The Lord of the Ringsis all about the call of adventure and duty beyond the comfort of home, butTales of the Shireis a Middle-Earth game for those who would rather resist the call. Developed by Wētā Workshop and published by Private Division,the game replaces full-scale battles with trials like nailing the consistency of a stew. It’s squarely positioned as a part of the burgeoning cozy game market, focusing on all the mundane parts of life but making them charming and attractive in the way that only a video game can.
In advance of a Hobbit Day stream forTales of the Shire,Screen Ranthad the opportunity to see how the first 90 minutes ofTales of the Shireplay out. As a game that unfolds at your own pace, what might be accomplished in that snippet of time can vary wildly. There’s certainly plenty to do inthe village of Bywater, however, andthe preview largely served as the kind of appetizer that makes second breakfast sound even more appealing.
Some Awkward Elements Don’t Sink The Visual Appeal
Beautiful Environments & Odd Hobbits
Tales of the Shireopens with a character creator screen, and the aesthetic of the game already establishes itself here as something that’s bound to be divisive.Characters bear a passing resemblance to intentionally lumpy clay creations, with slightly comical posture and cartoonish animations. The overall package mixes charming choices with odd decisions, like the prevalence of heavy eyeliner that makes hobbits and gray wizards alike look runway-ready.
The best visual aspects of the game are found in the lush environments of the Shire, where painterly texture work and layered vegetation take the lead. Sunlight dapples across softly blended colors to excellent effect, bringing the scene to life in a way that plenty of games gunning for higher fidelity struggle to achieve. A revamped approach to sunrise and sunset could highlight these strengths, as the transition periods are currently little more than gray, and some work on character shadows would make them blend in more naturally.
Minimal Hand-Holding Makes Questing Fun
Mundane Tasks Are Better With Some Trust
I spent much of my 90 minutes with the game running back and forth across this landscape, partly with the intent of sightseeing but mostly for the purpose of quest completion. Refreshingly,Tales of the Shiredoesn’t lock its early content into a linear run of straight tutorialization. Although many of the early tasks are instructive, they quickly spread into an array of side quests to allow a flexible approach, and there’s nothing stopping Bywater’s newest resident from taking a break from an unexciting fetch quest to focus on something else.
Tales Of The Shire Hands-On Preview: The Cozy LOTR Life Sim Fans Didn’t Know They Needed
Screen Rant went hands on with Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game at SGF to learn more about the upcoming cozy cooking game.
Rather than a quest indicator overlaid onto the screen,blue birds that fly around the village take the role of guideposts, settling on nearby props to point their beaks in the proper direction. The constant flapping about can seem a bit much at times, but it’s a wonderfully creative and surprisingly well-implemented approach that I definitely prefer. It also has the benefit of pointing out the proper paths, which helps bandage over one missing feature - there’s no jumping inTales of the Shire, despite the environments feeling well-suited for it.
Varied Mechanics Support A Social Sim Experience
It’s More About Friends Than Anything
Tales of the Shireisn’t branding itself around any one facet of the gameplay, andelements like fishing and gardening are perfectly engaging but less immediately compellingthan in games that focus on them. One mechanic that does seem primed to be a lot of fun is house decoration, as objects can largely be placed in a freeform manner. At the start of the game, the player character’s home is run-down and cluttered, so fixing it up and finding a new sense offeng shuicould be a lot of fun if the decor options are strong.
The main selling point, however, lies in Bywater’s social life, and this aspect of the game sneaks its way into all the others. Quests are handed out through letters from village personalities, and meals are used as the bait to invite guests over, a payoff for a mildly interesting cooking system. How interesting the social element remains across a whole playthrough will depend on the number of unique interactions, especially when it comes to progressing relationships with other villagers.
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So far, all the conversations seem nice enough, andseveral characters stick out thanks to distinct personalities. A merchant with a flair for scamming and a fisherman who can’t remember the player character for more than a minute at a time proves thatTales of the Shireisn’t dedicating itself to a cast without flaws or struggles, although everything still lingers in the realm of general pleasantry that cozy games are known for. I’d like to see it embrace some layered material, but plenty of genre fans would prefer to stick to escapism, and either direction could theoretically work out.
Final Thoughts On Tales Of The Shire’s Preview
The Core Elements Are All In Place
Attaching any project toThe Lord of the Ringsdoes inflict a high standard of comparison upon it, andTales from the Shire’s idyllic focus might be almost as limited asLOTRgames that glorify war in a decidedly un-Tolkien way. Within that context, though, it’s a nice presentation of the Shire’s charms. The Bywater setting prevents it from relying too much on reference to familiar characters and places (still there, but not egregiously so), and those unfamiliar with the source material are likely to find it just as compelling.
Tales of the Shirewas previously delayedfrom a planned 2024 release to a 2025 one, but the early hours of the game already seem to be in generally good shape. Although performance could likely use some more fine-tuning, no obvious bugs showed up in the course of gameplay, and the only particularly awkward elements were a couple of conversations that teleported locations abruptly. In most regards,Tales of the Shireseems to be what it says on the tin, and anyone who finds the concept and presentation attractive may very well enjoy its charms.
Screen Rantwas provided with a PC download code for the purpose of this preview.
Source:Tales of the Shire/YouTube
