The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by Daedalic Entertainment and co-published by Daedalic Entertainment and Nacon. It is based on The Lord of the Rings and follows the character of Gollum before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The game is scheduled for release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles in 2022.
Is The Lord of the Rings: Gollum a PS5 exclusive?
The upcoming story-focused stealth game will be available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 1. A Nintendo Switch version is also planned, and should release later in 2022.
Playing as Gollum, you’ll explore Middle-earth in a time just before The Fellowship of the Ring, hunting for the one ring that you lost to Bilbo Baggins while attempting to stay out of the clutches of the dark lord, Sauron. Familiar faces are promised, as well as a system in which you must decide which of the character’s dual personalities gets the upper hand in important decisions; either Gollum or Smeagol.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was first announced in 2019 and was set for a 2021 release, but was later delayed to 2022. Based on the Tolkien books rather than the Peter Jackson movies, developer Daedalic promises a “Prince of Persia-like” stealth game with a branching narrative.
How Did Sméagol Become Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum?
Being in the possession of the Ring for so long and without any socialization, Sméagol developed dissociative identity disorder or a “split” personality. Sméagol was of course the good side, and Gollum was the person who lived within Sméagol—causing him to have evil thoughts. In The Lord of the Rings, Gollum refers to himself as “we” because the Ring (or his Gollum persona) would not allow Sméagol to think for himself. Gandalf says Gollum both loves and hates himself, and the Ring truly was a curse on Sméagol’s life making him hate everything he had become.
The Ring eventually abandoned Gollum and fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, who was lost in the caves. The two played a game of a series of riddles in agreement that if Bilbo won, Gollum would show him the way out, but if Gollum won, he would murder Bilbo. Bilbo asked, “what have I got in my pocket?” Gollum at this point didn’t realize his precious was lost, but when he discovered the Ring was gone, he went after Bilbo—who had discovered the Ring’s invisibility side effect. Bilbo took pity on Gollum, for he really was a sad creature, and he did not kill him but instead snuck away from Gollum using the Ring. Gollum cursed the Baggins’ name, saying “curse it and crush it! We hates it forever” while referring to Bilbo as a thief.
Gollum eventually left the caves to go after Bilbo, but instead discovered the Stairs of Cirith Ungol and Shelob (the giant spider). When he survived his encounter with Shelob, he was captured by Orcs and tortured until he revealed where the Ring was. In The Lord of the Rings, there is no sadder story than that of Sméagol’s transition into Gollum and loss of his free will.
How To Unlock All Lego The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Characters
The majority of the Lego The Lord of the Rings characters are unlocked from finishing story missions (the Story Mode Levels). Some are just fully unlocked from completing missions, others are made available to purchase with studs. Some characters you could otherwise buy, can be unlocked via cheat codes as well as 10 via Middle-earth Characters Pack downloadable content (DLC)* which appear as blacked out in the bottom row of the character select screen. All of which are listed below.
How To Buy Characters & Map Tip in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
There is no one location to buy characters in this game. Instead, you must find them walking around in areas of the overworld, by exploring this Middle-earth open world hub. — This is made quite easy once you access the Map Stones in the area, as the characters appear as big circles of their face on the map and you can set waypoints on them to reach them directly.
When To Buy Characters: Please note, most characters are not able to be purchased until you have finished the Story Mode missions of the game. Also, be sure to have a good amount of studs on you if you plan on trying to buy a few characters in one session.
Here’s the funny Lego Lord of the Rings launch trailer showing off the main characters.
* There are 10 spots on the character select screen in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, which are reserved for downloadable content (DLC) characters in the Xbox 360 & PS3 versions. Which at first will only be available via pre-order, but are sure to be released in two packs sometime after release (each with 5 characters in it). – Usually the other system versions have such characters readily available in-game.
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