First announced in April, Private Division and Weta Workshop’s Tales of the Shire is a cozy life simulation game set in the peaceful Hobbit village of Bywater. We’ve had numerous high-quality games set in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe, covering a wide breadth of different genres. It makes sense that Tales of the Shire is a cozy cooking and life sim. Cooking delicious meals and sitting by a warm fire are endemic to Hobbit life. I got hands-on with this new experience at Summer Game Fest, and can confidently say it fits that vibe well, despite some performance issues and need for quality of life improvements.
Hands-on
My demo lasted around 30 minutes and was broken up into multiple sections. I played as a random Hobbit, but the designer walking me through the demo did confirm that you’ll be able to go through a character creator upon starting. The main objective of Tales of the Shire is to cook delicious meals for and build relationships with your Hobbit neighbors. All of them have names taken straight from the books. The world building and attention to detail show the love and care the developers have for the lore – a certain Hobbit thief is even rumored to make an appearance.
The cooking mechanics are simple, but deep. To start, you’ll have to find a Hobbit to start building a relationship with, and find out their favorite foods. From there, you’ll forage and farm for the right ingredients. For example, Marigold Potts preferred something sweet. She had a preferred dish, I had a list of ingredients, so I set out to make her meal. Ingredients will have indicators about which taste they give: savory, sweet, salty, sour, and so on. When you’re finished finding the right ingredients, you go back to your house and get to work.
Depending on the dish and Hobbit preference, you’ll chop, season, boil, or mash your way to a 1 to 3-star meal. The level of stars you get are determined by how close the dish is to the Hobbit’s preference. There is no way to “fail” a meal; they’ll still eat it. But the quality will help you build your relationships faster. Once finished, you serve the Hobbit their meal. Some can even be shared with others.
Impressions
Cooking and serving aren’t the only mechanics. You can decorate your own Hobbit hole to your liking, from changing the rugs to hanging art. Your front yard serves as an easy-to-access garden for you to plant ingredients should you find foraging around for them tedious. Each Hobbit also has their own storylines to complete, and can be started by finding them on the map. The map isn’t too large, but the locations each of Hobbit can change. You can highlight them on the map menu to find them easier – you’re lead to them by birds you must follow. This mechanic served a purpose, but I don’t think it served it well. The birds themselves were sometimes hard to find. A simple white line or compass would have sufficed, but I understand trying to fit following the birds into the cozy vibe.
My time with Tales of the Shire was overall enjoyable, and I can see myself playing this on my Switch by the fire to wind down from the day. Given some more love and attention, this title has the potential to be a stand-out cozy game among a sea of quality options. The art style and personality of the Hobbits are charming, and any fan of the Tolkien lore will find something to love here. Eat yourself into a food coma when Tales of the Shire releases on all major consoles and PC this Holiday.
