While it’s a few years away from being released, there’s already quite a bit of excitement regarding the newly announced Gollum video game being created by Daedalic Entertainment. One of the reasons why Tolkien fans are feeling positive about this adaption is that Gollum’s character will be based on the books rather than the films.
According to an interview by PC Gaming with Daedalic’s CEO Carsten Fichtelmann, the company revealed that the basis for the game’s story line will include Gollum’s life before the series of events that unfold in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Fichtelmann noted,
“We’re concentrating on the character of Gollum, and we’re telling his story before we learn about what happens to him in the books. So it’s definitely new content that we’ll see. We’re looking for ways to tell stories that haven’t been shown in the movies. We’ll tell the story of a character we’re familiar with, but not repeating what you already know. It’ll be a cool player experience. It opens up a different perspective. Every decision we make comes from what makes sense for the character.“
And with the character being Gollum, the game’s interaction will include the split personality Tolkien created for him.
“[Within the game] you’ll come to decisions you have to make, and you’ll have the two voices talking to you. He [Gollum] may change his mind, and this is a clue about how it will play,” stated Fichtelmann.
However, I think what I am mostly excited about is the art that will be incorporated into the game. Since Daedalic does not have the rights to the films, only the books, it will force them to look outside the Jackson box, so to speak. While I admire the beauty within the films, I gravitate towards fresh perspectives of Tolkien’s Middle-earth and characters. It will be interesting to see how Daedalic visualizes them. No concept art of the game has been released as of yet, so the only visual key we have to go one is the logo, which includes a very book-inspired shadowed Gollum.
So what format will the game be released in? That information, for now, is on a TBA basis. Considering how fast gaming trends change within a short time span, Daedalic is biding their time and concentrating on the game’s development before announcing available gaming platforms. A wise decision since we’ve got to wait two years to play it.
