There’s no fantasy world more perfect for a cute life-sim than the Shire. Often I’ve dreamed of living among the hobbits with my only worry being when the next meal is. While there’s some nice ideas in Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, its repetition starts to show after a few hours. Its hook is definitely the franchise it is built into. Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard game that never hits the same exciting stride of Animal Crossing: New Horizons or Stardew Valley.
After arriving in Bywater by way of the Prancing Pony, you find yourself with a rundown home and a lack of understanding of how the folks live their lives. Your main goal in Tales of the Shire is to make sure Bywater gets recognised as a village. To do so, you must improve your relationships with other hobbits, cook various meals and forage for ingredients, fish, and complete quests given to you by the inhabitants of the village. It’s all familiar territory for those that love the genre.
The early hours of Tales of the Shire are peaceful and enjoyable. I adore the worlds Tolkien created, with the Shire being at the top of the list. It looks beautiful, with its sun beating down on such a colourful and natural environment. There are plenty of townsfolk milling about and living their daily lives. It gives off so many peaceful and positive vibes that I had a wonderful time learning the game’s mechanics, from the fundamental fishing minigames to growing crops. However, the best of all is preparing meals.
A big part of life in Bywater is preparing meals for villagers and inviting them round to indulge in them. There are a lot of meals to learn throughout Tales of the Shire. Each one requires different ingredients with a plethora of ways to prepare. Each recipe has a sweet spot for how smooth or crunchy it needs to be, as well as how crispy or tender it needs to be. Chopping ingredients and using your frying pan is how you achieve the perfect meal. Once done, it’s time to prepare your feast for others.
I wish all the minigames were as enjoyable as cooking. Unfortunately, they’ll all fairly basic. With other life sims, you fall into a satisfying routine. I never quite felt that with Tales of the Shire. En-route to betting Bywater recognised as a village, you have to do plenty of fetch quests and go somewhere only to be told you need to go elsewhere. Rinse and repeat. Over and over again. It becomes repetitive and takes away from the enjoyment you could have had more focus had gone into the fundamentals of hobbit life.
Despite some of its stripped back mechanics and its chilled approach to the genre, Tales of the Shire is a love letter to J.R.R. Tolkien. There’s plenty of lore found in every corner, from references to the wider world, characters from the book making an appearance, and being able to walk through the doors of The Green Dragon Inn. There will be players who enjoy this approach. It’s easy to turn on for thirty minutes and do a couple of tasks, go for a walk, and take in the peaceful and beautiful locations. That said, even on PS5 Pro there are pretty bad performance issues with the frame rate seemingly massively inconsistent and making it rough on the eyes.
It won’t keep you playing for as long as Animal Crossing, and it lacks deeper mechanics to fend of repetition, but it’s still plenty of fun. Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game honours the lore of the books and offers a genuinely enjoyable experience, especially when it simply requires you to build friendships and learn about the fellow hobbits instead of grinding for in-game currency to unlock everything.
