If you cast your mind back to last year, you might remember a teaser for an upcoming cosy life sim set in Middle Earth. Well, after months of silence, we now have our first look at what's in store as publisher Private Division and developer Wētā Workshop Game Studio have revealed the official announcement trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game.

This warm and fuzzy life/farm sim will be catching the Buckleberry Ferry over to Switch "in the second half of 2024," so we still have a couple of months to go before we need to light the beacons.

As for what it's all about, it's much as you might expect. Tales of the Shire will see you creating a Hobbit and settling down in Bywater (just South of Hobbiton, for those wondering). While your end goal will be to throw a huge village festival, all of the usual life sim elements are on display too: fishing, decorating, friendship-building, second breakfast-eating, you know the drill. You can find the game's official summary below:

Create and personalise a Hobbit with an array of customisations to experience the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved Middle-earth universe your own way. Settle in and decorate a cosy Hobbit home, choosing from an array of furniture and home décor to create your unique, humble abode. Then head outdoors to Bywater for plenty of cooking, fishing, foraging, gardening, and more relaxing activities in the Shire. Toss your lure to catch trout from the glistening waters of Bywater Pool, gather wild mushrooms, and then use the collected ingredients to bake a succulent pie to serve for luncheon. With a full belly, stroll back outside to explore the Shire and build relationships with the Bywater locals by helping them to build a garden, sharing one of the many daily Hobbit meals, and more.

It all sounds rather Animal Crossing-y — though, to our money, it looks just about generic enough that anyone who has ever played any farm/life sim will likely see some similarities here.

Mind you, a cosy Shire game feels like a no-brainer and we'd be lying if we said that we hadn't thought about the prospect of one at least once. Here's hoping that Wētā Workshop can carry a bit of that movie magic over into the gaming world — heck after last year's Gollum, the series needs it more than ever.

What do you make of Tales of the Shire? Let us know in the comments.