A new trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Gollum left a vocal portion of the fandom concerned about the upcoming game, adding to the existing skepticism surrounding the project. The latest promo dropped weeks after Daedalic Entertainment announced a new release window for LOTR: Gollum.Announced in early 2019, Gollum was initially slated for a 2021 release before slipping into 2022, when it was delayed twice more. While few fans were expecting it to challenge for the title of the highest-rated The Lord of the Rings game ever, those consecutive postponements added to the initial doubts about Gollum's ability to carry a game.RELATED: New Lord of the Rings Gollum Trailer Shows Off Middle-Earth, Gandalf, and MoreThose concerns seem to have been exacerbated by the March 9 debut of the latest LOTR: Gollum trailer, with many fans now once again questioning the decision-makers responsible for greenlighting the project. Apart from the fact that Gollum doesn't exactly give off protagonist energy, a portion of the fandom also argued that diluting his story with an original adventure is redundant, positing that Tolkien already gave him a perfectly complete character arc. Others have taken online to voice their disappointment with the fact that the protagonist isn't voiced by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in LOTR movies. Others still took aim at the fact that even this latest trailer offered little in the way of actual gameplay beyond "1-second snapshots," as one fan put it, which—four years from the game's original announcement—they found frustrating. For clarity, the developers did reveal plenty of LOTR: Gollum gameplay details in the past, but only in writing.

Beyond the fact that many fans are taking to social media to express their skepticism about LOTR: Gollum, the game's latest trailer also appears to be struggling with gaining the simplest form of online traction, likes. For example, the trailer post from the game's official Twitter account had a 0.53% like ratio across over 230,000 impressions in its first four hours. Meanwhile, the like ratio of the new promo on YouTube was in the 4% ballpark during this same period.

YouTube audience approval rates of game trailers can vary wildly, so direct comparisons aren't always easy or possible. That said, one relevant reference point illustrating how Gollum's YouTube reception isn't as bad as the eye test suggests is the latest Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty "Next Gen Immersion Trailer," which had similar timing and viewership traction, while also centering on a game with a sizable marketing budget; that particular video currently has half the Gollum trailer's like ratio despite featuring a fairly popular, non-controversial game by comparison. Furthermore, there are still cautiously optimistic takes on the game to be found on social media, many of which denounced the current criticism as needlessly cynical bandwagoning.

Whether LOTR: Gollum ends up proving its doubters wrong or not, existing fans skeptical of the project can at least take some solace in the fact that this isn't the last The Lord of the Rings game planned to debut in the foreseeable future. Arguably the most exciting prospect out of those upcoming titles is a AAA Middle-Earth game that's currently in development by New Zealand-based Weta Workshop, targeting a tentative 2024 release.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2023.

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Source: GollumGame / Twitter, PlayStation / YouTube