‘The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’ Developer Apologizes for Disappointing Gameplay, Rotten Reception

thewrap.com:

Metacritic, making it one of the lowest-rated games of the year.While critics acknowledged there was merit to the game’s overarching story and characterization of Gollum, that was more or less where the compliments ended.

According to Metacritic, there hasn’t been a single mainstream positive review, with the cheeriest writeup being a “mixed” review by GamingTrend that emphasized the narrative’s efforts to balance out the game’s many middling aspects.Other critics derided the title’s dated mechanics, stale design choices, lack of identity and lack of technical polish.While most of those aforementioned qualms’ roots are baked into the DNA of the game and are unable to be altered post-launch, Daedalic Entertainment did take the time to share an apology for its product’s shortcomings to Twitter.A few words from the " The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ " team pic.twitter.com/adPamy5EjO“We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community,” the post reads. “Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment this may have caused.”It goes on to state the developers are already toiling away at patches to improve the game’s technical performance, though the post omits any reference to post-launch design pivots that would retool the title’s fundamental shortcomings, as defined by players.In reply to Daedalic’s tweet, one Twitter user posted a collection of many other developers and publishers’ recent apologies for poor game launches.Thanks, added it to the collection pic.twitter.com/bH0VnAfscMAs the user’s tweet illustrates, Daedalic is not the only game company to release a product in sub-par condition.