REVIEW: Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game

Cottage-core at its finest

By Bennett Perry

In a rich franchise, with a kill count of countless goblins, uruks, and ogres, it’s a pleasant change to have a game where you settle conflict with a picnic and rhubarb pie. 

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game is a life simulator developed by Wētā Workshop – the same New Zealand company that did the costume design for all of The Lord of the Rings films – and published by Private Division.

Set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, you play as a new resident of the Hobbit village ‘Bywater’ as you move into a worn-out Hobbit-hole and thrust into the village’s affairs. The player’s main job is to do errands for other Hobbits and  keep up with day-to-day tasks like gardening, decorating your home, and stocking your near-bottomless pantry.

The main gameplay cycle consists of foraging, fishing, and farming ingredients to use for cooking; inviting your Hobbit neighbours to ‘second breakfast’ in your home; and then cooking the meals they crave before they arrive. The goal of having others over for a meal is to increase your relationship with them, which rewards you with more recipes with different flavours and ingredients. As your home and backyard open up further into the game, you can invite more Hobbits over for a larger feast. 

Though Bywater is a vibrant array of stores and people walking about, there are more NPCs you cannot interact with compared to those you can, and the clashing art style of the dull-eyed Hobbit and the picturesque world design of the village and surrounding nature makes the game feel a bit empty.

Not to mention, you’re never invited to other Hobbit-holes throughout the game; everyone has to meet at yours to get a meal. Tales of the Shire seems to have a case of ‘repetitious-videogame-design’-itis. But arguably, this disease is what makes it timeless for one reason: it is cottagecore for retirees. 

The game has no stamina or health bar, no monsters, and no worries. It’s not the best life simulator on the market, but it is the first game made by a team that knows the IP inside and out.

The game, however, is lacking a soundtrack reminiscent of Howard Shore’s score, The Shire. This is a sentiment shared by those who wanted to relive the ambience of Bag End from the trilogy. Instead, Tales of the Shire has a soft soundtrack accompanied by chirping birds and wind blowing through the fields, which, unfortunately, doesn’t match up with fan expectations. A strong score would have enhanced the experience, if not made the experience a lot more whimsical. 

Tales of the Shire is an attempt to make a cosy game set in the most mundane part of Middle-Earth, and Wētā Workshop has succeeded in making it by developing the game to be more accurate to the source material, rather than simply copying other cosy game features. The player doesn’t need to run a successful business or set off on an unexpected journey – they just have to make friends with close-knit people to comfortably thrive in an isolated society.

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game hits Hobbit life as close as it can, but lacks what the fans of The Lord of the Rings and life-simulator games want. But it is cosy, mundane, and peaceful. Take it from Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of The Hobbit:

“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”