The Lord of the Rings: Gollum released this week and was greeted with tons of negative reviews. The general consensus about the title is bad, with reviewers even asking the question “why was it even made?” Despite all of this, according to new rumors, the developer of the game, Daedalic, is already working on a completely new LOTR game.
The news comes from the German Ministry of Economy, who has graciously granted a whopping €2,036,663 for the upcoming LOTR game by Daedalic, codenamed It’s Magic. According to Daedalic, the new game, which is slated to release in 2024, will allow the player to be
“taken into a lush world full of mythical creatures and magic. It’s a story is told from the perspective of a character that has not been told before.”
To be honest, this sounds awfully similar to their description for the Gollum game. What the new game exactly is or who the central character in the game is going to be, no one has a clue. The German Ministry of Economy has offered the studio a heavy subsidy of 2 million Euros for this upcoming project, expected to release in August 2024.
According to the public entry of this project on the Ministry website,
“Daedalic is working on a new project that will transport the player into a lush world full of mythical creatures and magic. It tells a story from a character’s perspective that has never been told before. The player discovers completely new regions and influences the events of the world within the scope of his role and his abilities. He tries in his own way to influence the course of things and to change the fate of the world. This project is aimed at avid fans of the fantasy story and 3D action-adventure genres around the world.”
The gaming community is surprised by this decision, as the Daedalic has received nothing but poor reviews for their Gollum game. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, priced same as other major game releases of the year, such as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, God of War: Ragnarok, and Hogwarts Legacy, has quickly gained renown as the worst game of the year. However, according to the Ministry, this upcoming game by Daedalic was in development since 2022, and LOTR: Gollum was supposed to attract attention towards the LOTR-Daedalic collaboration. Truth be told, the developer indeed achieved their goals, just not in the way they would have hoped for.
Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany
