My Precious? How the Gollum Prequel Game Might Succeed Where Other Tolkien Games Failed

There have been a ton of Lord of the Rings games. These range from a really forgettable Super Nintendo game to the downright addicting Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Even for fans, though, it’s starting to seem like there may be no new ideas left. However, Daedalic Entertainment has a pretty innovative idea: give us a game based on the villain Gollum!

Daedalic is working on a game called The Lord of the Rings: Gollum that will act as a prequel to the books. Coming in 2021, it could just be the best Tolkien game ever made. Here’s everything you need to know and why the Gollum game could become the “precious” hit Tolkien fans deserve.

Daedalic is a dark horse

Let’s be honest: you’ve probably never heard of Daedalic Entertainment before. However, their quirky history is part of the reason this game may be a surprise hit.

They are most known for modern-day adventure games such as The Night of the Rabbit and Decay: The Mare. These aren’t exactly household names, but these games are very highly rated. Moreover, they show the company’s commitment to the lost art of adventure games — the kind of games that put LucasArts on the map.

In short, they aren’t the kind of company that has normally made Lord of the Rings games. But that simply increases the odds of gamers getting something genuinely new instead of a tired retread of what we’ve had before.

The story will be completely new

The short description of this game is simply “Gollum prequel.” However, that may leave franchise fans scratching their heads. Exactly what kind of story will a Gollum prequel tell?

Daedalic is keeping exact story details under wraps. However, there is a potentially long period in The Lord of the Rings‘ narrative during which Gollum could be having some weird adventures.

Remember, Bilbo first encounters Gollum in The Hobbit. Later (and after capture and escape from Elves and Sauron alike), Gollum stalks the Fellowship. While the movies gloss over the timeline, the books make it clear that there is a whopping 60 years or so between Gollum’s encounter with Bilbo and his encounter with Frodo.

Think that’s a long time? Thanks to the One Ring, Gollum lived for nearly 600 years. That means a Gollum prequel could cover several generations (though we could go without the boring years where he just chilled in a mountain, eating fish and Orcs).