Nacon and Daedalic Entertainment announced another Gollum delay, to help give the team more time to polish the new Lord of the Rings game. Daedalic originally planned to release Gollum in summer 2022, before pushing the stealth game‘s launch to September. In the new delay announcement, Daedalic says it plans to release Gollum “a few months” later than anticipated. There’s no firm release date, though it seems safe to speculate we won’t see Stinker’s adventure until 2023 at this point.
“During the past several years, the team has been working hard to share our vision of a remarkable story, set in a breathtaking world, filled with magic and wonder,” the team said in a press release. “We are dedicated to meeting our community’s expectations and uncovering the untold story of Gollum in a way that honors the vision of J.R.R. Tolkien. Daedalic and NACON are grateful for their passionate community and will be happy to share this unique adventure with them soon.”
When it does launch, Gollum tells the story of – surprise! – Gollum in the interval between his imprisonment and torture in Mordor and picking up the fellowship’s trail in the mines of Moria. Daedalic previously said the narrative team based Gollum’s story closely on Tolkien’s saga, which means bringing moments and places only briefly touched on in an appendix to life – albeit with some creative license.
Gollum’s trek through Mirkwood is more than just a few passing sentences, and while he will meet key characters such as Thranduil – Legolas’ daddy – and the wizard Gandalf, Daedalic is also creating new characters that act as Gollum’s temporary friends and partners. Whether they vanish in pursuit of their own goals or Gollum kills and eats them is another matter, though we certainly hope Gollum’s choice system doesn’t extend to “kill or be nice to your new elf friend.”
If it does launch in 2023, the year is already shaping up to be a good one for Middle Earth fans. Return to Moria, which we called Tolkien Valheim, is also set to launch early in 2023.