The Lord of the Rings game gives Gollum more hair so he’s “less creepy”

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum lets you play as wretched Ring-loving creature, but the developers of the new video game have made some tweaks.

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies are iconic for a lot of reasons: they sweeping tales of epic grandeur, they legitimized fantasy like few things before, and they brought Andy Serkis’ version of Gollum into our lives, leading to many an enthusiastic impression over the years. I can’t be the only one who saw those movies and ran around saying “My precioooouss” about everything I owned for a while.

As gruesome and creepy as Gollum looked and sounded, there was something endearing about him, so I was perhaps more excited than I should be when I learned there was a new Lord of the Rings game coming that featured Gollum as the central character. My 16-year-old self is jumping up and down for joy over The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

Based on the trailer above, the game will involve Gollum busting out his stealthy moves as he wanders around Middle-earth taking down enemies and scavenging for items, making his way through levels both linear and wide-open. According to developers at Daedalic Entertainment, verticality will play a big part in the game, allowing Gollum to put his climbing skills to use.

Timeline-wise, the game takes place when Frodo is still in the Shire. Gollum goes to Mordor looking for the One Ring, and is captured by Sauron’s servants. “Obviously, Gollum wants to escape his captors and retake the Ring (and hopefully get his hands on some nice fish along the way),” lead game designer Martin Wilkes told IGN. “After some time, though, the Sméagol-side causes trouble and distractions and opens up new, conflicting goals that we cannot talk about yet.”

That all sounds pretty interesting, but watching the trailer, I couldn’t help but wonder: what’s up with his hair? He has considerably more of it than I remember.

Art Mathias Fischer explained: “With Gollum himself, our goal is to make him more relatable, as players have to be able to slip into his skin for the course of an entire game. That’s why our Gollum looks less creepy (and has more hair) than the movie version.”

I’m not convinced he looks less creepy; he kind of looks like he’s sporting an emo quarantine look, doesn’t he?

Moving beyond the hair, narrative designer Tilman Schanen explained hot the Gollum/Sméagol dichotomy works in this game. Are we playing as the guy’s good or bad side?

"The decisions you make affect the way the game feels… you always either play as Sméagol or as Gollum as the ‘dominant’ persona and that can influence animations, soundscapes, certain gameplay situations, and in-game dialogue."

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is coming in 2021.

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h/t Eurogamer