The fans who were expecting to step into the filthy loincloth of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum might not recognize the creature that they are playing, as the developers have revealed that his design won't resemble the one used in The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a narrative adventure game that is being developed by Daedelic Entertainment, which will follow Gollum in the events between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.
Daedelic Entertainment is a German development studio that is best known for point and click adventure games with a strong focus on narrative. The developers have previously discussed how they want to make a storytelling experience set in The Lord of the Rings world, which they successfully pitched to Middle-earth Enterprises back in 2015.
New information about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has been revealed in a feature in Edge (via Wccftech). Senior producer Kai Fiebig discussed the differences between the game and the Gollum character design established in The Fellowship of the Ring and updated in the later movies in the Peter Jackson trilogy. The intention is to show a different side of Gollum from the one that Frodo, Sam, and the viewer experienced in the films.
We don’t want to displease the folks who have only seen the movies. But in short, he doesn’t look like Andy Serkis. We started with the person he was and then evolved him. You can see that this was once something like a human being, before the Ring corrupted him. We have more storytelling possibilities than the movies ever had, and for us, it was very important to show a different set of emotions. We need somebody you could almost love, and on the other hand somebody you can really be afraid of. And at some points, trust me, you will fear him.
The dual nature of Gollum's personality will also be a key aspect of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Game Designer Martin Wilkes has explained that the player will need to side with either Sméagol or Gollum at different points, which will make it harder to choose a different side later on. The Nazgul will also be appearing in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, though Art Director Mathias Fischer confirmed they won't be as fearsome as the ones in the movies. This won't be the first time that the Nazgul have been altered for video games, as the DLC for Middle-Earth: Shadow of War also significantly changed the ringwraiths.
It seems that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is aiming for a drastically different approach to the world of Middle-earth than any other adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. It would have been easy to stick the Andy Serkis version of Gollum in the game, as that is the most recognizable version of the character, but the people at Daedelic Entertainment are going in a new direction with Gollum and it will be exciting to see what they come up with.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be released in 2021.
Source: Edge, Wccftech