Video games are usually a bit of a gamble, but nobody expected a train wreck this spectacular. When Daedalic Entertainment announced they were making a game centered entirely on Sméagol, people were actually kind of intrigued. It made sense on paper. You have this incredibly complex, wretched creature who has lived for hundreds of years, creeping through the dark corners of Middle-earth. The potential for a stealth-action masterpiece was there. But then The Lord of the Rings: Gollum actually came out in 2023, and the collective jaw of the gaming community hit the floor for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't just a bad game; it was a fascinating study in how a project can go sideways despite having one of the biggest licenses in human history.
Honestly, the sheer technical mess was the first thing people noticed. You’d be jumping toward a ledge—a basic mechanic in any platformer—and Gollum would just clip through the geometry and fall into an endless void. It felt unfinished. Not "early access" unfinished, but fundamentally broken.
The Problem With Turning a Side Character Into a Protagonist
Most players want to feel powerful, or at least capable. Sméagol is neither. He’s a scavenger. He’s a victim of the One Ring’s malice. Making him the lead of a 15-hour experience meant the developers had to lean heavily into stealth and "internal debate" mechanics. The "Gollum vs. Sméagol" choice system was supposed to be the heart of the game. You’d choose a side in an argument, then have to convince the other personality to go along with it.
It sounded deep. In reality? It was clunky.
The UI looked like something from a 2004 mobile game. The font was jarring. It broke the immersion of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world immediately. When you're playing a game set in the most storied fantasy universe ever created, you expect a certain level of aesthetic polish. Instead, we got blurry textures and a version of Gollum that looked less like the tragic figure from the Peter Jackson films and more like a strange, low-polygon puppet.
Why the Setting Didn't Save It
A large portion of the game takes place in Cirith Ungol and Barad-dûr. Now, Mordor is supposed to be oppressive. It’s supposed to be a wasteland of ash and fire. But in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, it was just... brown. And gray. Level design felt like a series of repetitive corridors. You’d hide under a desk, wait for an Orc to pass, move to the next desk. Repeat.
There was no tension.
The AI was famously erratic. Sometimes an Orc would spot you from a mile away through a solid stone wall. Other times, you could practically stand on their toes and they’d act like you were invisible. This inconsistency is the death knell for a stealth game. If you can't predict the rules of the world, you stop playing strategically and start playing out of frustration.
The Developer Apology and the "AI" Scandal
Not long after the disastrous launch, Daedalic Entertainment posted a formal apology on social media. It was the standard "we hear you and we're working on it" message that has become all too common in the AAA gaming industry. But then things got weird.
Reports later surfaced—specifically from German gaming outlet Game Two—alleging that the apology itself was written by ChatGPT. If true, it was the ultimate insult to injury for fans. It suggested that even the "heartfelt" regret was automated. Furthermore, the report detailed a development cycle plagued by a massive lack of resources. The budget for the game was reportedly around 15 million Euros. While that sounds like a lot of money to most people, in the world of high-end gaming, it’s a shoestring budget for a project this ambitious.
The developers were basically trying to build a Ferrari with the budget of a used bicycle.
- The Voice Acting: Surprisingly, this was one of the few bright spots. The actors genuinely tried to bring some soul to the script.
- The Narrative: It actually fits into the Tolkien canon fairly well, covering the period when Gollum was captured by Sauron’s forces.
- The Lighting: Even on high-end PCs, the performance was abysmal, often dropping frames during simple walking sequences.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Failure
It’s easy to just say "the game was bad." But the failure of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum represents a bigger shift in the industry. It proved that a famous name isn't a shield. You can't just slap "Lord of the Rings" on a box and expect people to buy it if the core gameplay loop is fundamentally broken.
The game tried to be a "Cinematic Adventure," but it didn't have the animation budget to pull off convincing emotions. Gollum's face often looked vacant. The movement felt floaty. When you compare it to something like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which took massive liberties with the lore but was incredibly fun to play, the contrast is staggering.
Daedalic was known for high-quality point-and-click adventures like Deponia. Moving into a 3D stealth-action space was a massive leap. They were out of their depth, and it showed in every jagged edge of the environment.
The Lore vs. The Gameplay
Tolkien fans are notoriously protective. They will forgive a lot if the "vibes" are right. But even the most hardcore lore-buffs couldn't get past the gameplay. You spent hours doing menial tasks in a slave camp. Literally. The game makes you perform chores. While this might be "lore-accurate" for a prisoner in Mordor, it’s objectively boring as a gameplay mechanic.
Games are supposed to be an escape. This felt like a job you weren't getting paid for.
Why This Still Matters in 2026
We’re still talking about this game years later because it resulted in the death of Daedalic’s internal development wing. They shifted entirely to publishing. It was a "studio-killer" game. It serves as a warning to other mid-sized studios: don't bite off more than you can chew with a massive IP.
The game’s failure also led to the cancellation of a second Lord of the Rings project the studio had in the works. We will never know what that game could have been. Maybe they would have learned from their mistakes. Or maybe it would have been more of the same.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Players
If you are a completionist or a Middle-earth fanatic who absolutely must play everything related to Tolkien, here is the reality check you need before hitting the "buy" button on The Lord of the Rings: Gollum:
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- Wait for a Deep Sale: Never pay full price for this. It regularly hits the bargain bin or deep discounts on Steam and consoles. It's a "curiosity play" only.
- Patch the Game: Do not play the unpatched version. Several day-one bugs were ironed out, though the fundamental design flaws remain.
- Adjust Your Expectations: Don't go in expecting Uncharted or Assassin's Creed. Go in expecting a low-budget indie game that somehow got a big-budget license.
- Check Community Fixes: On PC, there are several community-made tweaks to the .ini files that can help stabilize the frame rate, especially if you're trying to run it with Ray Tracing enabled (which, frankly, you shouldn't do).
The legacy of this game isn't the story it told, but the lesson it taught. Middle-earth deserves better, and hopefully, future developers will look at the crater left by Sméagol’s solo adventure and decide to put a lot more polish into the next trip to the Third Age. Basically, if you want a good Gollum experience, stick to the books or the movies. This one is best left in the dark of the misty mountains.