I can’t lie, the first thing I thought when I heard about a Hobbit game was, “Cozy! Food! Comfy homes!” You’d think they nailed it, right? Well, sort of. Tales of the Shire, bless its long-winded name, takes a stab at it. But… uh, it lands a bit underdone.
Okay, picture this: It’s set between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. You bump into Gandalf briefly—nice!–and then start your adventure as a customized, fresh-on-the-scene hobbit in Bywater. The place is maze-like, honestly. You run around doing favors or sometimes cooking for the locals. Charming writing, sure, but it felt like I was doing laps around a not-so-big village. I kept wanting to finish each quest, though. Not sure why, but maybe that’s just me?
Cooking is, like, the big thing here. You grow stuff, forage, whatever—it’s all about putting meals together. Cute for a hobbit game, makes total sense. But, um, that’s pretty much it. Each quest spirals into hosting a meal, making what someone likes, and the same darn cutscene showing them excited. No real depth, you know? And weirdly enough, your hobbit is never hungry. That bugged me. Relaxing? Maybe. Too much? Probably.
The game ticks along each day, farm sim-style. Cook, forage, blab with folks, and hit the sack. If you’re a night owl, you’ll sleep in a bit. But no biggie. I kinda ran out of things to do well before bedtime and found myself fishing aimlessly. Yeah, thrilling, I know.
Now, visuals! Played this on both the Switch and Switch 2. Neither blew my mind. The world was decent-looking, but those hobbit designs were… unsettling? Though props for the bearded dwarf lady. Graphics on Switch 1 stuttered sometimes, especially while moving around. I even hit a bizarre bug on Switch 2—a red sky. Couldn’t get that to happen on Switch 1, so who knows? The kicker, though, was the crashing. Like every 20 minutes, pow, back to the start of whatever I was doing. I auto-saved like a maniac. Trust issues, much?
At its core, Tales of the Shire is a fantastic concept. Feels like it’s almost something great. Right now, though? Not so much. Kinda see it as an early access peek. Stability’s all over the place, even Switch 2 can’t muscle through. I wanted to adore it, I swear. Maybe someday it’ll shine, but today isn’t that day.
