Right at the beginning of JRR Tolkien The Hobbit‘adventure’ is a bit of a dirty word.
When the wizard Gandalf first meets the timid Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving, tobacco-smoking hobbit, he asks: “I’m looking for someone to share the adventure I’m having and it’s very hard to find someone. Bilbo’s response?
“I should think so—in these parts! We are ordinary quiet people and have no use for adventure. Ugly disturbing uncomfortable things! You’re late for dinner!”
So, at least at the beginning of the famous Middle-earth adventures, the hobbits do not want to leave their cozy and humble lives. Tales of the Shire from Wētā Workshop – best known for props and special effects work for Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies – includes that homely hobbit vibe for the franchise’s first cozy living sim. Despite dabbling in a variety of genres over the years, from text-based adventures, turn-based RPGs, and action-adventures, Hobbits have always been thrown into danger in some way, but Wētā Workshop saw fit to give little boys and girls a little relief.
We were very cautious about Tales of the Shire when we went to play the game at Summer Game Fest. The market, and especially the Switch’s library, is saturated with cozy life simulation games where making friends and living only target. We even demonstrated several similar games at Play Days. Fortunately, our doubts were immediately swept away upon picking up the controller.
Tales of the Shire may take place between The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring, but it’s all about warm fuzzies with an art style that feels like a watercolor impression of an idealistic Middle Earth. And it looks great on PC where we demoed the game, so insert switch warning / caveat here. Hobbits, however, bring their own identity and personality to the game do let him feel completely his own way.
We laughed out loud several times as we played the game. Hobbits are utterly charming, with silly humor and a strong love of food. And that’s the heart of Tales of the Shire – food. In the newly founded Bywater, not yet recognized by Hobbiton, it’s your job to help build community and relationships through the power of cooking and good food.
We played in two different parts of the game: at the beginning, when we settled in our house and learned the basics of cooking; and a mid-game sequence that involved helping the pub develop some specific dishes. In the first of these we were shown around our little Hobbit hut (in the full game you’ll be able to create your own Hobbit with no restrictions on clothing or gender). There is a bedroom, a large kitchen and a small pantry where you can store ingredients. Additionally, when you put your ingredients in the pantry, you’ll see those items appear in the store in the game.
This is also where our Hobbit character learned to cook, which is its own low-pressure mini-game. The Hobbit Life Simulator’s focus 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 influence the food by how finely you chop the ingredients: once or twice means the texture will be coarse, but the more you chop, the finer and mushier it will be.
It’s not just about the cooking process. Sometimes you will have to put food on the table and join your boarders for dinner. It adds to the warm, family feel that Tales of the Shire strives for. Placing the bowl on the table was a little awkward, but we like the idea of actually hosting a meal that we put all our love and care into.
All of these aspects of preparation and cooking play into the game’s quest system. Other hobbits living in the Bywater will ask you to make dishes to improve the town or build relationships, and these increase in difficulty as you progress. Some hobbits determine 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 house. But since this is a life simulator, every 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 it is not necessary. After opening the map, you can pull up a list of residents who live in the city. When you select a person you need, such as a quest giver, their location is marked on the map – even if they are moving. The game will then subtly guide you to that person using a bird that will sit on walls and lamps along the way, helping to keep the experience stress-free.
As for gathering ingredients, you can either forage around town or nearby forests, or harvest them from your garden. In the second demo we had several pots full of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, mushrooms and more. And we’re told that depending on which vegetables you plant together, you can really affect the yield. This means that a certain degree of planning is required to maximize your harvest. You can also move your pots around at any time, allowing you to customize your garden to your liking.
As we headed into our kitchen, we now discovered a lot of other tools. There was a mason jar that makes food crispier; pot to boil and soften; pan to increase fragility; and a pestle and mortar to grind certain foods. And we also had access to spices that affected the taste. From spicy, sour, sweet and salty, every single ingredient can be individually seasoned.
One of our assignments called for something spicy, so we checked our recipe book and ingredients to make sure we had the right spices – pepper and garlic worked here. With what we had available, we were able to make some spicy fish cakes to the taste of the tavern owner. Of course, this came along with some silly story about how the adventurer might have killed the dragon – or possibly asked someone else to do it for him. Lazy hobbits, eh?
There were a lot of things we didn’t get a chance 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 look all that appealing from the outside. You can decorate your hobbit house, go fishing and improve relationships with other hobbits. It is not felt completely Unique, mixing together a lot of different elements from other live simulation games, but Tales of the Shire at least tries to carve its own identity in the space by focusing on the cooking aspect.
We’ll see if The Hobbits can cook up a storm when the game hits Switch later this year. Is Tales of the Shire on your wishlist? Spice up the comments below.