The Lord of the Ringshas been on a bit of a losing streak since 2017’sMiddle-earth: Shadow of War. 2023 brought twoLord of the Ringstitles, with the first being the infamously pannedGollum, and the second being the slightly better-receivedReturn to Moria. Now, after a few lengthy delays,Tales of the Shireis here, swinging open its brightly-painted Hobbit home doors and beckoning the world to feast on what it’s prepared.
Tales of the Shirehas an incredibly strong premise, with even its earliest 2023 trailers promising Tolkien fans the ultimate cozy Hobbit life-sim experience. Generally speaking,Tales of the Shirefulfills that promise fairly well, but its land of Hobbit whimsy isn’t without its fair share of evil invaders.
A Day in the Life of Bywater’s Newest Hobbit
Diving straight into the meat and potatoes of this hearty stew,Tales of the Shirefeatures a gameplay loop that will be familiar to just about anyone who’s played a life-sim before, particularly to those who’ve playedStardew Valley. Much likeStardew– and unlikeAnimal Crossing–Tales of the Shireuses a day/night cycle that lasts around 17 real-world minutes. These 17 minutes are split evenly between the game’s five daily periods: dawn, morning, afternoon, evening, and night.
During that cycle, players are given free rein over Bywater, a very small part of the Shire that’s home to 15 NPCs that can be interacted with regularly. These NPCs (mostly fellow Hobbits) give the player personal quests, take part in ongoing story missions, and run a handful of social clubs.
There are four of these clubs in total, each one focusing on a core pillar ofTales of the Shire’s gameplay loop: fishing, gardening, foraging, and cooking. An average in-game day ofTales of the Shirewill see players foraging for food, watering the crops in their garden, fishing in the local pond, and using all of those acquired resources to host shared meals in their Hobbit home that can be fully customized using a variety of furniture they’ve purchased or been given.
It’s a simple loop, but one that perfectly suits the life of Bywater’s newest Hobbit resident, and one that immediately feels quite cozy.
An Expected Journey
But even the coziest life-sims don’t last long without a hook to keep players invested, and thankfullyTales of the Shireisn’t afraid to dish out little incentives at a regular pace. The primary driving force behindTales of the Shire’s cozy Hobbit gameplay is a surprisingly lengthy story quest that sees the player working with the rest of the colorful cast to make Bywater an official village.
This central questline (and most of the game’s side quests for that matter) usually boils down to talking with an NPC, gathering a certain resource, or cooking a specific meal. It’s certainly not the most exciting gameplay loop on paper, but there’s enough narrative wrapping to keepTales of the Shire’s main quest intriguing for at least most of its duration.
Each main quest is bookended by a handful of story-driven character interactions. These interactions are mostly very charming, with some well-written dialogue that routinely cements each NPC’s distinct personality. Though, these interactions aren’t without their issues. There’s no voiced dialogue inTales of the Shire, and while that’s nothing out of the ordinary for the genre, the lack of sound effects during these character interactions can be jarring. For example, it’s very confronting to see an entire village of Hobbits staring at the camera and applauding in total silence.
ButTales of the Shiredoes try to mitigate this awkwardness through its plentiful use of lively character animations. Along with the occasional grunt or sigh, NPC Hobbits will clap their hands excitedly, cover their mouths in shock, give an enthusiastic thumbs up, and perform a suite of other charming animations whenever players interact with them, which goes a long way in keepingTales of the Shirefrom feeling bizarrely lifeless.
After about 10 hours or so, players will likely wrap upTales of the Shire’s main story, and begin its lengthy epilogue. In this epilogue, the aforementioned social clubs become the main event. Initially unlocked after around 4 hours or so,Tales of the Shire’s clubs allow players to assign themselves 10 tasks at a time. These tasks are always simple jobs, like foraging ‘X’ amount of a specific fruit or planting ‘X’ number of a specific type of seed.
But while the tasks themselves are rather mundane, their rewards should keep most players invested, at least for a little while. Whenever the player takes part in one ofTales of the Shire’s four core activities, they’re given some XP for the respective club. Players are given even more XP for completing a club task. This fuels a constant sense of progression inTales of the Shire, which is reinforced at every turn by a subtle but ever-satisfying on-screen icon that pops every time the player completes any task.
Earning XP will gradually increase the player’s overall club rank, of which there are a total of five for each club. Each rank-up gifts the player a substantial reward, such as an upgraded fishing rod, increased inventory space, and new parts of land surrounding their Hobbit home. It’s these major rewards that will keep players invested long after they finishTales of the Shire’s main story, acting as key milestones that clearly indicate and reward the player’s in-game efforts, à la the size of the player’s house inAnimal Crossing.
However, those rewards won’t mean much if players don’t vibe withTales of the Shire’s core mechanics.
Boil ‘Em, Mash ‘Em, Stick ‘Em In A Stew
Much like its quest design,Tales of the Shire’s core gameplay mechanics are simplistic but solid. Gardening sees players planting seeds and watering them daily, foraging is as easy as seeing something lying on the ground and picking it up, and fishing involves a brief but fun minigame with a delightful musical motif.
Cooking is the most complex gameplay feature inTales of the Shire, and even then, it likely won’t challenge players all that much. When starting out inTales of the Shire, cooking amounts to simply throwing a few ingredients in a bowl and calling it a day. As players progress, they unlock new cooking stations, like a mixing bowl and chopping board. These tools let players engage in seconds-long minigames that change the texture of the dish, which in turn increases the rewards they’ll get from feeding a local Hobbit their dish.
The four core pillars ofTales of the Shire’s gameplay loop are far from groundbreaking, but their simplicity feeds into the game’s “cozy Hobbit life-sim” mission statement comfortably. But there’s actually a hidden fifth pillar ofTales of the Shire’s gameplay, one that’s never forced onto the player during the game’s quests, but one that might be the driving force of many players’ time withTales of the Shire.
Tales of the Shirefeatures a robust suite of customization tools. Along with adorning their character with plenty of classic Hobbit apparel, players can fully customize the exterior and interior of their Hobbit home using a gridless system that lets them be as minimalist or as maximalist as their Hobbit heart desires. The immaculate UI, the incredibly intuitive placement controls, and the freedom given to players via this gridless system makes Hobbit home customization a real highlight ofTales of the Shire, but one that could have used more spotlighting during the game’s quest content.
The World Is Not In Your Books and Maps, It’s Out There
But as is the case with any licensed game, it’sTales of the Shire’s handling of IP that most fans are probably interested in, and on the whole, it does a decent job of embracing it.Tales of the Shireis packed to the brim with references toThe Lord of the Rings. The game kicks off with a cameo from Gandalf, Rosie Cotton is one of the game’s most important NPCs, the Tooks and Brandybucks have family in Bywater, and the Bagginses are mentioned a few times throughout its main and side quests.
Tales of the Shirealso features a few references to the wider world of Middle-earth, with Bywater sharing a close history with the race of Men and the old King, and one of the village’s residents being a Dwarf from the Misty Mountains. There are plenty of lore tidbits strewn throughoutTales of the Shirethat both reward long-time Tolkien fans and make the village of Bywater feel like one tiny idyllic part of a much larger fantasy world.
On top of its fairly engaging world-building,Tales of the Shirealso features a few quaint gameplay mechanics that reinforce the carefree nature of the Shire. In place of a sprint button, players are given the ability to skip around the village, and little blue birds swoop in and point the way to the player’s current objective. Little details like these help to capture the sense of whimsy fans have come to expect from this part of Tolkien’s world.
Bywater itself is a sizable area with plenty of key landmarks that do a good job of both reinforcingTales of the Shire’s fantasy world and gradually cementing the map’s layout in the player’s mind. The regular changing of seasons also helps to keep Bywater from growing too stale, with distinct visuals for each season, as well as new resources and recipes to discover.
But while Bywater’s landmarks are memorable in theory, those playing on Nintendo Switch might not really know what they’re looking at. I reviewedTales of the Shireon a Nintendo Switch 2, and to put it bluntly, the game looks rather ugly.
Character models are, in a word, fuzzy. Their faces in particular look unfocused and unclear. Textures across the board are also fairly murky, with a hazy hue haunting their edges. Draw-distance is also a noticeable issue inTales of the Shireon Switch, with anything that’s about 30 feet or more in front of the player-character appearing incredibly blurry. Approaching these blurry textures will also often result in some very obvious pop-in. All of this routinely breaks immersion, which is a major knock against a game in this genre.
Despite there being plenty of color inTales of the Shire, those colors often look quite muted. And while I personally vibed withTales of the Shire’s art direction, it’s already proven to be divisive among would-be fans, and the final product likely won’t win them over, especially if they’re looking at Nintendo Switch screenshots.
Tales of the Shireis technically a Switch 1 game, so its myriad of graphical issues might have been exacerbated by the Nintendo Switch 2’s bigger and clearer screen.
That all said,Tales of the Shire’s performance was solid on Switch. There were a few loading screens once in the game, and it maintained a relatively steady FPS throughout.
With regard to the other aspects ofTales of the Shire’s presentation, it’s a fine showing. Music is quite sparse, but what’s available evokesLord of the Rings’ Hobbit motifs decently without actually using any of the licensed tracks from the movies. Audio design is also solid, with the sound of tweeting birds, running water, and light Hobbit footsteps on stone and grass creating a calm and contemplative atmosphere.
Of course, some ofTales of the Shire’s biggest technical issues could change with a day-one patch or future updates, but as of the time of writing, they’re something that will significantly impact the average player’s enjoyment of the game.
Tales of the Shireis a perfectly enjoyable life-sim that embraces itsLord of the Ringssource material well. But due to some prominent graphical shortcomings (at least on Switch), it’s far from a perfect adventure. There’s enough content and engaging progression inTales of the Shireto ensure that Tolkien fans have a good time with it, but those who aren’t fans of the IP don’t need to look far for a better alternative.
WHERE TO PLAY
Tales of the Shirereleases July 07, 2025 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a Switch code for this review.
