearing that Serkis is attached to the movie in a massive capacity, especially with theactor’s seminal portrayal absent inGollum.
Still, the movie shouldn’t be upheld by its star power alone. If there’s any chance thatThe Hunt for Gollumis intended to overwrite theGollumgame’s efforts it’ll be tremendously sad and seem like revisionism rather than an opportunity for another important Gollum story to be told.
Gollum is now butter scraped over too much breadat this point throughout games and movies, though—his traumatic backstory as Smeagol has been succinctly depicted inThe Return of the King’s prologue, for example, meaning there’s a high likelihood thatThe Hunt for Gollumdouble-dips into Daedalic’s story.
This game and movie coming out side-by-side would’ve felt incredibly redundant and yet the movie being greenlit afterGollum’s misfire now appears tone-deaf, as if gameplay itself was the only part players had any gripes toward. WhenThe Hunt for Gollumreleases in theaters it’ll only ever bea constant reminder ofThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum, so hopefully the movie fares better.
The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum
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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action-adventure game developed and published by Daedalic Entertainment and co-published with Nacon. The game, set in the fictional world of Middle-earth created by J. R. R. Tolkien, takes place in between the events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.He’s got nothing more to lose… How far will he go to retrieve his Precious?Taking place in parallel to the events described in The Fellowship of the Ring ™, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an action-adventure game and an epic interactive experience. You play as the enigmatic Gollum on his perilous journey and find out how he outwitted the most powerful characters in Middle-earth.Gollum is one of the most fascinating characters in The Lord of the Rings universe. In 500 years he has experienced events that would destroy the toughest of beings. But Gollum doesn’t break; he bends, he adapts…Tortured by his split personality, he can be vicious and wicked as Gollum, yet friendly and cautious as Smeagol. It’s up to you to decide which of his personalities will triumph in the difficult moral choices that will dictate the future of your precarious alliances.The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ is an official adaptation based on the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
