I should caveat all of this by saying I don't care at all about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Lord of the Rings, and don't play a lot of life sims. The fact I need those two very broad caveats should clue you in on my feeling of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tales of the Shire. I got my hands on The Lord of the Rings spin on the genre at 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Summer Game Fest, and I wish I knew more about Lord of t✃he Rings to offer some cutting Tolkien quote about 🔴being underwhelmed here.
It started off easily enough, dropping us in near the start of the game after the character creator, and I𓆉 suppose the slower opening can be forgiven for what is a fairly chill ඣgame about making a cosy little hobbit hole. After some chatter with the local postie, we were tasked with making a pie. Pick some ingredients (at the start of the game, only the right choices are available), put them in a pot, and the dish is served.
I'm told that the cooking can grow more complicated as the game goes on - different ingredients can be picked to make dishes sweet, spicy, or salty, or dipped in honey or pickled, as well as chopped or sauteed to make dishes smoother or more tender. Told, and then immediately shown as the demo skips ahead to deeper into the game where another hobbit asks me to prepare a menu for the Prancing Pony, creating a starter, entree, and dessert that retells the story of Bilbo. Except at first it asks me to make a starter, so I walk back home, make the dish, then walk back to the quest giver, then back home for the entree, make the dish... and so on.
I asked at this point if it was a restaurant sim, to which I was told 'no', as there are plenty of other activities like fishing, gardening, gathering, and decorating, none of which were shown off in the demo. So undoubtedly, that makes it a bad demo, to show the same thing four times and ignore everything else in the game. But is it a bad game? The jury is still out given the very specific view of the game I saw, but I'd have to lean towards 'yes' there.
Despite only being asked to go from one place to another six times over to cook dishes with ingredients I already had in my inventory, I was able to wander off the beaten path a little. I gathered up some herbs, though always the same one. This is in part because of the seasonal mechanic, and likely due to staying along the path between my two locations, but that's still not a great deal of variety.
Fishing, meanwhile, operated on a fairly standard system of keeping the meter in the centre and pulling back to land the fish without it veering away. Not difficult, but just involved enough to require concentration, which is the sour spot for a mindless activity you might want to repeat often - I didn't see the compendium to check how many fish there were.
The 'sprint' button is actually a 'frolic' button. I think that's neat.
But a central part of the game, aside from the cooking that is clearly being emphasised as a selling point, is the decoration. Here, I think it's a little too loyal to being a Lord of the Rings game. Every item available at the carpenter was some variation of brown wood, with nothing interesting at all. Customising the floor and the wall of the hobbit hole only offered shades of brown too, occasionally adding the 'flair' of alternate wood grain. There's no real ability to express yourself, which feels like a major downside for a life sim, especially one in a world some will be so desperate to imprint themselves on.
There could be some critique of the overall idea of the game - Tolkien's work is ultimately about the adventures away from the Shire, not the monotony of life inside it - but I do believe there is a place for a cosy game set within Middle-earth (Note to self: do Hobbits live in Middle-earth? Look that up then stop caring immediately). I'm just not sure Tales of the Shire is it when it seems to play things so safe. Maybe it should heed the call of adventure itself a little.
Tales of the Shire could have potential beneath the surface level gameplay I saw at Summer Game Fest, but I'm not sure I can see it. If this is the life of a hobbit, I can see why Bilbo and Frodo left.
Tales o𓃲f the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game
- Released
- July 29, 2025
- Developer(s)
- 🎉 Wētā Workshop
- Publisher(s)
- ಌ 🃏 Private Division
- Franchise
- The L🦄ord of the🎀 Rings
- Number of Players
- 1
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- July 29, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- July 29, 2025
From the creative studio, Wētā Workshop, live the cosy life of a Hobbit in the wonderfully serene landscape of the Shire. Discover, decorate, and share in this idyllic corner of Middle-earth. Join friendly Hobbits and familiar faces awaiting your arrival in Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings™ Game.
Create your own Hobbit as you set forth in Bywater. Though not yet established as an official village in Hobbiton, play a part in helping the quaint town flourish. Greet comfort at the door as you decorate your own Hobbit hole, tend to your garden, fish at the clear ponds, forage wild fruits and herbs, or trade with townsfolks. Prepare homemade meals to share with fellow Hobbits and foster relationships.
With much to see and lots more to eat, enjoy days of splendor in the picturesque forests, lakes, and pastures.
Unwind in the place where what matter⭕s most are all the little things. Help bring the community together to achieve village status in Bywater. Experience delight in Tales of the Shi😼re: A The Lord of the Rings™ Game.
