The gaming-YouTuber Maximilian “HandOfBlood” Knabe (30) always gives his all for his videos. With his portrayal of Gollum in the eponymous game of The Lord of the Rings, he has now surpassed himself: Fans call it the role of his life.
What kind of game is it? The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is the latest game in the Tolkien universe and was released on May 25, 2023, receiving mostly negative reviews. Critics gave the adventure a disastrous rating of 34 (PS5) and 39 (PC) out of 100 points.
Players received Gollum even worse: It currently sits at a rating of 1.1 (PS5) and 2.4 (PC) out of 10 (via Metacritic). The gaming year is still young, but Gollum already made one of the most severe crashes of 2023.
However, this does not stop a YouTuber like HandOfBlood from daring to venture into Middle-earth as Gollum.
After the disappointment with Gollum, fans of the franchise still have the anticipation for Return to Moria.
HandOfBlood embodies Gollum frighteningly well
What kind of video was created? In the nearly 25-minute masterpiece, HandOfBlood slips into the role of Gollum and fully embraces it – except for brief interruptions when the back of the 30-year-old makes itself felt.
The YouTuber, a true method actor, who sometimes munches on cat food for his videos, once again gives it his all: starting with the costume, through the representation of the inner conflict between Sméagol and Gollum, to a somewhat disturbing facial expression.
It is also pleasant that HandOfBlood does not just dwell on the failure of the game and seems to have some fun at times. However, when due to a bug the next level is simply missing, the YouTuber can do nothing more and is released after allegedly 48 hours in the studio into freedom.
You can watch the whole performance here:
How was it received? HandOfBlood’s physical effort was rewarded with more than 750,000 views in 2 days, a spot in the YouTube trends, and numerous positive comments. Some of them we have gathered here for you:
- Thomas Müller praises: “The mix of let’s play, theater, and comedy is simply incredible. Even with the quality of Hänno’s videos, it is still a very nice unique offering.”
- Sray is sure: “For this role, Hänno has trained and toughened his body all his life.”
- Polita is amazed: “Oh my God, without joking: how incredibly well can Hänno imitate Gollum?! I find it not only highly amusing, but I’m really shocked at how good the impersonation is!”
Other fans praise the acting performance of the YouTuber and the effort he and his team put into the videos. Others joke that it is refreshing to see Hänno quite natural and unmade up.
The Hamburg studio Daedalic worked for 4 years on The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. It was supposed to be the biggest game from Germany in a long time. After the disappointing release, the developers apologized: they thanked for the criticism and are working on solutions.
