Right at the beginning of J. RR Tolkien The Hobbit“adventure” is a bit of a dirty word.
When the wizard Gandalf first meets the timid, comfort-loving, smoking hobbit Bilbo Baggins, he asks: “I’m looking for someone to take part in the adventure I’m organizing, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.” Bilbo’s response?
“I should think so—in these parts!” We are ordinary quiet people and have no need for adventure. Nasty Embarrassing Embarrassing Things! To make you late for dinner!”
So, at least at the beginning of the famous adventures in Middle-earth, hobbits have no desire to leave their cozy, humble lives. Tales of the Shire by Wētā Workshop – who are best known for props and special effects work for Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies – embraces that homey Hobbit vibe for the franchise’s first cosy-living simulation. Although they’ve dabbled in a variety of genres over the years, from text-based adventures, turn-based RPGs, and action-adventures, The Hobbits have somehow always been in jeopardy, but Wētā Workshop saw fit to give little boys and girls some relief.
When we went to play the game at Summer Game Fest, we were very cautious about Tales of the Shire. The market, and the Switch library in particular, is saturated with cozy life simulation games where finding friends and life is the only one purpose. We even demoed a few similar games at Play Days. Thankfully, our doubts were instantly swept away once we picked up the controller.
Tales of the Shire may take place between The Hobbit and fellowship of the Ring, but it’s all about the warm mosses, with an art style that feels like a watercolorist’s impression of an idealistic Middle Earth. And it looks great on PC, where we demoed the game, so insert your Switch caveat/caveat here. But hobbits bring their own identity and personality to the game, which do make him feel completely his own thing.
While playing the game, we laughed out loud several times. Hobbits are extremely charming, with silly humor and a strong love of food. And that’s the heart of Tales of the Shire – the food. In the newly created Bywater, not yet recognized by Hobbiton, it’s your job to help build community and relationships with the power of cooking and good food.
We played through two different parts of the game: the beginning where we settled into our home and tackled the basics of cooking; and a mid-game sequence that involved helping the tavern develop some specific dishes. In the first, we were shown around our little Hobbit hut (you’ll be able to create your own Hobbit in the full game, with no clothing or gender restrictions). There is a bedroom, a large kitchen and a small pantry where you can store the products. Plus, when you place your ingredients in the pantry, you’ll see those items reflected in the in-game warehouse.
This is where our Hobbit hero was also taught how to cook, which is its own low-pressure mini-game. Centering a Hobbit life simulation around food is so obvious, but it’s also quite engaging. You start with just a cutting board and a mixing bowl, and you can actually affect the food depending on how finely you cut the ingredients: once or twice means the texture will be chunky, but the more you cut, the finer and mushier, it will do.
It’s not just about the cooking process. Sometimes you’ll need to put the dish on the table and join your diners for a seat. This adds to the warm, family feel that Tales of the Shire is going for. Putting the dish on the table was a bit awkward, but we love the idea of actually hosting the food we put all our love and care into.
All of these aspects of preparation and cooking feed into the game’s quest system. Other hobbits living in Bywater will ask you to make dishes to improve the town or build relationships, and they get harder as you progress. Some hobbits will specify the texture and flavor they’re looking for, and you have more chances to influence those things as you get more tools and ingredients.
Most of the game’s quests come in the form of letters that you can get from the mailbox outside your home. But since it’s a life simulation, every single character in Bywater has their own schedule. In games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing it can sometimes be difficult to find each person or remember their schedule, but in Tales of the Shire you don’t have to. By opening the map, you can pull up a list of residents who live in the city. Selecting the person you need, such as the quest giver, will mark their location on the map – even if they’re moving. The game will then guide you towards that person subtly with a bird that will sit on walls and lamps along the way, helping to keep the experience even more stress-free.
In terms of gathering ingredients, you can either forage around town or nearby forests, or you can gather them from your garden. In the second demonstration we had multiple planters filled with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, mushrooms and more. And we’re told that depending on what vegetables you plant together, you can actually affect the yield. This means that some degree of planning is required to maximize your harvest. You can also move your pots at any time, allowing you to customize your garden to your liking.
Entering our kitchen, we now noticed many additional tools. There was a pickling jar that made the food crispier; pot to boil and soften; pan to increase tenderness; and a pestle and mortar for grinding certain foods. We also had access to spices to affect the taste. From spicy, sour, sweet and salty, each ingredient can be individually seasoned.
One of our missions called for something spicy, so we checked our recipe book and the ingredients to make sure we had the right spices – pepper and garlic work here. With what we had, we managed to make some spicy fish cakes to the taste of the tavern owner. It, of course, came with some silly story about how an adventurer might have killed a dragon – or possibly asked someone else to do it for him. Lazy hobbits, huh?
There were plenty of things we didn’t get to try during our 30-minute demo, but Tales of the Shire wears its food-loving identity on its sleeve, and we came away genuinely surprised by something that didn’t quite look that enticing from the outside. You can decorate the hobbit house, go fishing and improve your relationship with other hobbits. It’s not felt entirely unique, mixing together many different elements from other life simulation games, but Tales of the Shire at least tries to carve out its own identity in the space by focusing on the cooking aspect.
We’ll have to see if The Hobbit can cause a storm when the game launches on Switch later this year. Is Tales of the Shire on your wishlist? Spice up the comments below.
