The farming and life sim genre is extraordinarily crowded as many developers try to chase the success of Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Some are more successful than others. For example, August’s Fields of Mistriaimpressed in early access by sticking to the genre’s core conceit and creating a town full of villagers that you want to get to know better. Now, Weta Workshop is attempting to capitalize on this trend with a video game based on The Lord of the Rings.
In Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, players control a Hobbit who Gandalf brings to the Hobbiton town of Bywater. From there, it’s up to players to familiarize themselves with and cook for the townsfolks, farm and forage for food, and raise the standing of the village. After playing its opening two hours, I’m finding some creative ideas in Tales of the Shire, but a lot of work will need to be done if it’s going to rise to the top of a crowded genre.
A mixed stew
If you’ve played a life sim game before, the basics of Tales of the Shire won’t be that shocking. I found its opening hours to be more similar to a game like Fae Farm rather than Stardew Valley or Fields of Mistria. Most of the time is spent on meeting the villagers of Bywater rather than getting into the farming routine. While players have control over customizing how they farm, Tales of the Shire seems more interested in having players explore Bywater and cook for its residents.
Navigating Bywater immediately felt intuitive, and I loved unique navigational touches like bluebirds guiding the player to main objectives or butterflies guiding players toward plants to forage. This early build’s frame rate was inconsistent across performance and quality-focused modes, although I enjoyed how vibrant the world was. Tales of the Shire will be a full-on cozy game, a far cry from the fantasy action of most The Lord of the Rings games.
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