Fan favorite Lord of the Rings character, Gollum, is set to embark on a grand adventure when he stars in a brand new video game from German developer Daedalic Entertainment. Built as an action-adventure game, Lord of the Rings: Gollum will chronicle the creature's time after he acquired the One Ring but before the events of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels and films.
"You already have that big conflict in the character, two voices talking to you continuously, which means there is a good reason there are decisions to make in the game: the Smeagol decisions or the Gollum decision," Carsten Fichtelmann, CEO and co-founder of Daedalic Entertainment told THR.
"We have the story that we all know from the book, but everything that happens to him before he appears in the book are the main things we will see in our game," Fichtelmann elaborated. "We will tell the story before he first appears in the books."
For the moment, Lord of the Rings: Gollum is poised to land on PC and "all relevant console platforms" sometime in 2021. For the high-profile project, Daedalic Entertainment teamed with Middle-earth Enterprises to bring the misadventures of Tolkien's fidgety fiend to life on the pixelated screen. The Gollum game is the first of what Daedalic hopes is many projects for them spinning out of the legendary LOTR brand.
“Our goal was to present a storytelling experience. About four years ago, I caught Middle-earth Enterprises in Berkeley, maybe like Peter Jackson did 20 years ago, and I said we’re interested in licensing Lord of the Rings,” Fichtelmann recalls of how he initially broached the formation of the partnership. "After some negotiations, it was clear that the Tolkien estate looked for a company that was capable of doing something which is more story-orientated than some of the other products that came out over the last years."
With regard to how the game will look, Fichtelmann says Daedalic plans to give Gollum its own unique artstyle, so as not to venture "too deep into the uncanny valley." Fichtelmann also stressed that the goal of his team is to not only deliver an engaging Lord of the Rings experience, but also to allow the game to serve as a statement of what the studio is capable of bringing to the table overall.
Meanwhile, a biographical drama about the life and times of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 10th. Directed by Dome Karukoski and written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford, TOLKIEN explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. The upcoming film stars Nicholas Hoult (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD) and Lilly Collins (MIRROR MIRROR), among others.