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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum: Everything You Should Know

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The Lord of the Rings: Gollum reframes Tolkien’s world through its most conflicted character, following Gollum between Mordor and Mirkwood as he searches for his Precious. The focus is stealth, climbing, and internal choices rather than heroic combat.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum at a Glance

  • Status: Released
  • Release date: May 25, 2023
  • Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
  • Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment, Nacon
  • Genres: Action, Adventure, RPG
  • Steam platforms: Windows
  • Modes: Single-player.
  • Controls: Full controller support.

Storyline and Setting

Set alongside events from The Fellowship of the Ring, the game follows Gollum after his escape from Mordor and through captivity in Mirkwood. Locations include Barad-dûr and the realm of Thranduil, while encounters reference the Mouth of Sauron, Shelob and other figures from Tolkien's books. The central conflict is also internal: decisions allow the cautious Sméagol or vicious Gollum personality to shape alliances and responses.

Gameplay and Core Systems

Levels revolve around staying out of sight, reading patrol routes, using vertical paths, and navigating environmental hazards. Decisions between Gollum and Smeagol influence how the character responds to people and situations, but this remains a linear solo adventure rather than a broad role-playing game.

Gollum survives through agility, climbing, stealth and observation rather than conventional fighting. Routes wind vertically through guarded spaces, with patrol timing and environmental hazards more important than weapons. He can quietly remove an isolated enemy in limited situations, but avoidance is normally safer. This is a linear, solo stealth-platforming adventure with moral choices, collectibles and checkpoint-driven traversal—not an open-world Middle-earth RPG.

Art, Audio, and Atmosphere

The game presents Mordor and Mirkwood from the viewpoint of a small, vulnerable character, emphasizing height, shadow, and dangerous routes rather than battlefield spectacle. Gollum's physical performance and the arguments between his two personalities carry much of the drama. The result is deliberately uneasy and intimate compared with the heroic scale of most Middle-earth games.

Campaign, Progression, and Replayability

Progress comes through a sequence of stealth, traversal, and story chapters rather than character builds or a large inventory economy. Gollum's arguments with Sméagol frame key decisions, and relationships can shift according to which side wins those internal disputes. Collectibles and alternate choices offer reasons to look again, but buyers should expect a directed narrative adventure, not an open Middle-earth sandbox or a combat-heavy action RPG.

Steam currently lists 37 achievements. Steam currently lists 5 add-on entries for this app.

Multiplayer, VR, and Controller Support

Modes: Single-player. Controls: Full controller support.

Release and Current Availability

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was released on May 25, 2023 by Daedalic Entertainment, with Daedalic Entertainment, Nacon publishing. Its current PC edition is listed on Steam for Windows.

Languages and Accessibility

Steam-listed language support: English , French, Italian, German , Spanish – Spain, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese – Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Turkish
languages with full audio support

Steam-listed accessibility and presentation features: No specific accessibility feature labels are currently supplied on the Steam listing.

PC System Requirements

Minimum

  • OS: Windows 10/11
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-4690 / AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060, 6GB / AMD Radeon R9 290X, 4GB
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Storage: 45 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: at Low preset and 1080p, Ray Tracing off

Recommended

  • OS: Windows 10/11
  • Processor: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, 8GB (with DLSS Quality Setting) / AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT, 12GB
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Storage: 45 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: at Medium preset and 1080p, Ray Tracing on

Who Should Play The Lord of the Rings: Gollum?

It is best approached by committed Middle-earth fans who specifically want a stealth-platforming story centered on Gollum.

Jord is acting Team Leader at gaming.net. If he isn't blabbering on in his daily listicles, then he's probably out writing fantasy novels or scraping Game Pass of all its slept on indies.