After being slapped with a delay earlier this month, Private Division and Wētā Workshop took to today's Hobbit Day showcase to reveal that Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game will arrive on Switch on 25th March 2025 (which is, canonically, the day that Frodo and Samwise destroyed the One Ring — the more you know).
Today's showcase gave an in-depth look at the game, examining all of the cosy aspects the developers have added, the inspirations they took from Tolkien's work and the Hobbit-sized stories you'll come across along the way.
The life sim genre is a pretty packed one on Switch, but the Middle Earth flair has us excited to see more from this one. House decoration, town-building and fishing might not be particularly new, though there's no denying that the Shire brings a new level of cosiness to it all.
Come on, take a look at the following screens and tell us that it doesn't look like a warm hug:
We were lucky enough to go hands-on with an early build of the game at Summer Game Fest earlier this year, and we liked what we saw — particularly the focus on cooking. You can find our full preview coverage below.
Will you be heading to the Shire next March? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 28
Darn it, there goes my kid's Christmas present.
This is such a strange next step in the Lord of the Rings game series. With this one and Gollum, it’s clear they’re open to really going all over the place regardless of what the fans like about the series. Not sure who was asking for something like this, but I’m glad such a niche request was answered, whether I’m into it or not.
It's s shame we'll never see ports of the LOR games that were from the PS2 era. Shadow of Mordor and War would be nice too.
I wasn't sure if I'd be able to resist this, but no. I'm probably going to have to put this on the list for next year. It's too much. It's such an interesting take on cosy and the LOTR IP. It's kinda genius.
Interesting concept, but damn, this looks atrocious
Reviews are not looking good. Not going to link as that would likely be against the rules here.
Actually looks really cozy and fun; might pick this one up if it gets a physical edition
Where's my Shelob game?
with the new atelier game and the remaster of suikoden coming out in march 2025 i feel this game will be lost in the shuffle..
Glad to be wrong but looks like shovelware
@somnambulance I was asking for this! I've wanted a cozy Shire video game for literally decades. Don't ask me how old I am! Just know that this is exactly what I wanted.
Well, almost. I would have loved just a teensy bit of combat and suspense if you wander too far from Bag End.
The biggest danger for me is whether or not they nail the music. They have GOT to get the music right in this game! The Lord of the Rings has extremely iconic song tracks, not only with Shire-specific songs, but also with the overall feel and ambience of Middle Earth, which is something that even The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime misses.
I don't know about a "warm hug", but it definitely looks like a warm pile of something.
Another farming sim game here i come.
I will get the PS5 version as possible.
@Ulysses Rings of Power misses a lot of things that made the LotR films and books so great.
But yeah I also wanted to see something like this. LotR has a lot of truly epic battles but it’s not really about that, the way the Hobbits are, their appreciation and the time they give to life’s simple pleasures, their love for nature and community, it’s the core of why they were able to succeed. So this doesn’t feel a weird choice at all to me.
I think Tolkien would actually prefer this game to the others more focused on battle.
There are already a number of videos on YouTube bemoaning the fact there are Hobbits of color and screaming "DEI" and "Woke!", saying how they are destroying Tolkien's legacy.
It's enough to make one lose any hope for the future.
I was really hoping this was going to release this year. It was gonna be my “holiday game” that I entertained myself with over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now I gotta find something else. First world problems I guess.
Hopefully it’s better put together than Gollum.
I really wish they'd gone with a different art style for this because sadly it does look quite ugly, even if the idea of the game is very appealing.
Love the concept, hate the look. Also wish someone would pick up the Diablo-style games from the GBA. I'd buy modern versions of those in a heartbeat.
Hobbits don't look like that in the books.
Warm hug? No.... sterile hug, maybe. It looks way too sterile. Not awful, just... too bright and with very bad shading.
This looks like a game made with the Facebook avatars. In other words ... ugly!
I'll wait for the reviews. Got burnt one too many times already on pre-orders. I love life sims so I'm intrigued,though.
Removed - off-topic
Nice and even more so considering the significance of the date to LotR, while it's one of the few games shown at that crazy Direct I haven't preordered yet I don't exclude getting it at some point and regardless, hope those going for it will enjoy it!
seems to veer off the source material, lol, not for me
Worst part of the game is the end. Scouring of the shire. Real change in tone.
Looks like a warm turd
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