The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is not coming any time soon, as it delays to 2022. Studio Daedalic needs more time for the next saga into the J.R.R. Tolkien character.
There are many LOTR video games over the past years, with Shadow of War being its last proper installment.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a weird take on the genre, and the German studio needs more time.
Studio Daedalus partners with French publisher Nacon
Announced in March 2019, LOTR: Gollum is as weird as it gets. The game is a hybrid fantasy-stealth title from German dev studio Daedalus.
It emphasizes climbing and platforming mechanics, considering Gollum is not a warrior at all.
We are forming a fellowship with @Daedalic to publish The Lord of the Rings™: Gollum™.
The game will be released in 2022 on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, Nintendo Switch and PC.
More news to come in the future. pic.twitter.com/gpdClPVaok
— Nacon (@Nacon) January 26, 2021
Much of the game would focus on the player slinking around using the repugnant Gollum as the player character.
The in-game Gollum won’t be too different from its Peter Jackson iteration. It will even look weirder than ever before.
Much of the gameplay feels not too dissimilar to Cyanide Studios’ Styx: Master of Shadows. It will have players moving around and evading many battles that players can’t win.
According to Daedalus, they have now cracked a deal with French game company Nacon to handle publishing and distribution.
Even then, much of the delay comes from the dev’s need to “fully leverage the power of the new generation of consoles.”
“We are forming a fellowship with @Daedalic to publish The Lord of the Rings™: Gollum™,” says Nacon on their Twitter account. “The game will be released in 2022 on Xbox and PlayStation consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC. More news to come in the future.”
Daedalus needs more time
The extra time Daedalus asked for Lord of the Rings: Gollum comes in conjunction with their partnership with Nacon. From what it seems, Daedalus needed more time to polish the game.
“The two companies decided to join forces to ensure that the game will meet the expectations of fans of The Lord of the Rings and fully leverage the power of the new generation of consoles,” said the press release. “The universe will be faithfully represented thanks to the partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises, the company that holds the adaptation rights to the novel series by J.R.R. Tolkien.”
The partnership is a better move in the future, considering some AAA titles fumbled their timeframe and releasing with too many bugs.
While not the most prominent publisher out there, Nacon is known for its quality control of the games it publishes.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be quite a niche game. Even then, it should scratch the LOTR itch that many diehards had since 2017’s Shadow of War.
Featured image courtesy of Daedalic Entertainment/Youtube Screenshot