The primary time I watched Lord of the Rings, I needed nothing greater than to be a beautiful, willowy, and effortlessly cool elf who was, as almost all eight year-old ladies desired, married to Orlando Bloom’s Legolas. In my late teenagers, I grew content material with remaining human as long as I obtained the prospect to swoon over Aragon. However now, on the sensible age of almost-31, I do know the reality: The best being that you may ever hope to be in Center-earth is a hobbit. Luckily, Tales of the Shire allows you to just do that.
Wētā Workshop’s Tales of Shire is a comfy life-simulation sport that revolves round Tolkien’s coziest creatures, hobbits. Contemplating the high-demand for healthful titles and the enduring love for the Lord of the Rings collection, I at all times felt it was merely a matter of time till a sport celebrating these jovial and endlessly hungry creatures was developed. In spite of everything, what do hobbits do however are inclined to their land, drink, dance, be merry, and, sometimes, set off on an epic quest to save lots of the world? I just lately had the prospect to do most of these issues whereas enjoying a two hour preview construct of Tales of the Shire, however sadly, I did not stroll away from the expertise as content material as a Gamgee comfortable of their hobbit-hole. Whereas Tales of the Shire is charming and has some good fundamentals, Wētā Workshop might want to embark on a journey stuffed with a number of quality-of-life enhancements and some main overhauls if it needs to make this sport one thing particular.
The preview follows your created character leaving their hometown of Bree to start out a lifetime of their very own in one among The Shire’s quaintest villages, Bywater. Whenever you get there, nonetheless, your first collection of quests includes proving that Bywater really is a village, as a neighborhood curmudgeon implies the village is extra “Backwater” than Bywater.
This storyline serves as a form of tutorial for the sport, because it introduces you to a few of your neighbors and the sport’s core options: fishing, cooking, gardening, foraging, and nurturing relationships. Many of those options actually labored for me. The sport’s fishing mechanic, whereas not novel, is a enjoyable, tension-based mini-game that avoids being annoying or grueling. Regardless of not being somebody particularly keen on in-game cooking or crafting–generally I do these issues out of necessity–I really discovered myself eager to spend a big period of time in my kitchen. Slightly than simply hitting a couple of buttons to make a meal, you might be inspired to cut and prepare dinner your elements to create a extra textured dish.
This ties in with gardening and foraging, as high-quality elements, spices, and herbs assist elevate the meal’s general taste. I adored mindlessly wandering by the woods, choosing up hops, puffball mushrooms, and currants. One other system I actually loved in Tales of the Shire is Companion Crops, which provides sure crops bonuses if they’re grown subsequent to a crop it will get together with. Conversely, there are some crops that needs to be stored in several beds, lest their high quality decline. After harvesting, accumulating, and fishing up elements, it was simple to throw ’em all into my huge pantry you can seamlessly pull from whereas cooking. Briefly, the extra “free-form” parts of Tales of the Shire work collectively splendidly.
Nevertheless, the “nurturing relationships” side is a distinct story. Although one of many methods you possibly can enhance your relationships–inviting your neighbors over for a cocktail party that may satiate their cravings–is enjoyable, that’s sadly concerning the extent of what I loved. Whereas I appreciated the sport’s writing general, lots of the city’s villagers felt same-y to me, every providing the identical cheeky banter and, extra gratingly, irritating fetch quests. A lot of my time within the village was spent going backwards and forwards between a choose few hobbits, with a very egregious quest seeing me going backwards and forwards between the identical two hobbits upwards of 4 occasions.
And whereas the general surroundings is beautiful and evocative of The Shire we all know and love–quaint, comforting, and verdant–I discovered myself constantly irked by the sport’s quirks. Bywater is stuffed with hobbits, a transparent effort to make the city really feel lived-in that I perceive fully. Nevertheless it rapidly grew irritating after I was attempting to stroll round and meet my neighbors and nearly each hobbit I ran into was an NPC whom I couldn’t work together with. Regardless of being stuffed with individuals, it started to really feel a bit scarce.
In lieu of a standard mini-map, compass, or another type of “breadcrumb path” to observe, Tales of the Shire chooses to immerse gamers by having them observe blue birds that may perch themselves atop fence posts and indicators every now and then. Whereas cute in concept, it will typically get a bit irritating after I was going quicker than the birds would seem, or after I was traversing by a denser area–such because the city sq. or woods–and would merely lose monitor of them. Contemplating Bywater is so deeply embedded in nature and stuffed with small bridges, winding roads, and solely a pair handfuls of NPCs you possibly can work together with, scattered concerning the map, not with the ability to absolutely depend on the birds was irritating. Regardless of the sport clearly not wanting you to be consistently pulling up your map and dropping that sense of whimsical journey, I felt like I needed to. And these are simply a few my gripes.
Between the fetch quests, my rising frustrations with sure options, and the shortage of compelling characters or plot factors, I finally discovered myself not notably all for leaving my little hobbit-hole. Nevertheless, in contrast to a sport like Stardew Valley through which being pretty reclusive and specializing in creating your personal little slice of paradise is viable, Tales of the Shire appears reliant upon you interacting along with your neighbors. Partly since you’d be arduous pressed to really fill your whole day doing all of the really enjoyable issues, even if you happen to do resolve to spend a piece of time giving your own home a enjoyable little makeover.
This then relegates you to doing quests that aren’t notably unengaging for neighbors who will not be notably participating. It is also price stating that, a minimum of within the preview, there was no calendar stuffed with birthdays, festivals, or every other occasions. This gave me pause, as with out one thing to interrupt up the mundane elements of the sport, I’m not positive that I’d be compelled to maintain enjoying. Finally, that’s the largest problem with Tales of the Shire proper now: Even a life sim sicko like me (do not ask what number of hours I’ve put into Moonstone Island and Fields of Mistria this yr) does not really feel pulled in by this sport. Although it has some nice options, beautiful music, an artwork type that, whereas a bit clunky, feels suiting and provides a substantial amount of appeal, and an unimaginable IP behind it, the entire bundle provided does not fairly work. Luckily, the sport was delayed out of 2024 and can as a substitute be launched in early 2025, hopefully giving the staff a little bit of time to shine the sport into one thing Gollum would covet.