The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has found itself in a rut lately due to its delays, as well as how little has been shared from it since its original announcement. Further, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has not shown enough to be able to confidently claim whether it looks like a great experience or not, though it is fair if fans are less enthused about the game based on its playable protagonist. Gollum is obviously not a character that fulfills The Lord of the Rings’ power fantasy, and a game featuring him that revolves almost entirely around stealth may not be enough to satiate fans of the IP.
It is unknown when The Lord of the Rings: Gollum may rear its head again, but fans should still hold out hope for it in terms of what its success could eventually produce. If The Lord of the Rings: Gollum surprises fans and does incredibly well, it is possible that a follow-up game could be greenlit for Daedalic and Nacon, giving them the opportunity to branch out further and create an experience that could potentially be more favorable. Such a game could be a direct sequel that features Frodo, Sam, and Gollum in a co-op stealth adventure that follows the original trilogy.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Should Be Followed by a Co-Op LOTR Game
In this regard, it would be exceptional for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s third act to be set during the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. If a time gap would need to occur at some point in the game in order for these narrative events to line up then it should, because playing as Gollum and following the Fellowship through Moria, Lothlorien, and Anduin would be incredibly engaging.
This would also somewhat echo The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age’s early narrative, where players follow closely behind the footsteps of the Fellowship, though The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age is an incredibly loose adaptation of the trilogy. If following the Fellowship was left as a surprise to the player, that could be a remarkable third-act leading into a sequel where players can choose to play as either Frodo, Sam, or Gollum in co-op gameplay.
This would perhaps be the most natural sequel transition for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum to make if it was going to have a sequel, since it could keep its stealth-adventure mechanics while incorporating two hobbits with more stealth-oriented mechanics to add. Frodo and Sam could both equip elven cloaks for a disguise that recharges on a cooldown, for example, and Frodo’s sword Sting could glow blue to indicate that orcs are nearby.
It is possible that Gollum’s iconography alone might not be enough to satiate players. But playing as Frodo and Sam as well as Gollum could be engaging, even with Gollum as a third-party NPC companion.
Elden Ring’s LOTR Memes Showed the Potential of a Frodo and Sam Game
Elden Ring’s elaborate action-RPG influences were seminal in fans’ memes thereafter, flooding the internet with many references and role-playing that players indulged in. One of these memes resulted in a well-produced The Lord of the Rings gameplay mod in Elden Ring that was shared from TikTok user @p1cklel0verr.
This edit brought Frodo and Sam to Elden Ring’s Lands Between, emulating different areas from Middle-earth as biomes in Elden Ring. This edit reinforced how influential The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, but also depicted how interesting a co-op game with Frodo and Sam could be as they trek to Mordor.
Knowing that some events from The Lord of the Rings: Gollum take place in Mordor, it would be exciting to see if the character would have a new relationship with the desolate southlands and how that could be expressed in a sequel. Either way, a co-op game featuring these three could be the iconography-fulfilling installment that fans have longed for.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
