The Lord of the Rings: Gollum won’t launch till April, on the earliest. In its newest earnings report, co-publisher Nacon confirmed that the much-awaited action-adventure title is eyeing a launch within the first half of fiscal yr 2023–24. This interprets to a launch window from April, stretching all the way in which into September 2023. Initially slated for a 2021 launch, this marks the third delay for the sport, with developer Daedalic Leisure beforehand claiming to have merely pushed again the launch by “a couple of months.” This new growth strikes the timeline even additional into 2023.
Daedalic’s most up-to-date replace was in September final yr — a delay to make sure The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was in the perfect technical state upon launch. Whereas not explicitly talked about, a part of this shake-up in all probability needed to do with the unsavory fan response they acquired for the gameplay trailer — key factors of critique being the outdated graphics and textures. As for the gameplay itself, gamers shall be plunged into previous Center-earth, in a tightly-woven story that explores Gollum’s journey after he loses the One Ring to Bilbo Baggins. Drawing closely from creator JRR Tolkien’s unique materials, the sport basically serves as a prelude to Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
A lot of the gameplay in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is concentrated on stealth, which is a given because the titular character is not precisely the strongest by way of physicality. That mentioned, Gollum is extraordinarily agile, which lets him crawl and climb onto surfaces with ease and with out drawing a lot consideration. Preserving along with his break up character, his two sides, Gollum and Sméagol, turn into a mechanic throughout moments of battle, the place gamers should resolve whether or not to take the timid method or the cunningly evil route. “One thoughts, two egos — you resolve!”, reads the outline on Steam. On the time, the footage additionally highlighted a swimming mechanic with an oxygen counter. Nevertheless, it was set in a first-person perspective, begging the query of whether or not one may swap digicam views at will. All different gameplay footage was current from the third-person perspective.
Past The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, there are different Center-earth franchise video video games within the works. First up is a contemporary, unnamed title from Non-public Division and Weta Workshop — the latter is thought for offering visible results and prop work within the LoTR and the Hobbit films. Extra particulars on the identical shall be revealed in time. Then there’s The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, a survival crafting and base-building title, during which gamers take management of an organization of Dwarves to reclaim the misplaced spoils from their homeland of Moria. It’s eyeing a launch someday this yr.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum shall be accessible to play throughout PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Collection S/X, and Nintendo Swap.