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Since the enemy NPCs are incredibly dumb, you don't really need to get creative with how you approach stealth segments, which is counterintuitive to how stealth should really work. You can hide in shadows and under specific objects, you can interact with very infrequent things and throw rocks to briefly distract enemies, and when the right moment arises, you can overwhelm and throttle singular enemies to death - although this takes some time and makes a lot of noise. As you'd imagine, stealth is a massive part of this game, but it's not stealth like Hitman or even The Last of Us, it's very fundamental and barely feels like a serious gameplay feature. Gollum is not a strong or courageous character, meaning you are always skulking about and attempting to use cunning to outwit the dangers that oppose you. Since the narrative and dialogue options aren't particularly well realised, it puts a huge amount of pressure on the actual gameplay, and this is one of most frustrating parts of the game entirely. For a title that intends to captivate with an engaging narrative, you'd expect something more to the same calibre of Uncharted, where the plot is always moving forward and taking you to new areas and locations, and yet LotR: Gollum seemingly wants you to feel like the ugly and deformed titular creature: like a prisoner with no escape. There are a few moments that use differing gameplay methods, like a Crash Bandicoot-style running segment when attempting to escape Shelob, but these are far and few between. It makes you wonder why that 40 seconds of travel time is even in the game, and why it's used so frequently, as it kills any momentum the title begins to generate.

You'll come across multiple occasions where Gollum is stuck in a prison car and is essentially unable to move, all before being thrown into a loading screen.

The level design is also strangely hands-off at times. And, while Gollum isn't a slave in the Mirkwood sections of the game, the same repetitive level design style applies. Spanning ten chapters in length, the first six are all dedicated to exploring pretty much the same dark and grim Mordor landscapes, as being a slave, Gollum is confined to the same areas for the most part. The narrative, as I just mentioned, explores the years (yes, years) that Gollum spent trapped as a slave of the Orcs in Mordor, and then as a prisoner of the Elves in Mirkwood.

Gollum lord of the rings gollum lord of the rings voice