The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has launched in a pretty rough state this week, and it's led to some scathing reviews of Daedalic's new LOTR adventure - including a 2/10 from our sister site Push Square. The good news is that the team has at least acknowledged the game's poor reception and is "committed" to improving the experience.
In a fairly lengthy apology note on Twitter, the dev team has apologised for how the game plays at launch, saying that it "deeply regrets" that the title hasn't met player expectations.
"We would like to sincerely apologize for the underwhelming experience many of you have had with The Lord of Rings: Gollum upon its release. We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community. Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment this may have caused.
Our goal as a studio, and as passionate The Lord of the Rings fans, has always been to tell a compelling and immersive story-driven adventure. Crafting a story with Middle-earth as our playground has been the greatest honor – and the biggest challenge we have faced so far.
At Daedalic, we understand that a game's success relies on the enjoyment and satisfaction of its players. 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.
Our development team has been working diligently to address the bugs and technical issues many of you experienced. We are committed to providing you with patches that will allow you to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.
Once again, we deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused, and we appreciate your understanding during this time. We will continue to keep you updated on our progress and provide transparent communication regarding the upcoming patches and improvements. Your passion and dedication as players have been the driving force behind our determination to make things right.
Thank you for your support."
This sort of transparency is good to see at least, and we do feel for the devs a little bit given how much work has gone into creating The Lord of the Rings: Gollum over multiple years of development. Still, folks have paid good money for this title, and some effective patches are needed to make this an enjoyable experience for players.