The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is finally launching quite soon

By Tomas Franzese May 24, 2022

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum finally has a release date. Daedalic Entertainment and Nacon confirmed during a hands-off preview event attended by Digital Trends that this unique Lord of the Rings game finally launches on September 1.

Daedalic Entertainment first announced The Lord of the Rings: Gollum in 2019, but the game was pushed back to 2022 when Nacon came on board as publisher. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer for this adventure as it’s only a few months away. Since its announcement, the rights for Lord of the Rings games have gone up for sale, and EA has announced a mobile game based on the franchise. Thankfully, none of those developments seemed to have negatively impacted The Lord of the Rings: Gollum.

Gollum hides from soldiers in The Lord of the Rings: Gollum — Gollum will die in a direct confrontation, so he must stealthily dodge and take down enemies.

Digital Trends got an early look at The Lord of the Rings: Gollum via a hands-off demo. While this may seem like an odd comparison, imagine Uncharted’s platforming in a stealth-focused game set in the Lord of the Rings universe. I saw Gollum hopping around ledges in both Mordor and Mirkwood as the developer carefully managed Gollum’s stamina so he wouldn’t fall off any ledges he was climbing.

Recommended Videos

Combat is minimal as Gollum has limited stamina he can use in attacks. As such, platforming and puzzle-solving will be the best ways to get through many situations. Throughout the game, players will also have to choose between the Gollum and Sméagol personalities during key story moments, and these decisions will impact the narrative.

Characters like Thranduil and Gandalf also made appearances in the demo. They sported looks more similar to their description in the books than how they were portrayed in the movies. While Gollum obviously isn’t the prettiest protagonist, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a distinct look and feel compared to any The Lord of the Rings game that has come before it.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on September 1. A Nintendo Switch version is also in the works, but does not have a release window outside of 2022.

Topics

Gaming Staff Writer

Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

Where to find Republic Chests in Fortnite

Republic Chest

Star Wars is once again taking over Fortnite with the brand-new Find the Force event, which brings a ton of new quests, items, and cosmetics to the popular battle royale. If you want to complete the full event reward track and earn all of the skins, one of the quests you'll need to knock out is opening a Republic Chest. Of course, you may want to seek these out each game anyways, as opening them will reward you with a new DC-15 Blaster, which is an immensely strong firearm that has infinite ammo and excellent range. Here's where to find Republic Chests.
Where to find Republic Chests and what's in them
Republic Chests can be found at three locations on the Chapter 4 Season 2 map. You'll find some located about halfway between The Citadel and Shattered Slabs, some to the west of Slappy Shores, and some by the road southwest of Frenzy Fields. Land at one of these spots and search the white tent-like buildings there for the chests.

Each Republic Chest contains one of the new DC-15 Blaster firearms alongside a selection of random support or healing items. You'll commonly see Medkits, Small Shield Potions, and Chug Splashes pop out, so you shouldn't have much trouble getting prepared for battle from the items you get from the Republic Chests.

Gaming

Resident Evil 4: how to deface Ramon’s portrait

Leon looks at a portrait

Resident Evil 4 has a couple of requests worth taking on to help you trade for some sweet loot, but "The Disgrace of the Salazar Family" is perhaps the most satisfying. The note to start this quirky sidequest can be found hanging right by the gondola at the beginning of Chapter 12, and it asks you to deface the portrait of Ramon Salazar in the throne room of the castle. It's an odd request for a survival horror game, but if we're being frank, the little jerk has it coming. We'll tell you where to find his portrait and how to deface it.
How to find and deface Ramon's portrait
Ramon's portrait is found in the throne room of the castle, which means you'll need to do a bit of backtracking through some areas you've previously visited. You'll also run into a handful of challenging foes as you pass through the areas leading back to the throne room, so be prepared to put up a fight.

When you finally reach the throne room, you'll find Ramon's portrait hanging on the left wall of the room – a much smaller portrait compared to the others found on the back wall. Your first instinct may be to start slashing away at it with your knife or shooting bullets into his smug face, but the way to complete this request is actually a little more fun and juvenile than that.

Gaming

Resident Evil 4: all Blue Medallion locations

Leon holding a gun in Resident Evil 4.

As in the original game, blue request notes are scattered throughout the remake of Resident Evil 4, each asking you to track down and shoot five blue medallions in the respective area. Doing so is worth the effort, too, as you'll be able to earn Spinels as a reward, which you can then use for trading with the merchant. So, if you're ready to round up all of the blue medallions, we'll tell you where you can find them below.
Request No. 1: Farm Blue Medallions
The request note for this challenge is found as you enter the farm area, where you'll see it hanging on a wall near the gate that must be opened after finding the wooden cog.

Blue Medallion No.1
From where you first enter the farm area, the first medallion is hanging on the small building to the right. It's in clear sight and hard to miss, but walk around and face it head-on before trying to shoot it.