Most of what casual fans will know about Gollum is what they have seen from the movies - the fact that Smeagol’s psyche is innocent, naive, and childish, while Gollum’s psyche is manipulative, malicious, and mischievous. It is clear throughout Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy that Smeagol is burdened by the ring’s overwhelming hold, as is Frodo, but it can be difficult to empathize fully after Gollum commits heinous acts of villainy. In The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, players will be tasked with making these choices themselves.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is in an awkward phase of development given it was delayed indefinitely. There is no telling when it might reappear with a new release window or concrete date, and in that time many features within The Lord of the Rings: Gollum may change. One of the game’s most riveting mechanics was its inner conflict mini-game system, which inherently creates a binary morality system that could portray Smeagol with a lot of empathy.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s Inner Conflicts Need to Be Autocratic
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s inner conflict dialogue system should demonstrate how torturous and foul Gollum’s psyche is in comparison to Smeagol’s. Because Gollum’s desires are known to supersede Smeagol’s, it would be great if it becomes increasingly more difficult to choose Smeagol’s desired dialogue options.
This could be an effect for players who have already selected many of Gollum’s dialogue options in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, making that half of the psyche more influential as it becomes more popular. Or it could be a staple throughout the game that players need to combat or surrender to with each inner conflict mini-game.
Here, there could only be one or two Smeagol options that are constantly drowned out by Gollum options. This would be beneficial for fans who actually want to play The Lord of the Rings: Gollum with brutal and malicious intent, but it would also make playing innocent and passively a rare and rewarding path to struggle through.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Should Make Fans Feel Bad for Smeagol
Smeagol is incredibly empathetic, but it can be difficult to empathize with him due to a lot of his actions. Many of these actions are Gollum’s and not Smeagol’s, but the treachery and malice he demonstrates is indistinguishable between the two, and thus they are both at least partly responsible.
The only reason Smeagol shows any mercy and is capable of being compassionate is because of the empathy that Frodo lends. Frodo understands what Smeagol must have experienced himself in a way that Sam can not, and therefore Sam is able to see Gollum but not Smeagol. It will be interesting to see how Smeagol and Gollum are able to interact with NPCs in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and whether those characters could elicit the same empathy that encourages Smeagol to stand up for himself and reveal his kindness.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a lot of potential, and Daedalic will hopefully be able to see it through. It is also possible that this inner conflict system could be reworked and iterated upon the next time that fans hear from The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, but only time will tell if any changes are meaningful and worthwhile.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
