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Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game
Released On: Jul 29, 2025
59
3.1
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
59
19% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
14% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 Critic Reviews
59
19% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
67% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
14% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
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.
I don't think it's worth starting Tales of the Shire for the plot alone, or to tick off another item from the Lord of the Rings universe, but it's worth experiencing for its well-constructed atmosphere. It's a great cozy game that makes good use of its source material.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 46 User Ratings
3.1
26% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
4% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
70% Negative
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 46 User Ratings
3.1
26% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
4% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
70% Negative
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
I honestly think this is a great game but it won’t be for everyone and I think that’s where a lot of the negativity is coming from.
This is very much designed as a simple, cosy game. Think **** Valley meets Animal Crossing… but with Hobbits. The game focuses around foraging, fishing and farming for ingredients to host dinner parties for other Hobbits to improve your relationships and unlock new things. The cooking system is really well thought out and detailed too with different ingredient options, seasonings etc. to cater things to individual Hobbit’s tastes.
If you just want a simple, stress free game to relax in then this is genuinely a really good start. Adding Multiplayer support would make this even better.
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PC
By itself, Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings game is fine. The aesthetic is accurate, and the emphasis on cooking makes it feel very different from many other games of this type. However, the game feels like it is lacking in other areas that are seen as genre staples, making the game feel rather light at first glance. This is before you start to compare the game to other licensed cozy life sims and see that those games have much more to offer before the amount of stuff to do starts to dry up. Again, this game is fine, but there are better examples of the genre.
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game allows you to live out the life of a hobbit in a warm and welcoming world, with some nice ideas throughout.
Tales of the Shire does Tolkien's lore justice and has a new approach to unlocking features in cozy games that'll make your heart sing. However, Bywater struggles to keep you content with staying in the Shire for long.
This social simulation will disappoint more than just Lord of the Rings fans. It could have used some fine-tuning.
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game is the Grima Wormtongue of games: it whispered many wonderful promises into my ear, but by the end I was left a wretched shadow of my former self. I had a lot of hope that this could be the perfect mix of a genre I love and the Tolkien world I’ve spent much of my life nerding out about, but those hopes were cast into the fires from whence they came. With life sim mechanics that are shallow as they come, terrible technical performance, and almost nothing original to say, Tales of the Shire disappoints every step of the way. There’s hints of a better game to be found in its slightly more robust cooking mechanics, as well as the occasionally amusing writing and dialogue that prove this setting was indeed ripe for a life sim if executed better – but like a Silmaril, those dreams have vanished deep in the depths of Angband.
It's scratching my cozy game itch extremely well. Sure there are some grindy parts, but they really built a game around what hobbits love to do: socialize and take care of each other. The writing is really funny sometimes, they all have quirky personalities, the nature is beautiful (winter especially). I would love to see more festivals added one day! Cooking is hard sometimes, but when you make a dish another hobbit likes, it's worth it. I really loved this game! You can even say hello to the animals.
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PC
Game looks atrocious on switch 2 I hope they give an upgrade. For a game set in the shire man is this game super dark and dreary in the landscapes. This game has a lot of promise but god do the visuals look awful.
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PC
(On switch 0/10 awful unplayable)
Only worth 5 dollar for kids, even free even watch it on utube not worth it not for real gamers, don't believe good reviews they are from devs, family, bots and paid utubers who want free codes or money.
-very very very repetitive expensive unpolished no story cringe running around doing same chores over and over cozy boring backtracking simulator, awful woke characters design, soulles npcs, annoying frame drops, glitches, no season events ????, bird instead of wind but worser if inside of town u will wondering around to find what u want (ripoff from ghost of tsushima), nothing special or new mechanics for cozy game and repetitive music.
-only good for kids or not a gamers.
-buy **** valley instead or play it from beginning XD.
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PC
Why i cant play a Male? I can only create a fat female :(After the First 2hours i have No fun. I waste my Money :((
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PC
There is almost nothing good about it. It feels like you're playing a PlayStation 2 game.
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PC
Summary Your cosy Hobbit life awaits in Tales of the Shire, a heart-warming, new, The Lord of the Rings game due out in 2024 on console and PC.
Platforms:
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox Series X
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
Initial Release Date: Jul 29, 2025
Developer:
- Weta Workshop
Publisher:
Private Division
Genres:
