Tales of the Shire is a confusing cozy game. It stars the Hobbits, who cook up a great meal and enjoy fishing. However, many of the other activities they get up to in the Shire are as dull as the last 30 minutes of Return of The King. Stardew Middle-earth, this is not.
Lord of the Rings games have felt rather (Mount) Doomed in the last few years. Tales of the Shire doesn’t have much competition compared to the likes of the disaster that was Gollum. Luckily, this is definitely not as bad as that.
However, despite fantastic fishing and cooking mechanics, Tales of the Shire often struggled to hold my attention, leaving me begging for something fun to do.
Tales of the Shire screenshots
What is Tales of the Shire about?
Tales of the Shire is a cozy game similar to Stardew Valley, Disney Dreamlight Valley, or Story of Seasons. It’s packed with NPCs to interact with, and there’s plenty of foraging, fishing, farming (anything else starting with an f), and cooking.
Cooking is the primary feature. In true Hobbit fashion, it’s all about when the next meal is coming. Don’t worry, though; unlike DDV or Stardew, your hunger and energy don’t deplete. Apparently, a Hobbit’s ability to skip around the village from dawn till dusk knows no bounds.
You arrive in Bywater and find yourself aiding the region in its quest to officially become a village. Whether that’s to spite one miserable NPC is up for debate, but it’ll still have you skipping (their version of sprinting) around the village as you craft meals to increase friendship, improve your home, and gather ingredients for those delicious dishes.
Fans will spot mentions of a certain Baggins, and may even come across a tall bearded wizard at some point… but you’ll have to find the rest out for yourself.
Captivating cooking & fantastic fishing
Given that it’s the primary feature, it’s a good thing that cooking is the best part of Tales of the Shire. You’ll try various techniques to master flavors and textures while using different utensils, frying pans, and pots to ensure every meal is perfect.
What follows is cozy cooking like I’ve never seen before. It’s engaging, feels much like a multitude of fun minigames (think Cooking Mama-style), and works differently every time. You could easily make over 100 recipes one after the other and not get bored, which is extremely impressive given the repetitive nature of many of Tales of the Shire’s other activities.
Complementing this is the ability to unlock more utilities as you increase your friendship, only heightening the number of minigames and fun you’ll have while whipping up a Bywater Pie (it’s not as gross as it sounds).
Given that this mechanic is central to Tales of the Shire’s gameplay, it’s a blessing that it is done so well. You’ll use it to heighten your relationship with characters, which will in turn unlock more recipes and new features for your adventure, creating a satisfying loop, even if you don’t care much for the NPCs themselves (more on that later).
Then there’s the fishing. It works similarly to Sea of Thieves, making it considerably less stressful than angling in Stardew Valley. Here, you cast your line out, wait for a bite, and perfect your angle and strength when reeling the fish in.
It’s particularly difficult most of the time, which just serves to make it quite a soothing experience. Is my love for fishing in Tales of the Shire the satisfaction of reeling in a big catch, or is it just because I want to please Old Noakes, the local fisherman? Both.
A Hobbit without a heart
How can a cozy game with fishing, farming, cooking, foraging, a questline, regularly changing seasons, and different clothing or furniture be lacking? Well, unfortunately, the story is weak, and other activities besides cooking and fishing are just not much fun.
It may be called Tales of the Shire, but this is a tale that feels flat and simplistic, with no reason to feel any emotion or really care about what’s happening at all (which is impressive given it’s inspired by a world made by Tolkien). This isn’t helped by the two-dimensional NPCs, all of whom have simplistic personalities and never truly develop.
The writing is subpar, you never get to choose your responses, and the characters never really change. You can’t romance them, but you certainly wouldn’t fall in love with them in any case.
The game is also hindered by a lack of motivation to complete tasks. When you’re not waiting a day to actually feed these Hobbits or start up the next task, you’re mindlessly farming ingredients on the off chance that the Hobbit will be craving them the next day, which is, at the best of times, unsatisfying when you lack that imminent goal.
Nevertheless, the world is beautiful, and the changing seasons always give you something to look forward to… even if it takes around eight hours of gameplay to get out of the first season.
Verdict
Tales of the Shire tries to be a jack of all trades but ends up being a master of just two: Fishing and cooking. It’s not an outstanding adventure, but it’s also not completely without enjoyment.
With its charming setting and abundance of activities, you might expect Tales of the Shire to earn a place alongside Stardew Valley and Disney Dreamlight Valley at the cozy game fireplace. But that’s not the case.
It may have some of the best cooking in any cozy game, but with the general gameplay acting more like a genuine chore, it leaves me feeling like Frodo Baggins with a longing for grander adventures.
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