With its rolling hills and pristine farms, the Shire seems like the ideal location for a cosy game. The serene sub-genre evokes the warm, fuzzy feelings of childhood, so it’s no wonder JRR Tolkien’s pastoral region is about to serve as its next tableau.
Imagine living in an idyllic village, tending to your crops and decorating your hobbit hole. That’s the formula for an upcoming game set in the world of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Announced on International Hobbit Day in 2022 (yes, that’s a thing), Tales of the Shire now has an official release date.
Here’s what you need to know about the new game, including who’s behind it and when it could arrive.
When is the Tales of the Shire release date?
After initially receiving an ETA of late 2024, the game now has a confirmed release date. The bad news is it’s coming out slightly later than previously scheduled.
Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game - to use its full title - will now land on March 25, 2025, following a short delay.
Developer Wētā Workshop said it pushed back the game to ensure it meets its creative vision. The studio also emphasised wanting the moment when players first step into Bywater to be "everything you're hoping for”.
What platforms will Tales of the Shire be on?
The game will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch and Steam. While it’s also coming to mobile, the only way to play it will be on Netflix. The streaming service has been bolstering its game library with exclusive games, but you need a subscription to access them.
What is the gameplay like?
With the game just months away, several critics have got their hands on a short demo that previews the first three hours.
Players who like to meticulously craft the protagonists they control will be happy to learn that it has a character creator, which sounds pretty in-depth. Not only does it come with a five-point gender slider, but you can also customise everything from your hobbit’s facial characteristics to their foot hair.
In a nod to Stardew Valley, the game sounds like it revolves around a sense of community and social interactions. Early quests involve helping settle local disputes, assisting a farmer in a debate against a miller, and inviting former students of a deceased hobbit to create memories in her home.
Food also plays a big part of the game. Putting your culinary skills to the test, the game will task you with selecting the best ingredients for meals, which will be served to diners at your table. To add a dash of fun to the proceedings, cooking mini-games will allow you to use utensils to spruce up your dishes. You’ll need to learn the ropes fast as whipping up grub is essential for unlocking rewards and advancing the story.
Speaking of progressing the campaign, you’ll be guided along your journey by markers. Butterflies will hover above forageable ingredients and blue birds will serve as a navigation system for destinations stamped on the map.
What is Tales of the Shire?
“In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit”.#TalesoftheShire trailer coming soon... " pic.twitter.com/CfjWcLUXqY
— Tales of the Shire (@talesoftheshire) March 25, 2024
As you may have guessed, Tales of the Shire doesn’t concern itself with the sweeping battle between good and evil as depicted in the Lord of the Rings. This is just as well, as that story has been told in other games, such as the Middle-earth series and Lord of the Rings Online – not to mention Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations.
Instead, the upcoming title is described as a “cosy game set in the Middle-earth universe inspired by the books of JRR Tolkien”. The wholesome sub-genre, best known for producing modern classics including Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, is a balm in a world dominated by endless grindfests.
As more gamers turn to cosy games to unwind, it’s no wonder that developers are pumping them out on what feels like a monthly basis. New releases such as Lightyear Frontier and Palmia have recently stretched the genre to fit sci-fi and fantasy moulds. Next up, Tales of the Shire will set out to prove that a series of novels can also work as a cosy game.
Who is making the game?
A game set in The Lord of the Rings’ universe sounds like an ambitious premise but, thankfully, there’s some big-name talent behind it. Tales of the Shire comes from publisher Private Division, which has already released several acclaimed games, including space flight simulator Kerbal Space Program, sci-fi adventure The Outer Worlds, and the breakout indie hit Hades.
Furthermore, the game is being released in partnership with the in-house gaming division of Wētā Workshop. As fans of the Lord of the Rings movies will be aware, the special effects studio has a fantasy pedigree stretching back to the late 1980s. Who better to make a cosy game about hobbits than the company that designed the shire for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies?
🚪 Welcome Home, Hobbit. #TalesoftheShire pic.twitter.com/Xgooy10ZJm
— Tales of the Shire (@talesoftheshire) March 21, 2024
What do the trailers show?
The first trailer offers a roving view of the game’s activities and features. A deep and earthy voiceover, which could easily be taken for Gandalf, talks us through the new beginnings players will be experiencing.
We are then treated to a series of vignettes of hobbits young and old going about their peaceful lives in the enclave of Bywater. In the books, the village sits near Hobbiton, in the Westfarthing of the Shire.
The clip shows us a young hobbit catching fish, gathering mushrooms with a friend, visiting what looks like a merchant, and cooking with ingredients from the larder in its hobbit hole.
We also see a home decorated in different styles of furniture and a garden rich with colourful fauna. The seasons change from a sun-kissed spring to a snow-specked winter as the hobbits mill about their sleepy hamlet. A visitor who looks like a wizard with a wooden staff even pops up towards the end – could it be the big G himself?
In the vein of other indie games like Rime and The Witness, the visuals have a hand-drawn, watercolour style to them.
Your cosy Hobbit life awaits in Tales of the Shire, a heart-warming new The Lord of the Rings™ game by Wētā Workshop and Private Division. Coming 2024. pic.twitter.com/CvDnRXyMQN
— Tales of the Shire (@talesoftheshire) September 21, 2023
A smattering of clips and social media posts have also offered plenty of juicy clues about the game.
The game’s fleeting first teaser from last September showed a person working on a wooden desk filled with trinkets and plants. After they complete a drawing of a female hobbit in their sketchbook, they’re drawn away by the voices of playing children. A gust of wind then reveals the notebook’s contents, including cute art of hobbits, hobbit holes, farms and Shire locations such as Bywater and the Green Dragon inn.
“Your cosy Hobbit life awaits in Tales of the Shire,” states the YouTube video description.
In March, an animated poster showed several hobbits of differing ages engaged in various activities, from fishing to fruit gathering and butterfly catching. The visual could suggest that foraging, exploration and resource gathering will be pivotal to the game.
Finally, we got to see what looks like the first in-game footage of the game in March. The animated image featured a creek flowing under a bridge surrounded by grassy knolls with hobbit holes jutting out. We didn’t see any menacing Orcs descending the hillsides, so we can only assume that the game won’t contain combat.
More to come?
Still, there are plenty of unanswered questions. For instance, will the game be free-to-play or a paid download – and will it come with micro-transactions and seasonal updates? Hopefully, all will be explained in the lead-up to its release in March.
