Tales of the Shire is the coziest take on the Lord of the Rings universe yet, putting players in the shoes of a Hobbit in the midst of Hobbiton and tasking them with uniting the community surrounding Bywater. You're able to fish in ponds, produce food and crops, forage for fruit, and trade with townsfolk to better your comfy life.
Revealed in 2024 from developer Weta Workshop Game Studio - a subsidiary of Weta Workshop, best known for working on the Lord of the Rings movies - the storybook life sim set in Middle-earth gives off some Stardew Valley vibes and promises to be a great entry point for newcomers, alongside longtime fans of Tolkien's universe. It's long been one of our most exciting new games for 2025, and now that it's been released, we can share some details before you decide to pick it up for yourselves.
So if you're looking to live out your Tolkien dream life, read on for a full recap of everything we know about Tales of the Shire. From gameplay, trailers, reviews, and details on when it takes place in the timeline, we've got all your hairy-footed needs covered!
Tales of the Shire release date
The Tales of the Shire release date came our way on July 29, 2025.
Originally, the publisher, Private Division, had said that we'd get to see the title in 2024. That was also after two other delays, but thankfully, our waiting is over. However, that being said, perhaps the game needed a bit more time in the oven still. Multiple early reviews point out issues with some bugs. In our own Tales of the Shire review, we commented on crashes happening. Hopefully, a patch arrives soon, but it's something to keep in mind if you were planning on grabbing the game early.
Tales of the Shire platforms
Tales of the Shire is available on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch upon release. This is great news for all of us cozy gamers, as there are a ton of titles in the genre that tend to be either PC exclusives or Switch-only titles.
Currently, it's "unknown" if the upcoming Lord of the Rings game will be Steam Deck verified. However, judging from the low-demand graphics of the game and the fact that it will have controller support from the outset, we're guessing that the game will at least be "playable" on Steam Deck from the get-go. In fact, during our review of the game, we tried it out on our Deck to see if it would run, and it performed great.
It's also unconfirmed if the cozy game will be added to the list of upcoming Switch 2 games in the future. Despite the fact that Nintendo announced its new console and how many cozy gamers gravitate towards their products, Tales of the Shire has only been announced for the original Switch so far. We'll keep you posted if anything changes on that front!
Tales of the Shire trailer
Right now, we have three Tales of the Shire trailers to go off. However, the first announcement trailer is still the longest teaser we have and is the best at setting the scene for the new game. In the teaser above, we see shots of cozy hobbit holes, paired with a voice-over that sounds a lot like our favorite grey wizard, Gandalf.
The clip also gives us some scenes showing off gameplay mechanics such as cooking, fishing, exploration, and friendship building. It's an idyllic delight, so much so that it's easy to forget that in a few decades' time Ringwraiths will be riding about looking for Frodo and co. From the clip, no orcs or mention of Mordor is in sight, so don't worry, your hobbit life is a strictly peaceful affair!
Tales of the Shire gameplay
A better look at Tales of the Shire's gameplay comes in the more recent trailers and our own in-depth preview of the game, which you can watch for yourself above. This time, we're getting a good look at Hobbits roaming around Hobbiton, hanging out together near the edge of lush lakes, foraging for food, and baking goods.
The above clip is a really good look at how Tales of the Shire plays, and the general speed and rhythm of the game. In short, as you might not be surprised to hear, it's a slow-moving adventure, just like we've come to expect from farming sims like Stardew Valley and such. As we mentioned in our Tales of the Shire preview and our review, the upcoming game stands out thanks to its cooking mechanics.
Instead of just making sure you have all the needed ingredients in your inventory when it comes to crafting a dish, you can chop, fry, and season your food - which will result in different textures. Getting the right combinations and serving the best plates at your Hobbit dinner parties is the main focus of the game.
While our first taste of Tales of the Shire wasn't perfect (with its heavy focus on fetch-quests and sometimes non-cozy weather animations), it is still a fine enough experience. It's also been confirmed by game designer Catherine Booth (via Gamereactor) that the game takes place after the events of The Hobbit but before The Lord of the Rings in the Lord of the Rings timeline. That means that we are looking at the 59 years before Frodo inherited the One Ring.
This time period was generally semi-peaceful for Hobbits, so don't expect any combat or to be playing the events from the Battle of Bywater that Tolkien described in his works. Honestly, we don't mind this peaceful approach, and with a little more fine-tuning and updates, we may just have a new entry to the best Lord of the Rings games on our hands here.
Is Tales of the Shire multiplayer?
Unfortunately, if you were hoping to roam around Hobbiton with your friends, it looks like you're firmly out of luck. Steam's store page for Tales of the Shire has a ‘Singleplayer' tag listed by publisher Private Division, so put those multiplayer dreams to bed.
It's also worth pointing out that we probably shouldn't hold out hope for a multiplayer mode further down the line. Adding a multiplayer mode for any game isn't as simple as flicking a switch - there's servers to purchase and maintain and features to adjust and fine tune, for example. Let's not get our hopes up for now.
Tales of the Shire news
- Unlike Animal Crossing, house decoration in the Lord of the Rings life sim game doesn't operate on a grid because Hobbits also love "clutter-core"
- Lord of the Rings finally meets Stardew Valley in March as Tales of the Shire sets a new release date
- Cute and cozy Lord of the Rings life sim Tales of the Shire delayed to early 2025
- Tales of the Shire is more than Lord of the Rings-branded Stardew Valley, and it fixes one of the genre's biggest problems
- The cutest Lord of the Rings game yet gets its first trailer, and I immediately want to live in this Hobbit take on a Stardew Valley-like life sim
For recommendations, you can play right now; here's our pick of the best simulator games. Or, if you want more Middle-earth fun, check out our in-depth guide on The Rings of Power season 3.
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