Honesty is rare in the gaming industry, but the fallout from The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was so loud it couldn't be ignored. When Daedalic Entertainment released this stealth-platformer in 2023, the internet didn't just criticize it; it basically turned the game into a meme. People expected a gritty, emotional journey through the eyes of Tolkien’s most tragic figure. Instead? They got a game that felt like it was held together by string and prayer.
It was messy.
The game follows Sméagol during the years he was imprisoned in Barad-dûr and his subsequent trek through Mirkwood. It’s a period of time J.R.R. Tolkien didn't detail extensively in the books, which usually gives developers a lot of creative room. But for most players, that potential was buried under a mountain of technical glitches and gameplay choices that just didn't make any sense.
The Reality of Playing The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
Let’s be real: stealth games are hard to get right. They require tight controls and AI that feels smart but predictable. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum struggled with both. You spend a massive chunk of the game doing chores in the slave pits of Mordor. Not epic, Ring-bearing chores. Literal busywork. You’re picking up items, following NPCs, and navigating platforming sections where the "jump" button feels more like a suggestion than a command.
One of the weirdest things about the game was the stamina bar. Gollum, a creature who lived in caves for centuries and climbed the sheer cliffs of Cirith Ungol, would get tired after sprinting for five seconds. It broke the immersion immediately. You’d be trying to outrun an Orc, and suddenly Gollum is gasping for air like he’s never seen a hill before.
Then there were the visuals.
Despite being a "next-gen" title, the environments often looked muddy. Characters had this strange, bug-eyed aesthetic that sat right in the middle of the uncanny valley. It wasn't stylized enough to be artistic, but it wasn't realistic enough to be impressive. Critics like those at IGN and Gamespot pointed out that even on high-end PCs, the frame rate would chug in areas that didn't even look that complex. It was a classic case of a game needing another year in the oven, but being served raw.
Why the Dual Personality Mechanic Didn't Land
One of the core selling points was the internal "conflict" between Sméagol and Gollum. This is arguably the most interesting part of the character’s psychology. In the game, this manifests as a choice-based system where you have to convince your other half to go along with a specific plan.
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It sounds cool on paper.
In practice, it felt like a clunky mini-game. You’d select a dialogue option, and then you’d have to "argue" by picking more sentences to win over the other personality. The problem? The consequences were often negligible. It didn't feel like you were shaping the soul of a fallen Hobbit; it felt like you were navigating a poorly labeled menu.
The Studio Collapse and That Infamous Apology
Shortly after the game launched to a "Mostly Negative" reception on Steam, Daedalic Entertainment issued a public apology. It was a standard corporate "we hear you" message, but it later came out through reports from Game Two that the apology might have been written by an AI like ChatGPT. This just added fuel to the fire. It made the developers look even more disconnected from the fans who had spent $50 or $60 on a broken product.
The story gets darker for the studio.
Daedalic was primarily known for point-and-click adventures like Deponia. Moving into a 3D AAA stealth game was a massive leap. They were reportedly working with a budget of roughly 15 million Euros—which sounds like a lot until you realize modern AAA games often cost over 100 million. They were outgunned and out of their depth. Not long after the release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Daedalic announced they were shutting down their internal development wing entirely. They’re now strictly a publisher.
It’s a cautionary tale.
It shows that a massive IP like The Lord of the Rings isn't a shield. You can't just slap a famous name on a sub-par product and expect it to print money. Modern gamers are too savvy, and the "Day One" patch culture has made everyone wary of pre-ordering.
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Breaking Down the Technical Failures
If you look at the technical side, the game used Unreal Engine 4, but it lacked the optimization needed for the complex lighting of Mordor.
- Collision Detection: You’d frequently clip through rocks or fall through the floor.
- The UI: It looked like something from the early 2000s. The fonts and menus felt placeholders that someone forgot to replace.
- The "Emotive" Face: There was a lot of talk about Gollum’s facial animations, but they often glitched out, leaving him with a static, terrifying stare during emotional beats.
Honestly, the most frustrating part for Tolkien fans was the missed opportunity. We rarely get to see the perspective of the "villains" or the low-level creatures in Middle-earth. Most games focus on the heroes—Aragorn, Legolas, or the custom-built powerhouses in Shadow of War. A game about a scavenger could have been brilliant. It could have been Styx: Master of Shadows meets Inside. Instead, it became a footnote in gaming history for all the wrong reasons.
Is There Anything Good in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum?
Look, I’m trying to be fair here. There are small moments where the atmosphere works.
Walking through Mirkwood and seeing the Elven architecture from a ground-level perspective is occasionally pretty. The voice acting for Gollum, while not Andy Serkis, is a decent imitation that captures the frantic, wet-sounding speech we all expect. Some of the lore tidbits you find in the environment show that someone on the team really did read the Silmarillion and the appendices of The Return of the King.
But "decent lore" doesn't save a game that crashes every two hours.
The game also tried to introduce new characters, like the "Candle Man," an agent of Sauron. These additions felt like they belonged in the world, but they were trapped in a narrative that moved at a snail's pace. You spend hours in a single location, doing the same three tasks, and by the time the story actually starts to move, most players have already uninstalled the game.
The Competition: Middle-earth Gaming in 2026
When you compare this to what Monolith did with the Shadow of Mordor series, the gap is embarrassing. Even though Shadow of War took massive liberties with the lore (looking at you, Shelob in a cocktail dress), the gameplay was undeniably fun. The Nemesis System gave players a reason to care.
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In The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, there is no reason to care about the Orcs you encounter. They are just obstacles with narrow cones of vision. You hide in shadows, you throw a stone to distract them, you move on. It’s "Stealth 101" from twenty years ago.
How to Approach the Game Today
If you are a die-hard Tolkien completionist, you might still want to play it. Maybe you found it in a bargain bin for $5 or it’s on a deep sale on the PlayStation Store.
If you do play it, go in with managed expectations.
- Check for Community Patches: If you're on PC, check the Steam forums. Players have found some workarounds for the worst performance bugs.
- Toggle the "Gollum Hair" Setting: Surprisingly, the hair physics on Gollum’s few strands of hair was a major performance hog. Turning it off can stabilize your FPS.
- Don't Rush: The platforming is so finicky that rushing leads to endless death loops. Take it slow, even if the game is boring you.
The legacy of this title is basically a giant "What Not To Do" for future developers. Embracer Group, which holds many of the rights to Middle-earth, has signaled they want to be more careful with the brand moving forward. We can only hope that the next time we step into the boots—or bare feet—of a Middle-earth character, the experience is actually finished.
The biggest takeaway here is that license-based games are shifting. We are seeing a move away from "cheap" tie-ins and toward high-quality experiences like Hogwarts Legacy or Spider-Man. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was a throwback to the era of mediocre movie tie-ins, and it's clear the market has no room left for that.
If you're looking for a better Middle-earth fix, you're honestly better off modding Skyrim or jumping back into Lord of the Rings Online. Those projects, despite their age, understand the heart of the world better than this 2023 misfire ever did.
To get the most out of your Middle-earth gaming experience, stick to titles with proven gameplay loops. If you absolutely must see the story of this game, watch a "No Commentary" playthrough on YouTube at 2x speed. You’ll save yourself the frustration of the controls while still getting the few interesting bits of lore hidden in the dialogue. Check out the Return to Moria survival game if you want a more cohesive, albeit different, take on the Fourth Age and Dwarven history. Stay away from the slave pits of Barad-dûr; even Gollum wouldn't want to be there twice.