Ooof… sad for all those devs, but wow was that game was a mistake from the start
I think they had mostly worked on point-and-click games before Gollum. Clearly they weren’t ready to scale up to a project as large as a LoTR title. Sad to see though nevertheless.
Just the idea/concept felt off… someone should have asked why we need a whole game about a side-character that no one asked for
Eh, I get it. As popular as the brand is, I can understand studios being hesitant to take the main cast on a new adventure, since it’s not very believable with what they already do.
There can be an appeal to a “just a nobody” story in the same universe, but then the only thing you can rely on is the setting and brand recognition.
A side character turned main character let’s you “expand the universe” with a known character, and nest something with the existing story, without feeling like beating a dead horse in a fan-fic-esque revisit of the main cast.
I was curious with Gollum, how they’d make an interesting game with an engaging story about a generally unlikeable side character.
Turns out they didn’t. But it probably would’ve been very impressive if they had!
Honestly the developers were not skilled for this knowing their past pedigree. They should have ramped up with something a little more small scale before this. At the end of the day they have to bring home a paycheck to feed themselves and their family and hope they find a new job as swift as possible.
It’s unfortunate. I’ve enjoyed some of Daedalic‘a games but this one was so far out of their wheelhouse I’m surprised they got anything out. It’s like if ConcernedApe was developing the next Mortal Combat.
Wtf I didn’t realize that it was daedalic games
They have a lot of experience in 2d point and click games with limited 3d, a project like this is insane
Goodbye Deponia…
They only published the Point and Click games and they will continue to publish games. A new Deponia game (surviving Deponia) was just recently announced
No the point and click adventures where (often) developed in-house. They also served as a publisher for games by other studios but the Edna + Harvey series, the Deponia games, A new beginning, the whispered world and it’s sequel, the two The Dark Eye games and the adaptation of The Pillars of the Earth all came from internal teams.
Man the two the dark eye games (Chains of Satinav and Memoria) were really good point and click games with a good plot.
It’s sad really, the game had potential but it was very clearly undercooked and over ambitious considering the studios past. That’s a lot of developers who will be out of a job, have to feel for them.
Did it, though? Do people really want to play as gollum? I think it only did as “well” as it did because of how hilariously bad it was, but who the heck ever said “I kinda want to play as one of the most pathetic villains ever created?”
Stealth games are a popular genre and I personally find the character of Gollum to be quite compelling and I think it could have been done well, but it obviously wasn’t.
I do a pretty accurate Gollum impression and have entertained friends with it at great length and sometimes to their annoyance so maybe I relate to the character more than is usual but I can’t be the only one.
I’m not a Lord of the Rings fan(in fact I’ve only seen the 1st movie) but I can’t imagine that their is much actual coherent plot in a game about a side character.
There is so much more that most people are not aware of that it isn’t so hard. This was based on the Unfinished Tales. Despite being a side character, Gollem has an interesting story arc and he is important leading up to the events that made it into the films. The dual personality thing is also somewhat unique, he isn’t completely evil.
As a story, I think it would have been better received closer to when the films were released, when the character was more popular and more normal people might have been interested (bonus, expectations for video game quality were lower 2003).
Someone I trust said that the Elvish dialogue that they charge extra for is badly pronounced and so garbled that it’s not even intelligible most of the time. Mismanaged?
