Farming and living simulators have, in a way, done everything that they can. Harvest Moon 64 already let us milk cows at the turn of the century. A few years after that, Animal Crossing almost perfectly replicated the experience of making friends, meaning none of us ever had to do it in real life again. So, the next logical step in this genre is to offer branded content on the farming and lifestyle sim market.
Luckily, New Zealand master’s Wētā Workshop provides an excellent branded experience in Tales of the Shire. As an entity that Peter Jackson once owned and helped bring his vision of The Shire to life, this development team had everything at their fingertips needed to create a world that feels both lived-in and like home. And the team masterfully manages this in a charming, cozy farming simulator that is oozing with hilarity and Hobbitness.
Life in the Hobbit hole
I’ve reviewed much of the early story and learning in my preview, so I’ll focus on what’s new in the story since then. Where Tales of the Shire has the most life is in its citizens system, which has come a very long way since I last played.
Bywater, your little corner of The Shire, is filled with a cast of Hobbits from families new and old that each have their personalities, uses, likes, and dislikes. Just like being a good neighbour in real life, you’ll need to choose to be there for them or not.
What has improved is the dependency you have on these people. You are all united in one goal: having Bywater become an official village of Hobbiton. For this to become a reality, you’ll have to work with the Cotton family to make sure the farms of Bywater are producing livestock and vegetables, or work with the Tooks to make sure that Hobbit holes look well-furnished and not rundown.
You’ll achieve all this by learning about the Hobbits around you, sharing a meal that you’ve cooked using the cooking minigame, and solving issues throughout town. As you satisfy those around you, they’ll begin to get better gear and opportunities.
Since my initial playthrough, I’ve found myself enjoying just how much there is to do that differs in goal. For example, a Hobbit might need you to procure three vegetables, while another wants you to help find a missing cow that will come home when bribed with vegetables. If you are a big spender, you may buy the necessary vegetables and move on to the next step quickly, or you may choose to take a few days and grow your own, helping to keep costs down. There’s enough here to do to feel like you’re chained to the stove cooking, or in the garden, but that you are doing many tasks to help the town.
Minigames become the backbone of the experience, offering a basic cooking game that involves pressing a button to prepare ingredients to the desired amount, as well as a fishing minigame that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but doesn’t offer significant comfort.
Even farming, building, and arranging furniture become simplistic minigames where there is no challenge, simply slow, cozy monotony.
Experience the sights and sounds of Hobbit life in Tales of the Shire
Farming and lifestyle simulators are one of those genres that can feel stuck in time when it comes to visuals and audio. These types of games simply aren’t out to look and sound as close to real life as possible, but rather focus their gameplay mechanics on making you feel immersed.
The look, feel, and sound of Tales of the Shire is where it most stutters.
Character models, environments, lighting, and particle physics are all somewhat dated.
Tales of the Shire goes for a whimsical picture book aesthetic, which is something that J.R.R. Tolkien himself always did when he handled the stories of Middle-earth. The happier, more prosperous lands of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, such as The Shire, are meant to be bright, colourful, and well-ordered, standing in contrast to England and the larger European continent of Tolkien’s post-World War I era.
Tales of the Shire nails that picture book feeling in outside environments, where the camera can sit back and let Hobbits and sets exist with minimal detailing.
However, when things get close and cramped, Tales of the Shire begins to look like one of those things you boil, mash, or stick in a stew—what are those called again?
The almost total absence of lighting and particle effects can be jarring at times. While present in instances where speed needs to be conveyed, an idea that Tales of the Shire very much does not express, it does mean that there isn’t a need for these things in helping to soften movement and add depth to visuals.
While I mentioned in my preview that bugs and glitches were very much present, including one Hobbit who simply sat and floated through Times Square, those issues are close to a resolution in this launch build. The only thing I’ve noticed in terms of poor performance is instances of significant frame rate drops in densely populated areas, such as the Town Square and the Green Dragon.
Tales of the Shire isn’t precisely a graphically taxing game for a computer, which is the platform I’ve been playing on. There are several major visual codex choices to work with, but it would be great to see a graphical stability patch roll out in the coming days.
In terms of sound and music, Tales of the Shire recently put its OST out into the world. Rhythms are bright and slow, leaning heavily on flute and percussive elements to help build a contrast of small Hobbits in a big Shire. The sounds of rain, animals, and various other life happenings mix beautifully into the music. It all works with no complaints.
Verdict
Tales of the Shire is, without a doubt, a faithful Hobbit’s life simulator. This big world, full of tasks to complete in the service of Bywater beatification, feels cozy and calm. There are no objective metrics for success and failure here, aside from keeping other Hobbits happy and watching your town improve. And that’s what makes Tales of the Shire so successful.
Wētā Workshop accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of creating a branded IP game that doesn’t feel like what came before, thanks to its meticulous set dressing. Most likely because they’ve spent two decades dressing sets for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as handling collectables. If anything, the IP representation present is their strong suit, while the gaming elements are secondary for them.
I’m not going to pretend that the lack of challenge and GameCube-like graphics are going to make this a tough title to appeal to everybody, but what’s on offer is delectably done for those seeking a cozy Hobbit lifestyle.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
