Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game Reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Tales of the Shire, as its charming village life and hobbit friendships created a fun, stress-free experience. However, despite its delays, the game needs significant polish, with the PS5 version suffering from terrible performance and frustrating bugs that require substantial updates to perfect the otherwise highly recommendable cozy title.
Review in German | Read full review
A great idea lost under the weight of tiresome game mechanics.
A Lord of the Rings life-sim, Tales of the Shire tries to live up to its inherently great premise, but the Hobbit game falls short in a few ways.
Despite an incredibly promising premise, Tales of the Shire is dreadfully boring and extremely buggy to boot.
Great cooking and foraging systems, but not a lot else to keep you busy.
I can thankfully say that, for all its faults, the cozy title does the lore justice and honours the work that we all love. Will I return to Bywater? Probably not. But am I glad I visited the hairy-footed residents? Undoubtedly so.
Tales of the Shire has some charming ideas, but dull gameplay, heaps of bugs, and a general sense of emptiness ultimately drag the promising life-sim down to the pits of Moria.
An unexpected journey into Bywater provides a calming village experience with your fellow Hobbits.
Cosy gaming+hobbits seems like a match made in Valinor, and Tales of the Shire tries hard to meet that lofty goal - but in its current state, at least on Switch, this game is unfortunately almost as much of a slog as schlepping evil jewellery to a distant volcano.
The constant crashes and lack of an autosave have put me in quite an anxious state for a cozy game, as I make sure to save before doing anything. While I feel the game has made its way 'there', it's not quite ‘back again’ and needs a bit more time before it’s really ready for an adventure.
A cosy hobbit-themed life simulator that can look pretty but is almost entirely made up of thinly veiled multi-part fetch quests and drab, under-developed minigames.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game is fairly simple as a social simulator, thanks to basic mechanics and a monotonous gameplay loop, but it succeeds in making us feel like a hobbit, inclining us toward peace, quiet, and diligent farming.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Tales of the Shire offers a comfortable and lazy fantasy life, but it's one that feels genuine and heartfelt. Fans of the genre will love it, as long as they're prepared to fully embody the peace and tranquillity of a Hobbit's way of life.
For what it is, Tales of The Shire puts together a cozy game that almost requires you to play a certain way to enjoy it. At the same time, the game makes it known what it wants from you from the very beginning. There's charm here to be had with the right mindset. However, putting all of this together makes for a rather fixed and repetitive experience. For what it's worth, Tales of The Shire stands as a solid formula for people who don't often play these types of games. It replaces coordination and planning with hard work. By the time you're done with this game, you'll be ready to try some of the more renowned titles the genre has to offer.
Tales of the Shire is ambitious but a bit insipid.
Everything is built around the hobbit ideal that is food. The writing and the aesthetics are all extremely hobbit-coded. Rather than a life sim, Tales of the Shire is a hobbit sim. If that sounds like a good time, you should definitely check out this game.
Tales of the Shire offers a cute, cozy adventure that excels in its fishing and cooking, but fails to succeed in any other area synonymous with the genre.
Tales of the Shire has a great premise, but will unfortunately leave most players wanting more. Its charms will potentially appeal to Hobbit fanatics, but with there being much better cosy games on the market, it's relying heavily on its Tolkienian license to distinguish itself.
All in all, Tales of the Shire would still be a recommendation for Hobbit fans and anyone who wants to relax in a harmonious world while playing. However, the current technology suggests that we should at least wait for a few more patches. Perhaps they'll also bring some additional content.
Review in German | Read full review