After years of hearing about the game, we finally have our first teaser trailer for The Lord of The Rings: Gollum, which is expected to come out for next-gen consoles. If you were hoping to see some Gollum gameplay you're about to be disappointed but as a CG trailer, it's fine enough. This probably won't get anyone interested in the game aside from the most hardcore Tolkien fans but we're still intrigued by it, nonetheless.
IGN states that Gollum won't be a combat-heavy game but a stealth title with platforming, similar to Prince of Persia from Ubisoft but with a branching narrative, suggesting that we won't get the usual retelling of how Smeagol lost the ring to Bilbo Baggins. That wouldn't be following the actual story of Tolkien, admittedly, but at least it won't be the same old story again.
Lead Game Designer Martin Wikes says that Gollum won't be able to fight off enemies, instead, having to use his wits to get away from them. Gollum can even convince "friends" to take out enemies for him, which is a mechanic we'd like to see in action. We don't blame them for ditching combat since, well, look at him, so this should make stealth sections even tenser.
"Gollum doesn't use weapons, but he can distract enemies with throwables. In parts of the game, he will also profit from the abilities of special allies and can use the environment to his advantage."
While The Lord of the Rings: Gollum isn't a game anyone asked for, the fact that it's not yet another open-world game with combat, stealth mechanics, collectibles, and crafting is quite nice. This makes the game feel fresh when compared to its competition and might even breathe some life back to this genre.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will come to PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC sometime in 2021.
Read: Star Wars Reveals Gollum as a Sith Lord
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Lord of the Rings