I think the price that a game dev's failures cost the consumer is a big factor. People might have only disliked Gollum if it cost $15 or $20 but the anger goes up with the price tag.

29:52 "How can you fuck up Pong??" - me, out loud, alone in my kichen, making pancakes

The irony of some of these comments is delicious lol

I appreciated this pretty even handed take. There’s more that could be said for sure, particularly the struggle between respecting developers as artists and respecting customers as, well, customers, but being able to see the good in something bad (and vice versa) is an important critical tool that frankly I think we all abandon at least sometimes. There’s a lot to be said for the damage that “engagement metrics” have done to social media and interaction as a whole.

Funnily enough the other person I saw defending the studio if not the game was one of the OG “angry video game men”, Yahtzee. He too felt the sheer level of vitriol was unwarranted, especially when compared to other arguably worse AAA examples, and applauded the effort to aim higher. Even if they landed on their face.

oh wow you actually made me feel sad about gollum. Its just a cute little bird being friends with a cute, malformed, mentally scarred little hobbit and now he betrays him.

Kind of shame that the game's potential was not met, because i think the ending would have left a mark on those who played it.

Thanks for giving me a perspective i lacked. Always enjoy your more moderate view in the torrent of black/white perspectives.

My man you DID NOT just make me shed a tear for the The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023) videogame ending!!!

The section about the narrative of Gollum was really touching. I’ve watched several videos on the game, but yours was the first to take time to highlight the narrative’s potential. Phenomenal work! The empathetic reflectivity of your scripts really gives your content a unique voice 😊

Crazy how many YouTubers just release well edited hour plus long videos like this and people consider it normal. Well done

It is very telling that, even though I've heard lots of people talk about Gollum, this is literally the first time I'm hearing about the ending.

I just want to take a minute to appreciate people like you in the algorithm

In a sea of content creators just following the "gaming is ruined" trend, there's people like you who are actually rationally thinking about bad stuff in the gaming industry without letting it coat your entire view

Thank you so much for making this video

I didn't know the developers that made Gollum were also responsible for Deponia, sort of heartbreaking honestly.

I think a part of why "Top 10 worst games of X" lists are more popular than their positive counterpart is as you mentioned that there simply aren't ever that many competitors for best game every year, and hearing someone rattle off a list of 10 obvious picks like Baldur's Gate 3 and Spider man 2 just isn't that interesting while every worst game list is going to contain something weird you've never heard of before.

Your sympathy + the story of Gollum genuinely made me feel something. Good work mate

"The bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
Anton Ego

Great video, as always

13:45 "I just destroyed a studio. With my freaking writing! Ha ha!"

Between this video and your video about Emil, I’m incredibly grateful I don’t get videos from the toxic hot take creators in my feed. I’ve had them in my TTRPG feed, and I just block them. I hate that this is the content that people enjoy most. Thank you for being the rational mind.

Better question, why am I obsessed with your videos ?

The name "GameMill Entertainment" should tell you everything you need to know about their games 😂

I do wish more people would recognize and/or accept that [games, movies, music, shows, etc] can be bad but also be fun at the same time.  "This is terrible" and "I loved this" are not mutually exclusive statements

It's a HUGE shame Daedalic closed because of Gollum. The studio has made SO many great indie games; The Deponia series, The Whispered World, The Night of the Rabbit, Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth, Anna's Quest, The Dark Eye, The Edna & Harvey games, and others, many of which, several huge Youtubers have made Let's plays of and given great reviews. It's incredibly unfair that having one game flop was enough to shut down this otherwise very loved studio.

Similarly to how The Lord of the Rings itself makes you feel pity for Gollum despite his failings, your video made me feel pity (and even a little admiration) for the Gollum video game!