The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, The Game That Forgot Why We Care

Most of us hoped for a tense stealth trip with a broken soul at the center. What we got feels unsure, busy, and often rough.

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What most players noticed first

Two things greet you fast. The game struggles to run well, and the sneaking feels soft. Frames drop. Loads take time. The first hours do not build trust. You feel like you need to wrestle the game just to see the story.

A lot of players said the same thing. The first levels do not teach smart play. They teach patience with the camera and the checkpoints. That is a hard start for a stealth title.

Stealth without tension, how weak AI kills the thrill

Stealth needs pressure. You peek. You plan. You risk a path. Here, guards often miss you in plain sight, then spot you for no clear reason. Patrols feel random. The threat fades.

When danger is fuzzy, you do not get the stealth high. You do not hold your breath at the last second. You do not earn escapes. You wait in a corner and the game resets.

Controls and camera that fight the player

Simple moves should feel clean. Walk, climb, hop, grab a ledge, land a throw. In this game, the camera swings wide, then snaps close. Jumps do not always stick. Climbing can feel sticky, then slippery.

You can learn it with time. But the learning is not fun. You repeat the same climb after a small miss. You fight the view more than the world. That pulls you out of Middle earth.

If you like camera talk in horror, Silent Hill f shows a cleaner approach to tension and movement.

Bugs, crashes, and rough performance across platforms

At launch in May 2023, many players hit crashes and quest bugs. Some found broken checkpoints. Others saw odd physics. The studio posted an apology soon after release. Later patches fixed some things, but the first impression stayed.

Why it matters. When a stealth run dies to a bug, trust breaks. You blame the code, not your plan. The game needs you to feel at fault when you fail. That is how stealth stays exciting.

Busy tasks over real choices, why Smeagol versus Gollum feels thin

Gollum is two minds in one body. That is the heart. The game tries to show this with tiny choice moments. Pick the kind voice or the cruel one. In play, the outcome rarely changes much. The path stays the same.

Most missions lean on fetch work. Pull a lever. Fetch a thing. Move a crate. Do it again. The loop feels like chores, not a struggle inside a fragile mind. The split self becomes flavor text, not a force that shapes your route.

Price and extras, what players said about value and the Elvish DLC

Many players said the base price felt high for the polish on offer. Talk grew louder when a paid voice pack in Elvish showed up as extra content. The idea sounded neat. The timing, paired with bugs and weak systems, made it feel off to a lot of buyers.

Value is not only money. It is time. A long game can still feel thin if each hour repeats the same tasks.

What still worked for some fans, small wins worth noting

Art teams did find strong moments. Mordor skies can look heavy and real. Some creature designs land well. A few set pieces bring true dread. Music cues help.

Lore fans also liked bits of side story. Small notes, short scenes, tiny world details. These sparks show what a tighter game could have done.

Patches versus design, what can and cannot be fixed

Bugs can be fixed. Frame rates can rise. Load times can drop. These help a lot.

But weak patrol logic, flat missions, and a camera that fights you are deeper issues. Those need new design work. That is hard to patch in full. The core loop would still be the same.

A sharper path, how a better Gollum game could play

Here is a design that fits the character.

1. Small, dense spaces with many routes. Fewer rooms, more choices per room.

2. Enemies that learn. If you abuse one trick, they change patrols. They set traps.

3. Real split self stakes. Smeagol gives safe tools and friend paths. Gollum gives risky tools and cruel paths. Each one locks some routes and opens others.

4. Fail forward design. A caught moment changes the scene, not just a restart. Maybe you drop a trinket. Maybe a guard drags you to a new cell with a new puzzle.

5. Clean controls and a calm camera. Movement must feel certain so risk feels fair.

These moves would bring back tension and purpose. They would make Gollum feel like a choice, not a skin on chores.

Who this game is for today, and when it makes sense to try it

If you love Middle earth lore and can forgive rough edges, you may still find sparks here. If you want sharp stealth and tight systems, you will likely feel let down.

Best case to try now. You spot a deep discount. You want to tour the art and soak up a few story bits. You are fine with patchy systems.

Skip for now if you want a clean stealth loop, tough but fair chases, and choices that bend the path. That is what most players hoped for. That is what this game forgot.