The Lord of the Rings: Gollum trailers, gameplay and news

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a story-driven action-adventure game from Daedalic Entertainment. Set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic setting, players take on the role of one of Middle Earth’s most tragic and fascinating characters. 

Releasing this year for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC – with a Nintendo Switch release to arrive post-launch – Gollum is a canonical story from Middle Earth, set between The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. It follows Gollum’s quest to recover the One Ring, an artifact of great power taken from him in his famous riddle battle with Bilbo Baggins. 

On top of the usual action-adventure mechanics, the choices you make in this game will directly affect Gollum’s personality, split as it is between the sinister and scheming Gollum and the gentler, kinder Sméagol. Want to know more? Read on for everything we know about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum so far.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum: cut to the chase

• What is it? An action-adventure centered around Gollum
• When can I play it? Between April and September 2023
• What can I play it on? PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4 and Xbox One (Switch after launch)

The Lord of the Rings Gollum release date and platforms

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will release for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2023, with a Nintendo Switch version to release sometime after launch. 

An earnings report (opens in new tab) from publisher Nacon, published in January 2023, revealed that Gollum will release in the “first half of FY 2023-24”, meaning we can likely expect the action-adventure to release between April and September of this year.

To date, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum release has been delayed three times, with the title original due to launch in 2021.

The Lord of the Rings Gollum trailers

Latest trailer

Back in July 2022, we were treated to a brand new gameplay trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.  

In it, we see a range of gorgeous landscapes and epic vistas, as well as snippets of what looks like stealth gameplay. The game also seems to have an emphasis on climbing and traversal, as we see Gollum make his way across cliffs and caves.

Lastly, we catch a glimpse of the sinister Ring Wraiths, servants of Sauron who, no doubt, have horrible plans for our bicameral protagonist.   

More trailers

Deadalic entertainment’s YouTube channel (opens in new tab) is a great source of extra The Lord of the Rings: Gollum content, including a cinematic trailer that shows off our anti-hero’s split personality (opens in new tab). There’s also a sneak peek trailer (opens in new tab) if you want to get a more general look at the game’s aesthetic. 

The Lord of the Rings Gollum story and setting

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum takes place during the first few chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring, after the opening but before Frodo leaves on his quest. It picks up as the eponymous Gollum is captured by the forces of Sauron, in the dungeons of Barad-dûr, before he escapes and journeys across the Misty Mountains. Eventually, he’ll arrive in the forest of Mirkwood.

The journey will see you encounter many familiar and famed characters of Middle-Earth, including Gandalf. You’ll also run into King Thranduil and a whole bunch of orcs. This being a stealth-focused game, though, you’ll spend more time surreptitiously slipping around them, instead of fighting the Dark Lord Sauron’s soldiers head-on.

You will also have to make decisions at certain key points through choices and actions displayed in thought bubbles around the main character. What we find interesting is that the choices will be split between Gollum’s own split personalities: the avaricious Gollum and the innocent Sméagol. 

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum promises a story-driven adventure full of challenging traversal and immersive setpieces. 

The Lord of the Rings Gollum gameplay

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a story-driven action RPG. While we’ve not seen much gameplay beyond the short trailer mentioned above, previews emerged back in May 2022 that have given us more details about our twisted protagonist. For one, you’ll need to manage both Gollum and Sméagol, his more agreeable alter ego. The story will vary depending on which side of Gollum has taken the reigns. 

Gameplay will largely revolve around stealth and platforming. Gollum himself won’t get much in the way of actionable abilities. True to his character, he’ll be small, spry, and somewhat fragile, making him a perfect choice for a stealth game protagonist. As much as we’d love to see the little guy suplex an Orc, that’s likely not going to happen.

Speaking to IGN (opens in new tab) in August 2020, lead game designer Martin Wilkes explained more, advising there’ll be a mixture of linear stages, with alternative routes, and open-world environments.

“If you want a reference, you might think of it as similar to Prince of Persia,” Wilkes said. “It is mostly a non-combat game, but Gollum will be able to stealthily take out enemies. However, this will not be easy and always come[s] with big risks. We want players to carefully weigh these encounters. After all, Gollum’s strengths lie in cunning, not combat.”

The Lord of the Rings Gollum news

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will have PS5 DualSense support
One reason players may want to pick up the PS5 version of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is the inclusion of features made possible by its DualSense controller. Namely, the haptic feedback offered by the controller’s triggers.

Comments made by Daedalic’s Jonas Husges, during an interview with Official PlayStation magazine (opens in new tab) (issue 182), indicate that the triggers’ haptic feedback functionality will be tied to Gollum’s stamina. The more Gollum tires himself out by running, the more resistance will be applied to the triggers, indicating that the creature is getting tired.

Daedalic has confirmed that ray tracing will be a feature
In the same interview, Daedalic confirmed that current-gen versions of The Lord of the Rings Gollum will put ray tracing front and center as a graphical feature. The developer has hinted that ray tracing could be used dynamically in the game’s level design.

An example was attributed to how ray-traced lighting can both help and hinder the player in their stealthy endeavors. Passages of shadows can be used to maneuver safely from the enemy while moving light sources can expose Gollum at a moment’s notice.