Tales of the Shire Preview - The Hobbit Simulator We've Always Wanted

Lord of the Rings is all about wizards, orcs, armies clashing, swords winging, bows a-shooting, right? Tales of the Shire is out to prove LOTR can be about good home cooking, fellowship, and just living the good life, too.

Comfort, Vibin', Relaxin'

Focusing on the good times and hanging out with other hobbits is exactly what the developers want the game to be as well. While playing, I was chatting with them and they said it was important for them to keep Tales of the Shire lighthearted and positive. No scouring this shire (yet).

There is no overarching story or objective in the game, so you're really free to do what you want how you want. That includes making your own hobbit, customizing them down to just how hairy their feet are.

That customization expands to a very robust set of tools to make your hobbit hole and garden just what you want it to be. There is a ton of furniture and decorations to choose from, as well as wallpapers, paintings, textures, and all sorts of stylings you can apply to the various beams, walls, trims, and more.

The amount of specific detail is incredibly impressive, so those that love decoration will easily find hours of entertainment. That detail extends to the garden, which you can spruce up and rearrange as you please as well.

Tales of the Shire is set in Bywater, a small village to the east of Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the location featured in the films, though the famed inn, The Green Dragon, is actually in Bywater but brought to Hobbiton for the films. You'll spend time at The Green Dragon in the game, too.

However, that does mean that Hobbiton isn't too awfully far from Bywater (after all it is less than a 10 minute dash from Bilbo's home, we know), so that means a visit from some Baggins or other famed hobbit families isn't out of the question.

When I asked the developers if we may see some folks we know already, the answer I got was to the effect of "It sure is nice when friends stop by to visit, isn't it?"

I didn't get a definitive answer, but there are some two dozen or so hobbits in Bywater to interact with, each with their own routines. At any time you can open up a map and see what they're up to, so finding them is pretty simple. Setting waypoints will make a trail of birds pointing the way for you, too. The routines change based on the time of day, the seasons, and whether specific events are going on in the game.

Speaking of seasons, days do pass on Tales of the Shire, meaning you'll have to make your way to bed each evening. Time will keep pushing things forward and is the only real limitation placed on you, eventually leading to seasonal changes, festivals, and all sorts of things of that nature.

Plus, each day brings with it several meals to prepare.

Food is the Way to a Hobbit's Heart

While you can garden, forage, fish, and gather all sorts of things during your days as a hobbit, the real meat of Tales of the Shire is your interactions with the other hobbits. Building relationships with those hobbits through food, gifts, trade, and more is why you'll be putting in all this work.

In my brief time with the game, it was evident that the number one way hobbits communicate with one another is through food and cooking. A huge part of the gameplay is not just finding ingredients and recipes but actually cooking them as well.

Cooking is a simple process but has a lot going on to make your dishes just right. Just as with real cooking, the quality and choice of ingredients, the way you prepare them, and then just the means of cooking them all have huge effects on the overall dish.

Certain ingredients may be spicy, sweet, salty, or all different manner of flavors. Then you can add spices, affect ingredients through pickling, and a bunch of other options as well.

Once you pick ingredients, it's time to prepare them, like chopping onions. As you can see in the screenshot above, there's a box in the bottom right corner with Smooth, Tender, Chunky, and Crisp. You're aiming to hit the little star to really ace that recipe, and that other symbol is where you're at currently.

So, when you chop something, you'll have a bit of a progress bar with one end being Smooth and the other Chunky. You then have to aim to hit that sweet spot,

Same goes for Crisp or Tender. Preparing in the Frying Pan or the Pickling Jar can lean one way or the other, so you can fine tune it. 

Prepare it properly to hit the star, and you've got it.

When it comes to the flavoring, however, that is going to matter more for who and why you're making the dish. Maybe the hobbit you're preparing it for likes sweet things, so choosing the right ingredients to make it sweet is important.

All of that isn't too complicated so far, right? Well, there is another element to cooking to consider if you're having someone over for a meal. Where and how are you going to eat it?

Some hobbits are, apparently, pretty particular on not only the preparation of certain foods but just how the table is set up to eat as well. I didn't get to see this feature too much, but it's another wrinkle that can affect the quality of your meal overall and adds just a little more personality to the hobbits you invite over.

The developers also hinted that we may see people other than hobbits from time to time we may remember. I do know one of the trailers certainly showed Gandalf making a visit to Bywater at some point.

Tales of the Shire Preview | Final Thoughts

One thing I wanted to shoutout that I think encapsulates the general approach and philosophy with Tales of the Shire is how the game handles your standard sprinting. You don't simply run faster, but you skip and frolic your way forward. As, you know, nothing you're up to really requires the urgency of sprinting now does it?

That laid-back vibe of hobbits just chilling in their community, cooking great food, meeting at the tavern to swap tales and friendship, soaking in the day as time passes by... An idyllic existence based around comfort.

It's criminal how few games are really set in the Lord of the Rings universe, and it is awesome to see one that lets us enjoy something we've really only had glimpses of. I think it will help us all understand what Sam was thinking of when he said: "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."

Tales of the Shire is everything you could want out of a game based around hobbits based on what I've seen so far, and I can't wait to get my hands on the full game.

Tales of the Shire releases this holiday season for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Tales of the Shire was previewed after about 30 minutes of gameplay at Summer Game Fest.