At this point in the year, Lord of the Rings fans were supposed to be coming together to rejoice in the release of content, Gollum was supposed too be released by now and Rings of Power was supposed to be loved by all! But with the Gollum delay and the Less than well received Rings of Power hitting our screens (though Luke has a great article about why Rings of Power is great and you all need to shut up) it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess the content I have been itching to consume and whilst I haven’t watched Ring of Power yet but I am still very hyped for it, Much like Luke I have been playing Shadow of Mordor again and I’ve even been watching the Extended cuts of Peter Jacksons masterpiece movies, hell I’ve even watched the animated films (the Hobbit, LOTR, Return of the King) and the Russian weirdness that was recently uncovered. I am also desperate to find a fan edit of the hobbit trilogy that focuses on the book properly and cuts out all that faff…you know what faff I’m on about. (Editors note: I like all the “faff” in the Hobbit movies – Luke)
All of this brings me rather neatly to the recently delayed (again) Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a stealth game about the 500 year corrupted Stoor Hobbit known as Smeagol. I know this game currently isn’t getting a lot of fan recognition or praise but personally I am so interested in where the game will draw its inspirations from, how it will integrate itself into Tolkien’s lore and quite frankly just how the game will play. Within the Middle Earth universe we have already had a few character driven games focused on the one ring (the hobbit, the shadows games) but not one that focuses on something so blindingly obsessed with the ring that it will do anything in its power to get it back. There are so many burning questions I have for this title, Will Gollum speak to himself? Will we get a naff Andy Serkis impression or will the voice actor take the little sneak in to a different direction? Will the Stealth gameplay even work?
At this point it’s obvious that I am going into Gollum blind, I am not watching the trailers and I wont read any reviews when the game releases, whilst this may sound odd, I have simply decided that I will be playing this game so I want to go in with no expectations but my own and just consume the content completely spoiler free. The only things I have seen so far are a few art pieces and I am digging the cartoonish direction the game is going in and whilst it takes on this almost whimsical art style, I am intrigued to see how the game tackles the heavy themes such as addiction and the murder of Deagol.
I cannot wait to explore a new vision of Middle Earth, see how Gollum enters and escapes the Mines of Moria, how he was “set loose” from Minas Morgul and see his exile from Hobbit life after he murdered his cousin so quickly after The One Ring entered his life… honestly even this blows my mind, it’s written that Hobbits are able to resist The One Ring more than most species so just goes to show that Smeagol must have always been a bad dude.
I don’t know if we will get any of this stuff in the game, I’m not even sure the game will be any good but good damn am I ready to find out GOLLUM,GOLLUM…uh sorry had to clear my throat. All this stuff has been going through my head the last couple of weeks and re-watching the extend cuts hasn’t helped in the slightest.
I’m so ready for this game its maddening, have a great day and don’t forget to be nice to each other.
Written by Stuart.