Lord of the Rings: Gollum Video Game in Development

[Pennywise]

'Lord of the Rings: Gollum' Video Game in the Works From German Studio Daedalic

German video game developer Daedalic Entertainment unveiled its upcoming title, Lord of the Rings: Gollum, on Monday. The action-adventure game will follow the years of the popular J.R.R. Tolkien character after he acquired the One Ring but before the events of The 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, tells The Hollywood Reporter.

"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 says. "We will tell the story before he first appears in the books."

Daedalic partnered with Middle-earth Enterprises to develop and publish the new game, which is slated for release in 2021 on PC and "all relevant console platforms at that time."

Gollum is the first title being developed in the new partnership between Daedalic and Middle-earth, but plans for further games in the future are in the works.

“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 says of 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."

Fichtelmann says Daedalic's goal with its Lord of the Rings projects is not to go "too deep into the uncanny valley" by making hyper-realistic games. "When it comes to shapes, colors, we definitely try to produce something that is a statement," he says.

The 2021 release date for Gollum coincides with Amazon's planned premiere date for its $1 billion Lord of the Rings television series that is currently in production.

 

[Silvermoth]

Sounds really good! It’s always nice to remind people that middle earth is the best over flashier sexier but cheaper options

 

[Pennywise]

Sounds really good! It’s always nice to remind people that middle earth is the best over flashier sexier but cheaper options

Definitely! Pretty excited for this!

 

[Pennywise]

New interview talking about the game a bit and whether Andy Serkis will be involved.

Lord of the Rings: Gollum brings Tolkien’s most reclusive character to the fore

PCGN: Why did you alight on Gollum for the game?

Carsten Fichtelmann: “For us, as a company that normally puts storytelling upfront as an important feature for our games, the idea of having Gollum in the centre of our story, and all of the conflicts the protagonist has – constantly having two voices talking to him – makes this a quite good starting point.”

Jonas Hüsges: “I think most companies may have a different approach, making these decisions. They usually come from, ‘we want to do this sort of fighting game.’ And then he wouldn’t be a good fit. But we thought about what would be a good story, what would be a good character for the game. Then we decided, ‘okay then, we want to do an action-adventure.’ What would be good game mechanics to make you experience that character in the world?”

That would suggest that the game will be stealth-focused.

CF: “That’s something so obvious that it will definitely be in the game. But there will be other game mechanics, and we’re testing different ideas at the moment in pre-production… there will definitely be many more things you can do than in the usual action-adventure, [and not all] in terms of fighting.”

JH: “It’s a weird combination where it’s one character and two characters at the same time. So obviously that conflict will be key to both the story and the gameplay.

When is the game set?

JH: “It’s a different venture [to the upcoming Amazon series]. It’s the same universe, it’s Middle-Earth, but our starting point is the books.

CF: “There are so many new stories. You have the book and it will be the same time frame. But you’ll definitely learn more about Gollum.”

Does Andy Serkis have a part to play in any of this?

JH: “It’s going to be a different interpretation of the character and the world, so even if it is Andy Serkis, it wouldn’t be the character from the movies. It would be him giving a different take. That’s why it’s not necessarily him. It could be someone else giving his or her interpretation.

So, when can we expect to play the game?

CF: “We’re aiming for all platforms that are relevant [in 2021]. If there is a PlayStation or Xbox, then the game will be on that. Nobody knows exactly, maybe we know something, but I think that at the moment, 2021 is so far away. We’re also aiming for all relevant current platforms at that moment, so it could mean several generations for one of the majors.”

 

[Boom]

I was just thinking about a Lord of the Rings video game the other day.

Sadly, this particular concept doesn't interest me much. I long for an expansive, open-world Middle-earth game with the same level of ambition as the Rockstar games (and preferably something in keeping with the actual canon).

 

[Pennywise]

I long for an expansive, open-world Middle-earth game with the same level of ambition as the Rockstar games (and preferably something in keeping with the actual canon).

That would be amazing!!!

 

[Iceman]

I’d like an Elder Scrolls type LotR game, but with an epic story.

 

[Pennywise]

Some stuff Den of Geek learned. Not too dissimilar to the other articles, but little bits of new info here and there.

This has been a lengthy process already
"We started in 2014, talking to Middle Earth [Enterprises] about licensing Lord of the Rings," Fichtelmann explained. "As we said in the presentation, this [story] is still fresh and now Amazon is coming up with a TV series, so there is quite a buzz about that universe. And from a storytelling perspective, also, Gollum was quite an obvious choice because the conflict is already in the character and so the storytelling is also there.

"Maybe the decision was already made three or four years ago", Fichtelmann mused later in the interview. "But then all of the lawyers come in to make it really happening, signing the contracts, so we have to wait for quite a long time until the final day where we signed that license."

The game is still in very early stages
"We are still in pre-production," Fichtelmann explained. The contracts are signed, Daedalic's project is pressing ahead, and now comes the process of making the game and getting it approved by the executives from the license-owning Middle-earth Enterprise

Fichtelmann and Hüsges "saw a presentation [from the developers] yesterday," which would have been March 5, 2019 by our calculations. This presentation included "six or seven quite different mechanics" for gameplay, which will now be presented to the team at Middle-earth Enterprise.

"I don't know even if we will see all these mechanics in the final game," Fichtelmann stressed. "We are definitely prototyping these mechanics, and we will have this discussion with the license, and then we will see what stays and what maybe is not in the final game. I'm quite optimistic that we're coming up with quite a fresh approach for the genre [of] action-adventure and also for the license and for Gollum."

This is Daedalic's "own interpretation of the world of the character"
When asked if the film would take inspiration from the visual style of Peter Jackson's films and Andy Serkis' performance as Gollum, the team at Daedalic were quick to stress that what they have is the licence to make a game based on Tolkien's books (rather than a licence to make a game based on the Warner Bros. film trilogies).

Fichtelmann said this on the topic: "I think when you see [the video game version of] Gollum for the first time, I think you will say 'yep, that's Gollum.' Maybe you also could say, 'this is not the Gollum we know from the Warner movies.'"

There is also a "quite detailed description [of Gollum] in the book" to go from, which Fichtelmann believes "is not too far off from the movie. There are some elements where they took creative liberties, but overall, I think... while we're doing our own interpretation of the world of the character, it's not that we're completely different just for the sake of it."

They're not going for photorealistic graphics
As for what the visual world will look like, don't expect to see a photorealistic rendition of Middle-earth or New Zealand. Fichtelmann has noticed that some games that go after super-HD graphics "look fresh for only a couple of years, and then they are coming up with better graphics. This is definitely not the way we are going to."

"We are not going deep into the uncanny valley," Fichtelmann explained, "so we definitely will find a look. We'll have a look that has clear characters and clear shapes, but hopefully, we then come up with something where people also in thirty years think, 'This is still a good looking game.'"

Fichtelmann mentioned the previous Daedalic title Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth as an example of a game in their catalog that has a similarly timeless quality.

"I think this game is still going to be playable in 60 years," Fichtelmann said. He was talking about Pillars Of The Earth, but the statement has interesting connotations for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

You'll see Gollum's origin story
"Everybody asks, what made him what he is? We will make him what he is." Those words, again spoken by Fichtelmann, make it pretty clear that we'll be seeing the origins of Gollum in this upcoming game.

Of course, both the books and the films jump back in time briefly to the fateful day that the Stoor Hobbit Smeagol and his relative Deagol happened upon the One Ring. Deagol, of course, wasn't long for this world after that. But Smeagol became obsessed with the ring and went on to lead a very long life as he descended into Gollum-ness.

"We are in the timeframe of the book," Fichtelmann stressed, "but we definitely fill up the gaps, where nobody knows at the moment what happens with Gollum before he first appears in the book."

The gameplay could feature stealth
The team at Daedalic kept pretty quiet about the multiple mechanical ideas they're going to show to Middle-earth Enterprises, but they did give us one or two clues about what to expect.

"When you play Gollum, there may be something will stealth going on," Fichtelmann said, leaving us hoping for some fun invisibility-based segments that tap into the powers of the On Ring.

And Hüsges added this: "The gameplay is informed by the character, so whatever makes sense for him, you can expect that we at least thought about putting that into the game." For some reason, we're now imagining Gollum smashing someone up with a rock.

Another Lord of the Rings game could follow
"I think we already know what happens after Gollum," Fichtelmann revealed towards the end of our chat. "Because we have the license for not only one game. So maybe we need to start a simultaneous production for a second Lord of the Rings game in the near future, I don't know."

As for how many people will work on Gollum, Fichtelmann said that he expects the 20-strong in-house team that is working on it currently to grow to around 35 members. There will also be "quite a lot of different service providers, especially for environment, animation, localization, testing. These, let's say, classic departments. Which means, finally, we define what the graphic is and we produce maybe 20% of the graphic internally, and 80% of the graphic will then be made by other people."

So, it sounds like it'll take a fair amount of people and companies to bring Daedalic's vision for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum to life. It certainly sounds like an ambitious title, and we'll be sure to keep you updated as we sneak closer to its 2021 release window...

 

[X Knight]

I was just thinking about a Lord of the Rings video game the other day.

Sadly, this particular concept doesn't interest me much. I long for an expansive, open-world Middle-earth game with the same level of ambition as the Rockstar games (and preferably something in keeping with the actual canon).

That would be amazing!!!

I’d like an Elder Scrolls type LotR game, but with an epic story.

add me to that list, too. an open world LOTR game with character creation and class/race selection.

not sure how many people really want a Gollum game, though.

 

[Silvermoth]

I don’t mean to be rude but what could an MMORPG lord of the rings do that you couldn’t get from elder scrolls online?

 

[Boom]

I don’t mean to be rude but what could an MMORPG lord of the rings do that you couldn’t get from elder scrolls online?

The IP itself.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah alright

 

[The Infernal]

This sounds like it will be really niche. I have to say Boom's idea sounds more appealing. A fantasy rpg that plays like RDR2 would be great, whether it's LotR or not.

 

[Pennywise]

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Will Feature Ringwraiths and Legolas' Father

Edge visited Daedalic Entertainment in Hamburg for an extensive preview, which is available now in issue 341. Senior producer Kai Fiebig says that the Gollum in Daedalic's game "doesn't look like Andy Serkis," referencing the movie version of Gollum from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movie trilogies.

Gollum is primarily a stealth action game. With "hundreds of animations in the final game," you'll be sneaking your way around multiple locations over Middle-Earth, one of which is Barad-Dûr. By the events of the Lord of the Rings movies, this is the tower that houses Sauron's flaming eye, keeping watch over Mordor.

The piece from Edge also reveals that although Gollum takes place many years before the events of the novels by J.R.R. Tolkein, there'll be certain connections to the books. For example Thranduil, father of the Elven archer Legolas, will appear in the game as a "side character."

Additionally, the infamous Ringwraiths will feature in Gollum. Art director Mathias Fischer says that although Daedalic's versions of the Ringwraiths are "less cool" than in the movies, they have a chance to make different versions of them more popular.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is slated for launch in 2021 on "all relevant platforms," according to producer Fiebig. We'll have to wait a while to see what Daedalic's take on the deranged character ends up looking like.

 

[Zorro]

Interesting. I love middle earth games and have Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War on my xbox. There's a good chance I'll have this one too

 

[jolldan]

I was just thinking about a Lord of the Rings video game the other day.

Sadly, this particular concept doesn't interest me much. I long for an expansive, open-world Middle-earth game with the same level of ambition as the Rockstar games (and preferably something in keeping with the actual canon).

I just want to see them do a remastered version of Return of the King.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[terry78]

haha i will play this.

 

[Pennywise]

Likewise.

 

[Silvermoth]

I bet they include an alternative ending where Gollum got to keep the ring

 

[Pennywise]

Eager to see what Gollum looks and sounds like.

 

[Pennywise]

Daedalic Entertainment Hit Hard - Lord of the Rings: Gollum in Trouble?

 

[Iceman]

I bet they include an alternative ending where Gollum got to keep the ring

Haha, damn. That would be some crazy ****.

 

[Iceman]

Interesting. I love middle earth games and have Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War on my xbox. There's a good chance I'll have this one too

For me there’s a 100% chance lol.

 

[Pennywise]