The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Developer Apologizes, But Fans Aren't Having It

After a couple of years of delays, "The Lord of the Rings: Gollum" was finally released this week on PC and consoles. The game already faced a bit of an uphill battle due to its proximity in release to "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom," but that was far from its only problem. Upon release, critics and fans discovered that the title was riddled with performance issues and uninspired gameplay. Even worse, the title hardly resembled the alpha footage shown off earlier in its development, with some players comparing the final product's visuals to a PS2-era game. 

Now that "Gollum" has taken the unenviable spot as the worst-reviewed game of 2023 so far, the developers have taken to social media to address its many flaws. In a message posted to the official "Gollum" Twitter account, Daedelic Entertainment said, "We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community. We genuinely value your feedback and have been actively listening to your voices, reading your comments, and analyzing the constructive criticism and suggestions you have provided."

A few words from the " The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ " team pic.twitter.com/adPamy5EjO

— The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (@GollumGame) May 26, 2023

Though Daedalic offered its sincere apologies for the current state of the game, folks who felt burned by their time playing "The Lord of the Rings: Gollum" weren't having any of it. The replies to Daedalic Entertainment's post were scathing and skeptical, to say the least.

The responses to Daedalic Entertainment's post are a mix of frustration and confusion regarding the poorly reviewed game. Many of the comments are focused on the visual downgrades from the game's original alpha state to now, with a number of commenters asking why Daedalic scaled the title back in such a way.

It's difficult to not be very disappointed at this. Even if I imagine the answer, I still wonder why you decided to release a game in this state and with such downgrade compared to the Alpha.. would love to help, but yea that's a tough one :/

— Guillaume Peronnin (@SkallEdit) May 26, 2023

Some gamers saw the botched release of "Gollum" as being indicative of a major problem with the games industry as a whole, referencing other recent games that have been launched in a buggy or unfinished state. Some even encouraged their fellow gamers to hold off on buying any game upon release, presumably in the hopes that it would convince studios to put more time into polishing their new titles.

People need to stop buying games on release. These poor releases are getting out of hand

— Baked Batman (@bakedBatman) May 26, 2023

But the most common responses seem to be from players angrily accusing Daedelic of knowingly releasing a poor product. Some went so far as to say that the developer could save its apologies. For its own part, Daedalic Entertainment has promised to continue working on bringing "The Lord of the Rings: Gollum" closer to being the game that was promised via a series of updates. Judging from the responses from the gaming community, however, the damage done by this game's release may be irreparable.