Gollum, 2023’s worst game, just got a pretty big patch

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, one of the worst games of the yearreceived a massive update on July 27th that addressed several issues across all platforms.

Developer Daedalic Entertainment shared the update on the game’s Steam store pagethank you all for your patience. Some of the overall fixes of update 2.2 revolve around performance issues, as deep learning supersampling (DLSS), a video rendering technique powered by AI, was turned off. This is set to “auto” by default to prevent hacking, primarily on PC. Other major issues included quest markers that would randomly disappear and interactable objects suddenly becoming non-interactable. Both of these issues have been fixed in the patch.

Read more: Review: Worst Game of 2023, Gollumhas entered the chat

There were plenty of other problems with Gollum, also. For example, the camera would get stuck on walls or inside Gollum himself, spin endlessly around the environment, or shake continuously after certain enemy encounters – all of which have been fixed with update 2.2. Missing environments were put back in place, unfortunate progress blocks—such as one that killed Gollum during the beetle conflict early in the game—were cleared out, “required checkpoints” that weren’t there have been established, and localization issues were fixed. All in all, update 2.2 seems to do the trick Gollum a more playable experience.

Kotaku contacted Daedalic Entertainment for comment.

Read more: Gollum Studio stops developing games after its dismal release

It’s all good news. Gollum was universally drawn when it launched on May 25. From its abysmal controls to its bland user interfacethe game was so derided for all its problems that Daedalic Entertainment not only apologized for the “overwhelming experience” Gollum presented and promised to address the problems, but the development arm of the German studio closed on June 30, reports the German news magazine Game economy– and confirms Kotaku in an email — that 25 of its 90-plus-person team had been affected.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum Update 2.2 Patch Notes

• Adjusted DLSS default mode from “off” to “auto” to prevent stuttering and performance issues when playing with RTX without DLSS.
• Fixed a low reproducibility bug where parts of the environment could be missing.
• Fixed an issue where quest markers could disappear after continuing from the main menu.
• Fixed an issue where interactable objects become uninteractable after restart.
• Fixed bugs in the checkpoint system to improve the stability of the titles and remove annoying gameplay bugs
• Fixed the bird losing the player’s chosen color in the breeding mission.
• Fixed the clock in “Thranduil’s Halls – Cellars” being placed before the player placed it.
• Fixed a broken interactable object in “Thranduil’s Halls – Cellars.”
• Fixed a conditional block that caused Gollum to die if restarted during the beetle conflict.
• Fixed an unresponsive situation where the pause menu overlapped a Game Over screen.
• Fixed the issue of losing mouse focus when opening settings.
• Fixed a blockage in the light tower where the guard could see the player after spawning.
• Increased the chase radius of the “Cruel Woman” chase to prevent save games where the player can’t keep up anymore.
• Fixed an issue with locked camera in the wagon sequence in “The Sewers”.
• Improved bird training spy mission and morning visit, fixing several bugs.
• Fixed missing environment issues in “Tower of Light.”
• Fixed gears spinning in random directions.
• Fixed nervous hands performance behavior.
• Adjusting DLSS mode and sharpness when loading a save from a previous version.
• Fixed background sequence causing blocking behavior in sewers.
• Overall fixes to background sequences.
• Fixed a Game Over screen in the tutorial when restarting from the main menu during the chase sequence.
• Fixed a possible bypass in Tower of Light Day 6 that caused a block.
• Fixed a softlock in Shadow Mountains when jumping off a cliff during a checkpoint.
• Added required checkpoint to Great Hall’s Low Day 1.
• Fixed malfunction trigger in Beast Pits Day 3.
• Fixed menu issue not responding after exiting Gamma settings.
• Fixed the sub-level issue in the Black Pits wagon mission.
• Halls of Ground & Execution Chambers – fixed and adjusted rotating wheels.
• Fixed extra camera shake.
• Gollum Groom is now properly covered in translucency while still respecting DOF and refraction.
• Fixed ability to finish the sewers without killing both orcs.
• Fixed some localization issues.
• Fairly excessive camera rotation during frame loss.
• Fixed the issue of no sound in the cutscene of Cook’s death.
• Fixed KingsGrove missing sublevel when escape orcs mission started.
• Fixed tutorial checkpoint issue in chase mission.
• Fixed German conflict menu selection being displayed as French.
• Fixed several VO subtitle inconsistencies.
• Fixed pause menu not working after first loading the game.
• Update animation mode when Gollum is pushed by another character in crouch mode.
• Added missing “Hold” to food tutorial in German and both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
• Fixed a blockage in Mines Day 2 where the environment would unload before reaching the 3rd tunnel.
• Redundant collectibles have been removed for final levels.
• Fixed unresponsive puzzle door in Ruins Outside when loading from main menu.
• Fixed blocked progress after the gas manual when restarting from a checkpoint.
• Fixed Gollum floating at the beginning of Chapter 2.
• Fixed a softlock in the Outer Gardens where Gollum would be spotted immediately after spawning.
• Dissolved Gollum remains in shadow form even after leaving the shadow volume.
• Fixed softlock in “Queen Cascades” where it is possible to avoid quest dialog when loading checkpoint.
• Fixed missing Mell water spot VFX when loading checkpoint.
• Fixed missing Grashneg lantern issue when loading checkpoints in Shelob’s Lair.
• Fixed map/collect screen not responding when open/close button spamming buttons are spammed.
• Improved NPC navigation around Gollum.
• Fixed a conditional blocking when returning from Haze Gate.
• Kings Grove – fixed incorrect quest marker when loading checkpoint.
• Fixed incorrect spawn location, direction and missing quest marker at a specific checkpoint in the finale.
• Fix for wall driving not always triggering correctly.
• Riverpath fixed the issue of invisible 2 elves at the end of the level.
• NorthTower flying platform room enhanced visual effects.
• Fixed a conditional block in Breeding Hills when the spy mission NPC group became immobile.
• Added a missing Intuition Path and moved a misplaced Intuition Path in Riverpath.
• Fixed broken doorway in ruins outside when transitioning from the main menu.
• Fixed wrong visitor number in cells when returning with light to the chef.
• Fixed NPCs in Tower of Light Day 9 not paying attention to Gollum when returning from the main menu.
• Fixed punctuation in Lore Compendium.
• Fixed flickering input tip issue.
• Fixed the title not responding when opening the pause menu while selecting Gollum or Sméagol before the internal debate.
• Synchronized data for DLSS Support, Fidelity sets fx2 to 0 when DLSS Support is false.
• Fixed crashes in the North Tower when reloading a checkpoint and trying to interact with the game.
• Added missing localization files.
• Fixed swinging groom when game is paused.
• Fixed an issue in Bird Breeding where the Inquisitor would not move or play the dialogue when reloading a checkpoint.
• Fixed an unresponsive door puzzle block in Ruins Outside.
• Fixed issue where falling due to stamina loss while powering up a bar prevented Gollum from climbing afterwards.
• Fixed missing environment issue in Kings Garden on 2nd visit.
• Fixed misplaced damage volume in Kings Garden.
• Discarded input when the controller is disconnected.
• Added an input to close the message window for the disconnected device.
• Fixed the bush not restoring its state after reloading a checkpoint.
• Fixed missing environment in Mirkwood Chase when loading a checkpoint.
• Fixed a conditional crash in Miner on restart after retrieving the last badge.
• Fixed the delivery bridge environment in Sewer when reloading.
• Adjusted the incorrect Grashneg scale in Sewers.
• Fixed infinite Game Over screen in Construction Low when sweeping through a specific checkpoint.
• Fixed the incorrect state of the door when transitioning from Tower of Light to Bird Breeding.
• Fixed wrong camera spline in Shelob’s Lair during 2nd hunt.