Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game Reviews

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game is ranked in the 20th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
3.5 / 5.0
Jul 30, 2025

An unexpected journey into Bywater provides a calming village experience with your fellow Hobbits.

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65 / 100
Jul 30, 2025

People remember The Lord of the Rings for its epic scale, but at its heart, it's a story about home. About why it's worth fighting for. About friendship, gardens, laughter, and peace. Tales of the Shire is the best Middle-earth game at understanding this.

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66 / 100
Jul 30, 2025

Tales of the Shire is a decent life-sim game with an engaging cooking mechanic, but that's the most stellar thing about it. Bywater, while picturesque in its own way, doesn't feel like home, and it doesn’t help that the game is also flawed by its technical and optimization issues, which only turns the experience more sour.

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7 / 10
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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Travis Northup
Top Critic
4 / 10.0
Jul 28, 2025

Despite an incredibly promising premise, Tales of the Shire is dreadfully boring and extremely buggy to boot.

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67 / 100
Jul 28, 2025

Great cooking and foraging systems, but not a lot else to keep you busy.

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GamesRadar+
Emma-Jane Betts
Top Critic
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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GameSpot
Jessica Cogswell
Top Critic
4 / 10
Jul 29, 2025

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.

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4 / 10
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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5.5 / 10.0
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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Metro GameCentral
Top Critic
4 / 10
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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Destructoid
Top Critic
6 / 10.0
Jul 29, 2025

Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.

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Hobby Consolas
Top Critic
68 / 100
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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7 / 10
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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6 / 10.0
Jul 28, 2025

Tales of the Shire is ambitious but a bit insipid.

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70 / 100
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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Jul 28, 2025

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.

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4 / 10
Jul 28, 2025

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.

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7 / 10.0
Jul 28, 2025

Tales of the Shire has a lot to enjoy for Lord of the Rings fans and cozy gamers alike, but several key problems hold the game back from its potential.

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8 / 10.0
Jul 29, 2025

Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game is an excellent way to take a break between playing more intensive titles. While fans of Tolkien's works might find the gameplay to be interesting, there isn't much to chew on when it comes to the story.

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