The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Reviews
It turned out that, for Daedalic Entertainment, The Lord of the Rings Gollum was a hot potato, which blew it.
Review in Greek | Read full review
That’s the real problem with Gollum: It’s a game of contradictions. It wants to be a precision platformer, but the platforming is imprecise and unpredictable. It wants to be a stealth game, but the sneaky mechanics are uninspired and enemy AI is too dumb to make it challenging. It wants to be an action game, but Gollum doesn’t have the strength to engage in any real action. And on top of these contradictions is the crushing weight of bugs that break the game. There’s potential tucked deep within the bones of Daedalic Entertainment’s game, but The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is giving bad early-aughts 3D platformer in the worst way imaginable, putting it in the running for 2023's worst game.
Unless you’re a die-hard LOTR fan or a lover of bad games, this can’t be recommended. The sound design and motion capture work are both excellent but the game’s negatives far outweigh its positives. One day, we will get a game that rules over all LOTR games. But for now, we have a game, that, to misquote Gandalf, DOES NOT PASS!!
It should be removed from physical & digital shelves until it can be finished without resorting to banging your skull against sheetrock.
By Far, The Worst Title of 2023
Review in Arabic | Read full review
I don’t think it’s some greedy money grab, a worthless piece of trash, and the worst game ever. There is a ton of effort and quality here. It’s just buried under nonsense, which I suspect only exists because of market pressure. A $50 niche stealth game is a hard sell, and being a short game only makes it more so. But I think we can all agree that taking the same game and artificially inflating it to AAA length at AA quality wasn’t the solution. And while Daedalic has said they intend to work on and fix the game, I honestly don’t see how. The damage is done, the issues baked in. Just learn and move on.
Essentially, what I’m telling you is that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is indeed a bad video game. It’s not fun when it works, it’s even less so when it doesn’t, and the overall concept of the game is one that ultimately makes it feel unnecessary altogether.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a poorly designed, bug-ridden, untested game that's only redeeming quality doesn't matter in the whole picture.
The motive behind developing this game is a mystery. Visuals and gameplay are from two generations before, and the story is meaningless. Safe your precious time, and skip this one.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is so broken on every level that just proves that having enough material and a rich universe to work with doesn't necessarily guarantee a good outcome if you don't know how to make a video game.
Review in Persian | Read full review
If the team behind The Lord of the Rings: Gollum manages to get it in an acceptable state, the foundation of this game is still hopelessly rotten at its core. No amount of polish can undo the miscalculated story and game design. Daedalic would effectively have to restart the entire development process and start over to salvage it.
Although I do think the premise for the game was good, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a slog to get through. The boring missions, bland environments, flat gameplay, poor graphics and average story combine to make this, at best, a completely mediocre experience. But once you take the multiple issues into consideration and the fact that Daedalic wanted £60 for it, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum becomes like its namesake: a pitiful wretch corrupted by the allure of the One Ring.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum offers a bleak and lackluster adaptation of Middle-earth, with one of its more divisive characters in the spotlight. Whatever potential the game had is buried under dull, generic gameplay, a variety of technical issues, and low quality visuals.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is undoubtedly one of the worst games this industry has ever seen. From gameplay to visuals, it's a complete mess. There is no reason on god's green earth to experience this game. So don't bother!
Review in Persian | Read full review
Do not buy this game and avoid the extra DLC at all costs.
When Gollum was announced, it sparked immense curiosity about a game with scenes unseen in Middle-earth and his journey through Mordor even has interesting scenes. It's a shame that most of your time it's just boring or that it leaves you feeling like you're better off playing something else that does everything you want to do here.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Daedalic Entertainment brings us an unimportant chapter starring one of the key characters of Tolkien's legendarium. The controls are frustrating, visually not everything is pulled out of the closet and there is repetition after repetition of boring levels that do not advance the plot fast enough. Moreover, theoretically interesting mechanics do not add essential differences. 'The Lord of the Rings: Gollum' is mainly a missed opportunity.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is inadequate in all respects. Something good can be glimpsed in the second act, but it is still a drop in a sea of mediocrity that isn't worth your time, and especially not worth the involvement of such an important license as The Lord of the Rings.
Review in Italian | Read full review
This game was clearly a challenge too big for the developer and they should have been saved from this embarrasment. This game doesn't do the Lord of the Rings franchise, Daedalic or Nacon any favors and it would be best if they avoid games of this size and for a while. With its extremely poor character design, lackluster, boring gameplay and bug ridden mess, this is one title even the biggest LotR fan should avoid.
Review in Dutch | Read full review