The Lord of the Rings: Gollum uses ray-tracing and more new features on PS5

Developer Daedalic Entertainment has revealed new details describing how The Lord of the Rings: Gollum will take advantage of the PS5.

In Official PlayStation Magazine 182 this past week, developer Jonas Husges offered some hints at how Gollum will work in tandem with the new tech on Sony's next-gen console. "Gollum’s actions become more tangible and his physical struggle when he runs out of stamina translates directly to the way the game is played," says Husges.

The comment from Husges points to the DualSense controller reacting in some way to Gollum's depleted stamina. NBA 2K21 boasts this feature through the PS5 DualSense controller, with more resistance being applied to the triggers when a player is tired and fatigued.

Husges then praises the PS5's SSD component, saying that it allows for vastly detailed, open areas to be fully explorable. The SSD also drastically decreases the loading times throughout The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, meaning it's a quick trip back to the latest checkpoint whenever Gollum meets an untimely end.

"Clean, ray-traced shadows allow for maximum effect in player guidance in building stealth passages while dynamic and moving light sources bring in the extra challenge when Gollum is roaming through the darkness," says Daedalic art director Mathias Fischer of the PS5's ray-tracing capabilities. "All these things, of course, have the nice side-effect of making the game feel vast, and such free roaming environments we are creating look as spectacular as Middle-earth deserves."

For some added information from Daedalic themselves on why they decided to go with Gollum as the protagonist for their new game, check out our Lord of the Rings: Gollum interview with Daedalic for more.

If you're still trying to reserve Sony's next-gen console after a hectic launch period, check out our PS5 deals guide for detailed information on predicted stock from various retailers.