First screenshots of PS5 and Xbox Series X Lord of the Rings game published

The first screenshots of next-gen Lord of the Rings game Gollum have been published.

Developed by German company Daedalic Entertainment, Gollum is planned for release on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in 2021, according to local publication GameStar.

Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Gollum is described as a “sneaking game” with a typical scene seeing Gollum sneaking past orc guards and hiding under train carriages.

The game was first announced in March 2019, when Daedalic said it would “remain true to the vision laid out in J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and will also explore new events and details related to Gollum’s journey.”

Gollum is the first game of a new partnership between the German publisher and Middle-earth Enterprises, the company that handles licensing for Tolkien’s books.

The game’s story takes place during The Fellowship of the Ring and follows the path of Gollum and what happens before Frodo and his companions find him trailing them in the Mines of Moria.

“We’ll tell his story until he first shows up,” Daedalic co-founder Carsten Fichtelmann told VentureBeat in a 2019 interview. “Sometimes they mention some things that happen to Gollum, but nobody knows exactly what happened. That’s our task, explaining what exactly happened there.”

According to Fichtelmann, the title will attempt to portray the complex character of Gollum, with his two personas having an impact on gameplay.

“When you play Gollum, you’ll play Sméagol at the same time. You need to make some decisions, maybe some decisions that are more or less from Sméagol, and some that are from Gollum. You can decide for yourself what you’d like to see more,” Fichtelman said.

“When you decide some things, it could be—this is reflected in the mechanics. The game forces you to convince yourself and find one of these two positions. When it comes to other iconic characters in the universe, in Middle-earth, we’ll see what happens around Gollum.”