‘Gollum’, a game that exists, is the worst reviewed of the year by far

If you’re ready for a game that makes Redfall look like Tears of the Kingdom, you might want to give Gollum a try. Not really, no one should review Gollum, apparently, judging by what are literally the worst review scores for any game on pc and PS5, all this year.

It’s hard to underestimate how poorly Gollum is reviewing. The game currently has a 38 on Metacritic on PS5 and a 43 on PC. That makes it the worst reviewed game on any platform in 2023, 18 points behind Redfall on PC (56), 26 points behind Forspoken on PS5 (64). This is an industry where a 60 is considered a disaster and has a thirty-eight.

While there might normally be some leeway for a smaller developer like Daedalic, given a lower budget than AAA games, a main problem here is that Gollum is charging $60, $70 for a special edition that pays for things like emotes and elven voices. Not that a lower price would have improved the game, but it certainly aggravates the problems it already has.

Here are some of the worst reviews I’ve read in a long time:

Game Point (2/10) – “Like Gollum’s quest for the One Ring, my quest to complete The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was filled with endless setbacks, impossible odds, and ever-increasing levels of madness. And, like Gollum, my journey was doomed from the start. So if the main goal of the developers was really to put you in the shoes of such a pitiful and unpleasant character who faces constant pain and suffering at all times, they at least succeeded in that.”

Reverse (3/10) – “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a messy and frustrating action platformer set in Middle-earth. …Most of the gameplay involves platforming and stealth, though neither works very well. Gollum is riddled with glitches that make an unpleasant experience even worse, and the game’s dull story makes it hard to recommend, even for the most hardcore Lord of the Rings fans.

IGN Spain (4/10) – “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is a stealth, action and platform adventure that has some interesting ideas, but lacks cooking. A video game with a classic structure whose gaps are evident both in the narrative, as well as in the playable, technical and aesthetic aspects.”

The highest review out there is a 7/10 from IGN Adria, which calls it a “surprisingly competent 3D platformer.” It seems that they are the only ones who believe that.

Not that you were thinking of playing this game in the first place, one that I really forgot existed until today, but it sounds like you could put your $60 to better use by doing… literally anything else with it. Stay away.

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