I've lost count of how many times I've read The Hobbit. As a child, I lived for its action – for goblins, dragons, and life-or-death games of riddles – but with every re-read, I've fallen more and more in love with its first chapter about Hobbits. Middle-earth's laziest layabouts, Hobbits live only to furnish their cozy burrowed homes, eat voraciously, and enjoy the Shire's gorgeous countryside. I often fantasize about living there, and if given the chance to move to the Shire, I'd be smoking pipeweed in Bag End before you could say "second breakfast".
Until then, I've lived out similar carefree fantasies in Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, but living in a Hobbit-hole of my own has remained the ultimate fantasy. I'm saying all of this because in theory, Tales of the Shire, a life sim set in the Shire's village of Bywater, should be right up my street. But after playing it for a couple of hours, I'm left lukewarm.
