The Lord of the Rings: Gollum follows the untold story of the titular character and runs parallel to the events in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring movie. But judging from this game’s reviews, this story should have remained untold.
Critics have described Daedalic Entertainment’s stealth-adventure game as a bland and uninspired take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic fiction. It is riddled with bugs and performance issues, and some reviewers even had difficulty completing the game. With dated visuals, unstable performance, plenty of crashes, save file bugs, and game-breaking glitches, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been widely panned and is not recommended for anyone except for the hardest of The Lord of the Rings fans.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Review Roundup
Here are some reviews and first-look articles for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from around the web. At the time of publishing this article, the score for this game was 40 at Opencritic and 38 at Metacritic
Gamespot
Much like Gollum’s quest for the One Ring, my quest to complete The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was full of endless setbacks, impossible odds, and ever-increasing levels of madness. And, like Gollum, my journey was doomed from the start. So if the developers’ main goal was to really put you in the shoes of such a pitiful, unloveable character faced with constant pain and suffering at every turn, they were at least successful at that.
Gamespot rating: 8/10
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Gamesradar+
Perhaps there is a Gollum game that could work at both a narrative and mechanical level, one that reframes our relationship with the iconic character to the point where people think twice before doing their terrible impressions of him at parties. Alas, The Lord of Rings: Gollum is not that game. I’m sorry to say it, but those terrible impressions are here to stay for now.
GamesRadar+ rating: 2/5
Shacknews
There’s no doubt in my mind that Lord of the Rings fans will appreciate a lot of what Gollum is offering. It’s genuinely cool seeing such a fascinating side character step into the protagonist role in a story that further expands on a universe teeming with secrets to discover. It’s a bummer that there isn’t much else to write home about. A dull gameplay experience and technical hiccups make The Lord of the Rings: Gollum just as much of a polarizing experience as its main character.
Shacknews rating: 6/10
IGN Spain
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a stealth, action and platform adventure that has some interesting ideas, but lacks cooking. A video game of classic structure whose gaps are evident both in the narrative, as in the playable, technical and aesthetic.
IGN Spain rating: 4/10
PushSquare
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a broken mess of a game. There are barely any redeeming qualities to be found amidst what can only be described as a massive missed opportunity. There is some serious potential in a single-player linear Lord of the Rings experience like this, but with outrageously dated level design, clunky controls, a severe lack of polish, muddy and unimpressive graphics, and a dull story, Gollum completely misses the mark.
PushSqaure rating: 2/10
WellPlayed
It just doesn’t have the gameplay legs to sustain that length, and it isn’t helped by some dated design – you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a remaster of a game from the PS2 or PS3 generation. It is a game where the gameplay revels in frustrating repetition and is devoid of creativity. It’s a stain on the legacy of The Lord of the Rings IP.
WellPlayed rating: 3/10
CGMagOnline
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a great idea, but a frustrating experience. Non-Tolkien fans should not play this game, and none but the most hardened fans should.
CGMagOnline rating: 5/10
Mufaddal Fakhruddin
Mufaddal Fakhruddin has been writing about games and technology for the past 15 years. He has lost count as to how many reviews he has written over the years, but he is sure headphone reviews make up at least 70% of that.
