Hobbits are known for a lot of things, but their love of food, family, and peaceful coexistence with nature is high on that list (alongside second breakfast). Outsidethe biggest events in theLords of the Ringsfranchise, their simple lives are so idyllic, community-oriented, and peaceful that a cozy game featuring Hobbits feels like a no-brainer.Tales of the Shire, an upcoming game from Weta Workshop and Private Division, looks to deliver on that formula.
Players will get to design their very own Hobbit, and while it’s optional, there’s aLord of the Ringsname generator for these Hobbits as well. Players move into the fledgling Bywater, which is not yet an established village, and look to grow it by interacting with the community, decorating their own Hobbit Holes, enjoying fishing and foraging activities, trading with NPCs, and preparing homemade meals for fellow Hobbits. Game Rant recently played a brief demo ofTales of the Shireat Summer Game Fest, and while it remains to be seen how the game delivers on its core premise, it was quite the picturesque experience. The demo started with the opening segment before jumping a little ahead to experience more of what the game has to offer.
Welcome to Your Hobbit Hole
Moving intoTales of the Shire’s Bywateris a welcoming experience, but players are going to have to do a little work. It’s clear that the Hobbit Hole we’re moving into has been abandoned for a bit, as the front door is covered in vines and can’t be opened, so we’re led around to the back to find another entry. The mailman, who doesn’t know what a mailman is, has missed lunch due to us moving in, so we cook a meal for the two of us. This is an introduction to a very thorough cooking mini-game.
It wouldn’t be right to call it intense, but it is very involved. Players can select ingredients, button mash to prepare them in certain ways, and otherwise aim for specific tastes. EveryTales of the ShireNPC will have their own tastes, and as it was our first try, we got close to giving the mailman exactly what he wanted but not quite. Community and meals go hand-in-hand, and that’s double so for Hobbits. Throughout the game, players can acquire recipes, prepare meals, and build relationships with these NPCs over intimate meals in the home or pub-like meals at theGreen Dragon Inn.
Afterward, the demo jumped forward, and we were able to spend some time exploring the burgeoning Bywater. Butterflies would lead us to forage-ables, fishing would net us a couple of little guys, and our garden was already massive. Again, the key thing about Hobbits in acozy gameis everything needs to strike that idyllic chord, but it also has to reduce as much stress as possible. Just running around Bywater, we would see butterflies that could lead to us to new plants to gather. Pulling out a rod and catching a fish is straightforward (reeling in requires a little mini-game against the fighting fish and stress on the fishing line), and food had to be plentiful. None of this comes close to stress-inducing and was incredibly relaxing for what was a busy day for us.
The Hobbit Hole features a pantry where players can store their massive amounts of food, and the garden goes a long way in growing all of that. We could plant, water, or harvest to our heart’s content, but where the demo really stood out in this regard was its customization. Players can switch modes to one a lot likeThe Sims' build mode, where we could move and place any item we could touch. It works off a gridless system so players have full control, and there seem to be very few limits. Items could be moved in and outside the house, for example, so we set up a little reading area next to our garden. It was very intuitive and quick, and it’ll be interesting to see all the customized Hobbit Holes that come out of this game.
Tales of the Shire Puts Cozy Gameplay at the Forefront
We also asked the demoist how time and seasons work in the game because, in somefarming sim games, these mechanics are meant to push gameplay toward harvesting and dealing with time. Of course, Hobbits don’t really operate on standard time. He explained that time and seasons move very slowly inTales of the Shireto afford the player all the time in the world (at least in a Hobbit’s world). It took our entire demo, roughly thirty minutes, for it to get to nighttime. There’s no rush to the gameplay, and while it may be a small note, there’s no sprinting inTales of the Shireas a result. This common gameplay mechanic is instead replaced with the Hobbit skipping because they’re certainly not going to rush anywhere. The demoist also explained that winter is winter and impacts gameplay to some degree, but it’s not punishing for a Hobbit who is trying to grow a garden.
There were a lot ofTales of the ShireNPCsout and about at this stage of the demo, and another way the game looks to reduce stress is by making them easy to track. They go about their own daily lives and will appear all over Bywater, but opening the map will reveal where the Hobbits are and what they are doing. These Hobbits will offer quests and rewards like recipes, while some Hobbits serve special functions. For example, Weta Workshop worked closely with the Tolkien Estate to verify all garden foods were things that would actually grow in the Shire, but food that wouldn’t can be purchased from a traveling Hobbit NPC.
Near the end of the demo, we ended up just running around the town, taking it all in, and enjoying the idyllic approach here. We could run on top of other houses and take in glamorous views of the town or the shire, and we could run off into the woods just to see what’s nearby. The demoist promised there would be plenty of secrets to find, but of course, fans will just have to wait forTales of the Shire’s upcoming releaseto discover all the nooks and crannies of Bywater.
