So here we were, just casually minding our own business on a Friday afternoon, and it was suddenly brought to our attention that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum launched on Xbox (and other platforms) exactly a year ago this Saturday.

Forgive us for shuddering a little bit when we hear that name, but wow... what a shame this turned out to be. This was a very poorly reviewed game that resulted in a bunch of terrible feedback, and worst of all, the closure of a dev studio.

Metacritic ended up officially calling this the worst game of 2023, but if the likes of TWD: Destinies and Skull Island: Rise of Kong had received more official reviews, there's a good chance Gollum would have come above them.

Nevertheless, it's clear that this just... didn't work. Game development is so incredibly difficult and requires a ton of things to align in order to create a great product, and sometimes that doesn't work out for whatever reason. We're sure many of the talented developers involved will be able to bounce back and apply their talents elsewhere in the future.

If You've Played It, What Do You Think Of LOTR: Gollum? (38 votes)

  1. It's actually way better than expected!11%
  2. It's not great, but it's not as bad as the reviews say21%
  3. It's pretty terrible to be honest68%

If You Haven't Bought It, Would You Ever Be Tempted? (120 votes)

  1. Yeah, I might just get it at full price!4%
  2. Maybe at half price I'll try it3%
  3. Only when it's down to like, £5 / $523%
  4. Even if it was free, I doubt I'd play it70%

Did you ever end up playing The Lord of the Rings: Gollum? Let us know down in the comments below.