With the clock ticking away toward the second half of the year,Lord of the Ringsfans have a lot to be excited about. In September, the new TV show,Rings of Power,and the new stealth-action title,Lord of the Rings: Gollum, will drop on back-to-back days. As the release date draws nearer and nearer, details are beginning to emerge aboutLOTR: Gollum, giving fans a more comprehensive view of what to expect from Daedlic Entertainment’s latest project.
While there have been plenty offan theories surroundingLOTR: Gollum, there is little in the way of officially confirmed details. Still, fans can expect the title to be a stealth-heavy adventure that focuses on Gollum’s story before the firstLord of the Ringsbook—before he encounters Frodo or Sam. However, despite the game being touted as stealth-action, the gameplay details hint at a different experience than fans may expect from the genre.
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Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s Action Will Center Around A Stamina Bar
It remains to be seen just how central a part Gollum’s stamina bar will play, but it’s already clear that it’s a factor that players will have to keep at the forefront of their minds during their journey throughLOTR: Gollum. LikeTalion from theShadow of Mordorseries, Gollum is going to do a fair bit of climbing. However,LOTR: Gollumwill feature an exhaustible stamina bar, meaning that players will have to plan their routes before they commit to them. In theory, this limited stamina bar could play a key role in puzzles, and, if levels are properly designed around Gollum’s limitations, make for a challenging but interesting aspect ofLOTR: Gollum’s gameplay.
While it’s been confirmed thatLOTR: Gollumwillinclude stealth attacksas expected from the genre, Gollum is not Solid Snake, and such encounters should be viewed as a last resort. This is because enemies inLOTR: Gollumwon’t be immediately dispatched and will make plenty of noise before going down, drawing attention to the area. Also, because of the aforementioned stamina bar, players will have to balance their stamina so they can both make an attack and get away safely.
Gollum Will Feature A Detective Mode Like Arkham Asylum
As is fairly typical of major stealth-action titles,LOTR: Gollumwill feature a sort of Detective Mode à la2009’sArkham Asylum. While entering “Gollum Vision,” Gollum will be able to highlight enemies, aiding him in avoiding encounters or making a tactical attack on an unsuspecting enemy.
While in Gollum Vision, players will see useful hiding spots where they can lie low, as well as being vaguely guided to their current objective. SinceLOTR: Gollumwill have little in the way of character interaction, Daedlic has said it plans to lean on the internal dialogue betweenSmeagol and Gollumas a way to exposit useful information, with Gollum Vision further aiding in giving the player a general sense of direction.
Gollum Will Have Important Decisions To Make
Decision-making has been highlighted as an important aspect ofLOTR: Gollumsince it was first announced. Throughout the story, players will have to choose betweeneither of Gollum’s dual personalities—the good-natured Smeagol or the domineering and ruthless Gollum. As the story progresses, players' choices will have an effect on the way other characters interact with Gollum, as well as the ending of the story.
While decision-making is standard inRPGs likeMass Effect, it’s a relatively uncommon idea in stealth-action titles. It’s unclear yet how significant of an impact players' choices will have on the actual gameplay, but at the very least it will offer players a degree of agency over Gollum’s actions that could help them empathize with an otherwise unlikeable protagonist.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum Will Have Boss Battles… Sort Of
Daedlic has confirmed thatLOTR: Gollumwill have boss-like encounters. The boss battles will take a less conventional form than players are used to, playing out more like a puzzle than a heads-up fight. Hopefully, LOTR: Gollum takes notes from other games that included non-traditional boss fights, like inShadow of the Colossuswhere an encounter works mechanically like a puzzle but feels like a physical encounter.
There are no confirmed boss fights yet, but a handful of characters like Thranduil, the Mouth of Sauron, and even Gandalf areset to appear inLOTR: Gollum. While fans conventionally think of Gandalf and Thranduil as heroic characters, from Gollum’s perspective, they could make for an interesting boss fight. The Mouth of Sauron, however, seems more or less a heavy favorite to constitute at least one boss-like encounter inLOTR: Gollum.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollumis scheduled to release on September 1 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and for Switch on a later date.
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