Tales of the Shire is less Stardew Valley and more Cooking Mama

Playing Tales of the Shire for the first time, we were left surprised by its approach to the cozy genre, with a heavier emphasis on cooking than expected, but walked away utterly charmed by its adorable and faithful presentation.

There’s no two ways about it, Tales of the Shire is a dream game for millions of Lord of the Rings fans around the world. A cozy, slice-of-life portrayal of the whimsical ways of hobbits. It’s a brilliant blend of IP and genre, bringing the ever-popular works of J. R. R. Tolkien to audiences in a way they’ve never quite experienced before.

Needless to say, I was incredibly excited to get some hands-on time with an early build of the game over Summer Game Fest, the first playable demo of its kind. While it surprised me in a number of ways, namely with its hilariously fitting focus on cooking, I came away entirely convinced. Should Wētā Workshop stick the landing here, they’ve got gold on their hands.

Even from a brief 30-minute preview, it’s clear Tales of the Shire is set to captivate LotR fans for countless hours. From its overall structure down to the minuscule details, they’re nailing it thus far and I couldn’t be more excited for the full release later this year.

Tales of the Shire knows itself

Hopping right into the mix, our demo jumped across multiple points, starting early before transporting to a save much further on. What quickly became clear is just how much effort has been put into capturing that Tolkien charm.

This shockingly large town is chock full of personality and charm. From the local hobbits to the creatures you’ll happen upon in the wild, down to the adorable sound effects complementing every little interaction, it’s all deeply considered and sure to warm the hearts of lifelong fans.

If you’re eager to get lost in an adorable Shire all your own, look no further. Above all else, the dev team is on track to absolutely nail the game’s atmosphere, ensuring it’s a cozy environment you won’t want to leave anytime soon.

Even how you move through the gorgeous locale is unique here. It would’ve been all too easy to just adopt any old movement system, but Wētā has gone the extra…leap. That’s right, rather than running through the fields, the ‘sprint’ button instead has you skipping in the most fittingly hilarious way possible. It’s another layer of consideration that helps keep you immersed in the world. But what are you actually doing beyond frolicking around? Let us explain.

Cooking up a feast in Tales of the Shire

On the surface, Tales of the Shire is a familiar cozy-style game. You’ve got your humble abode to customize as you see fit. There’s your garden space to utilize, growing crops in order to trade with the locals and support your easygoing lifestyle. A vast open town is ready to be explored as dozens of NPCs share their stories with you. But above it all, what stood out the most during our hands-on demo, was just how much of an emphasis has been placed on cooking.

It may come as no surprise to experienced fans, after all, we know hobbits love a good feed, but cooking is central to just about everything you do in Tales of the Shire. As a result, the gameplay systems around it have been fleshed out in such a way as to keep it all engaging.

Up first, we were tasked with making a savory dish for a friend across town. After gathering some ingredients from our homegrown crops outside, we stepped over to our very own kitchen and began preparing.

Before any cooking began, we had to pick which recipe we wanted to focus on. Even with an early save, there were dozens of options and no doubt dozens more yet to be discovered. Some sweet, some spicy, some savory, some yet to be determined. Sticking with our goal, we picked out a savory dish and moved to the next step.

This particular meal required just four ingredients, though each had to be added one at a time. Vegetables need to be chopped, something the game gives you manual control over. If you chop them quite fine, it might make the dish sweeter. If you leave them a bit more chunky, the opposite. Then, the meat had to be cooked, again letting you manually control the specifics to influence the taste of the dish.

In the midst of it all, seasoning comes into play. Depending on what you have available in your kitchen, you’re able to alter the taste of any given dish to suit your needs. In this case, we knew our friend wanted something a bit salty, so we could mix more in to get things just right.

Everything you’re doing is tracked on a nifty little graph in the bottom right corner, mapping out flavor profiles and letting you adjust on the fly as you cook. In another instance, we needed to make a spicy dish. Following the same steps as above, we made the spiciest dish possible to really nail the assignment.

It’s more than just a minigame here, cooking is properly part of the Tales of the Shire experience. It’s at the core of everything you’re doing as a hobbit. Preparing snacks for friends, hosting second breakfasts, and serving up wondrous feasts, we’re going to be spending lots of time in the kitchen, and rest assured, it’s plenty of fun.

Making your time in the kitchen all the more sweet is the fact most of your ingredients can be homegrown. With tons of space to grow your own crops, there’s room to gather all sorts of delicacies. So as much as Tales of the Shire focuses on cooking, you can’t even get to that stage without first taking care of your garden.

While we obviously didn’t have time to deck out our very own plots of land, planting specific crops where we saw fit, we did get a glimpse at how customizable it all is. Entering a fleshed-out customization screen, we were shown how every little thing can be tweaked.

You can move crops at any given time, you can expand your plots of land as you become more experienced, and you gain access to new seeds as you progress, it’s all here and it’s all set to keep aspiring hobbits’ thumbs green for hours on end.

A cozy adventure with no end in sight

A game of this sort does indeed follow a mostly linear progression. Through your mailbox, you’ll have new missions to complete, new goals to achieve, and new mouths to feed. As you advance and grow your farm, seasons will change, new experiences like fishing will come into focus, and no doubt some familiar faces will roll into town.

It’s set to offer up countless hours of fun even from launch, and no doubt content drops down the line will keep things fresh in the years to come as well. Our one remaining desire is to see online functionality added, letting multiple hobbits look after their crops and cook up delicious meals together. Though in asking the devs, they assured co-op isn’t in focus whatsoever for the time being, so it’s just wishful thinking for now.

There’s still no solid release date for Tales of the Shire just yet, but best believe we’ll be diving in on day one, eagerly improving our skills in the kitchen.