The Lord of the Rings is a cherished nerd franchise that received considerable love through its early video game adaptations. However, it’s been a long time since then, and the sour taste of 2023’s Gollum still rests in gamer’s mouths, which might make it difficult for us to open our hearts to a new adventure.
A New Chapter in the Lord of the Rings Universe
I’ll be the first to say that the reveal trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game was not a good introduction. The choppy visuals and evident pop-in was tough to watch in such an official capacity, but I think it’s important to give developers time to cook.
Don’t sleep on Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game.
Well, cook they did because after spending time with the early hours of Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game, I think there’s something special here that, with a little more love, can become a standout release in this cozy genre.
Exploring the World of Bywater
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game is set in the hobbit village of Bywater. You have decided to join the village’s efforts to grow, and your adventure begins. While there’s a familiar face in this introduction, the opening moments have you explore the town while introducing the other hobbits, but everything seems to have a familiar undertone. It’s as if I’ve been here before, maybe in my imagination, but the watercolor-esque designs of the environement and soft palette of colors where the light browns sort of blend with greens and yellows give an almost dream-like quality to the entire experience.
An Immersive Hobbit Experience
I was surprised at how big Weta Studio was going with this town. They’ve given themselves room to immerse the player in a genuinely gorgeous world I didn’t know was here.
Weta Studio has crafted a genuinely gorgeous world I didn’t know was here.”
The gameloop follows the life of a Hobbit. With no natural enemies and plenty of work to be done, a Hobbit’s life isn’t on easy street.
The Day-to-Day Life of a Hobbit
While the opening drips a nice feed of quests that introduce some townspeople and surrounding areas, you’ll soon have access to a nice pool of optional quests and ways to spend your time. Interestingly, each day, the NPC Hobbits have their own responsibilities, so planning your days can also include understanding the schedules of the others to be more proficient. At least, that was my thought process going into the game, intending to get through it as quickly as possible.
A Hobbit’s life is busy, but it’s never rushed.
As I slowed down to smell the roses, fish by the stream, skip through Bywater, and sit for a second breakfast, I realized Tales of the Shire doesn’t want you to speed through this experience. A Hobbit’s life is busy, but it’s never rushed. So, I organized my quests around what I wanted to do, such as customizing my Hobbit hole and farm. The customization options have depth and allow players to add their personal touch to the town.
Customization and Personalization in the Shire
Other unique systems are the birds that fly into the screen and point you in the right direction. I honestly thought this system was gimmicky, but it works surprisingly well, and I openly wanted to rely on the birds rather than opening my map for the added immersion.
Potential Areas for Improvement
Although I think the developers are on the right track from what I’ve seen at the reveal, there’s so much potential in giving each of the townspeople an ounce of personality. Currently, you have the main cast, but non-interactable NPCs are walking around, too. I’d like Weta Workshop to take a page out of the Falcom textbook and give these NPCs a purpose if only because the immersion that the team is trying to capture is dimmed when a text bubble appears over an NPC’s head with something that has nothing do to with what is going on. Further, the character creator could use more facial options, and I wish I could hot-key four tools at once instead of switching out one tool from a wheel.
All this to say, the delay to March 2025 is a great thing for Tales of the Shire.
The Future of Tales of the Shire
Still, these cozy sim life games rely heavily on their late-game quests and customization. I’d hate for these systems to go to waste because the questlines become repetitive or the NPCs fail to impact the narrative. This is an enormous undertaking from this studio, but from what I’ve seen, they know what they’re doing. I can’t wait to plan out my Elevenses meals with my Hobbit friends. That’s right, I didn’t touch on the Atelier-esque cooking system. Oh well, beyond the scope of this preview where I just wanted to say, don’t sleep on Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game.
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on March 25, 2025.
