Honestly, it’s still hard to believe. When we first heard that Daedalic Entertainment—a studio famous for beautiful, narrative-heavy point-and-click adventures—was taking on Middle-earth, there was a genuine spark of curiosity. People wanted to see how a stealth-action game centered on Sméagol would work. Then the game actually launched. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 version arrived in May 2023, and the collective gasp from the gaming community wasn't one of awe. It was pure shock. It didn't just miss the mark; it sailed past the mark, over the fence, and into the Misty Mountains.
The game became an instant case study in how not to handle a major IP. You've probably seen the memes. The "Gollum" font that looked like it was ripped from a basic Word document? Real. The textures that looked like they belonged on a PlayStation 2? Also real. It’s rare to see a project with this much literary weight behind it collapse so spectacularly under the pressure of technical debt and design flaws.
Why the Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 Version Felt Broken
It wasn't just one thing. It was everything. When you boot up The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5, you expect a certain level of fidelity. We're talking about a console that can handle Horizon Forbidden West and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Instead, players were greeted with a version of Gollum that looked deeply uncanny, and not in a purposeful, "Ring-corrupted" way. His hair physics were a nightmare. The lighting felt flat.
The performance was the real kicker. Even on the PS5's SSD, stuttering was rampant. Frame rates dipped in areas that shouldn't have been taxing. It’s weird because the game wasn't even pushing high-end graphical boundaries. It just felt unoptimized. Daedalic eventually apologized, citing the "immense challenge" of the project, but for many who paid $60 at launch, the apology felt thin. The game holds a dismal score on Metacritic, often cited as one of the worst-reviewed games in the history of the franchise.
The gameplay loop itself was tedious. You spend a staggering amount of time doing chores in the slave pits of Barad-dûr. Imagine being in Mordor and your primary objective is picking up bird droppings or fixing tunnels. It’s dull. It’s a slog. Stealth mechanics felt like they were from 2005—rigid, predictable, and prone to breaking. If an Orc spotted a pixel of your loincloth, it was an instant game over. No nuance. No tension. Just frustration.
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The Narrative Mismatch and Design Choices
Daedalic tried to do something interesting with the "split personality" mechanic. You’d have these internal debates where you had to convince either the Sméagol side or the Gollum side to take a specific path. In theory? Brilliant. In practice? It felt like a repetitive mini-game that didn't actually impact the world in a meaningful way. You weren't really shaping the story; you were just clicking buttons to pass a dialogue check.
Middle-earth is a world built on "lore." Fans of Tolkien are notoriously protective of the details. While the game tried to stay within the margins of the books—placing the story between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring—it lacked the soul of the source material. The environments felt like generic fantasy corridors. Mirkwood didn't feel ancient or magical; it felt like a series of green assets plopped into a level editor.
There’s a specific kind of disappointment that comes when a game fails to capture the "feel" of its world. Think about how Hogwarts Legacy nailed the atmosphere, even if the gameplay was standard. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 failed both. It didn't look like Middle-earth, and it didn't play like a modern stealth game. It felt like a relic.
The Aftermath and the Studio's Fate
The fallout was swift. Shortly after the release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5, Daedalic Entertainment announced they were shutting down their internal development department. They shifted entirely to publishing. It was a tragic end for a studio that had previously given us gems like The Whispered World and Deponia.
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There were reports of a second Middle-earth game in the works at the studio, codenamed "It's Magic," but that was scrapped. The failure of Gollum didn't just kill a game; it effectively ended an era for the developer. It serves as a stark reminder of the "AA" development trap—trying to compete with "AAA" visuals and scope on a fraction of the budget and time.
Is it Worth Playing Now?
If you find it in a bargain bin for $5, you might be tempted. Don't. Even with the patches that rolled out post-launch, the core experience is fundamentally flawed. The platforming is floaty. The camera is your greatest enemy. The story, while technically "canon-adjacent," adds nothing of value to the broader Tolkien mythos.
People often compare it to other "bad" games, but Gollum is unique. It’s not "so bad it's good" like Deadly Premonition. It’s just exhausting. It’s a series of checkpoints and frustrations that don't reward the player for their time. On the PS5, the DualSense features are barely utilized, making the "next-gen" tag feel like a marketing lie.
What Developers Can Learn
The industry moved on quickly, but the lessons remain.
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- Scope Creep is Real: Don't try to build a massive 3D stealth epic if your expertise is 2D narratives.
- IP isn't Everything: Just because it says "Lord of the Rings" on the box doesn't mean people will ignore a broken product.
- Transparency Matters: The pre-release trailers looked significantly better than the final product, leading to a massive loss of trust.
Fact-Checking the Mess
A lot of rumors swirled around the development. Some said the budget was less than $15 million, which is "pennies" in the world of licensed gaming. Others pointed to the fact that the developer had to use AI-assisted tools for some of the dialogue and assets just to hit their deadline. While the studio hasn't confirmed every gritty detail, the state of the launch version of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 spoke for itself. It was a game that clearly needed another year in the oven, or perhaps a complete rethink of its core mechanics.
The UI was another point of contention. It looked like a placeholder. When you look at the "hidden" Elvish dialogue DLC—yes, they charged extra to hear Elves speak Sindarin—it felt like a cash grab in a game that wasn't even finished. That's a move that never sits well with the gaming public.
The Technical Reality on PS5
Technically, the PS5 version was supposed to be the "premier" way to play. It featured Ray Tracing modes and "Quality" vs "Performance" toggles. But the Ray Tracing was so poorly implemented that it caused massive frame drops even in simple hallways. The Performance mode, which should have been a locked 60fps, frequently hitched.
If you compare this to something like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a game from 2014, the difference is staggering. Shadow of Mordor felt fluid, looked sharp, and respected the player's time. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 felt like a step backward in every conceivable metric of game design.
Actionable Takeaways for Gamers
If you’re still curious about this title or looking for a Middle-earth fix, here is how you should actually spend your time and money:
- Skip the Purchase: Do not buy The Lord of the Rings: Gollum PS5 even at a heavy discount. Your time is more valuable than the novelty of seeing a train wreck.
- Play the Classics: If you want a Gollum-centric experience that actually works, go back to Shadow of War. Gollum appears as an NPC, and his portrayal is far more consistent with the films and books.
- Watch a Video Essay: If you're fascinated by the failure, watch a "Let's Play" or a documentary-style breakdown of the development. It's much more entertaining than actually playing the game.
- Wait for the Next Project: With the Embracer Group holding the rights to Middle-earth, new games are always on the horizon. Wait for something from a studio with a proven track record in action-adventure.
- Check the Patches: If you already own it, ensure you are on the latest version (v1.003 or higher). It won't fix the boring levels, but it might stop the game from crashing every twenty minutes.
The tragedy of this game isn't that it was "bad." It's that it wasted a brilliant opportunity to explore the most complex character in Tolkien's universe. Instead of a deep dive into the psyche of a Ring-bearer, we got a subpar climbing simulator. Let this be a reminder that in the world of modern gaming, prestige and polish are not optional—they are the baseline.