The Lord of the Rings: Gollum first gameplay footage revealed at the Future Games Show

The first gameplay footage for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, exclusively revealed during the Future Games Show Spring Showcase,   gives you a look at Gollum in action as he navigates his way through a level in Barad-dur Tower. 

Shown during the Future Games Show pre-show, this is the first time you get to see just how you'll be playing as Gollum in the upcoming adventure set in Middle Earth from developer and publisher Daedalic Entertainment. 

You meet Gollum just after he's escaped from a pit of spiders that are hot on his heels. In the sprawling level based on the famous Barad-dur Tower, which is the fortress of Sauron, you get to see how Gollum can traverse through the area. With free-style climbing and a stamina metre, you can jump, climb, hang, and swing through the environment, and use Gollum's agility and small stature to your advantage as you try to avoid Orcs and make your way out of the tower. 

The scale of the level shows how you can take different approaches to successfully escape and avoid your enemies. Light and darkness, as well as noise, plays a key part in your success. Taking the shadows will allow you to take your enemies by surprise, for example. Any action or movement Gollum does will also generate noise, so you'll have to keep a watchful eye on your surroundings and the whereabouts of any patrolling foes. 

We also get to see more of Greshneg, a character who Gollum encounters and grows attached to. The pair join forces part way through the level, with strengths of their own that play to each other's advantage - Greshneg's larger size and strength can help our protagonist get through obstacles, and Gollum can navigate through the darkness. 

While brief glimpses and screenshots of the upcoming adventure with Smegol have been revealed, this is the first time we've gotten to see gameplay footage and the sorts of actions we can take. with an impressive level design and several ways to try and escape from the tower, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum looks set to bring us a stealthy, action adventure that will bring some of the locales of Middle Earth to life.

For more on what to expect from this year, check out our new games guide.

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at GamesRadar+. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.