The developers of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum issued an apology on social media following the game's critically-panned launch. In its apology post, the team at Daedalic Entertainment pledged to correct the myriad issues that plague The Lord of the Rings: Gollum from a visual and technical standpoint. However, social media proved unkind towards the development team as users continued to ridicule the game and lament the state of video game launches of late.
True to its title, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum puts players in the perspective of the crawling, creepy-eyed Gollum, whose fixation with the One Ring is his sole motivator. However, it was plain that upon the game's release that it was not in the best state. Between performance issues, graphics that do not match initial advertising, and issues with the game's storytelling, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is one of the worst-rated games of 2023 with a score of 40 on OpenCritic. In light of this, Daedalic Entertainment had no recourse but to offer some words for the game's sad state.
Daedalic Entertainment posted via a dedicated Twitter account for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and expressed its regrets over the game's launch. In its message, Daedalic stated that the game failed to live up to its standards, and as fans of The Lord of the Rings, the development team has listened to the feedback and criticism that players have provided in droves. Over a series of patches and updates, Daedalic pledged to keep improving the game to its fullest potential, but that message seemed lost with fatigued fans of The Lord of the Rings.
On social media, players were quick to ridicule Daedalic for even launching The Lord of the Rings: Gollum in the first place, especially in its current state. Some users compared the launch of the game to those of Forspoken and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, both of which had underwhelming reviews upon release. Other users expressed lament over the state of recent video game releases, with some claiming that an apology and subsequent updates from a developer such as Daedalic are now part of the game development cycle. One user also pointed out that the Emotes Pack DLC for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum had a higher rating on the Xbox storefront than the game itself.
However, fans of The Lord of the Rings are not without hope. With Amazon Games' recent announcement of a new MMORPG based on Tolkien's world, only time will tell what lies ahead for fans of the series.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with a Switch version to come at a later date.