We're getting a "cozy" and "heartwarming" Lord of the Rings game from the movies' SFX designer

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Tales of the Shire is set to release on PC and consoles next year

Tales of the Shire teaser trailer
(Image credit: Private Division)

We're getting a "cozy" and "heartwarming" Lord of the Rings game from the movies' SFX designer sometime next year. 

On September 22, Private Division - mainly known as the publisher of Hades and The Outer Worlds - announced that it was working with the special effects and prop house Weta Workshop to release a brand new Lord of the Rings game called Tales of the Shire. The upcoming cozy game will be set in Middle-earth and inspired by J.R.R Tolkien's books - it'll also release on PC and consoles sometime in 2024.

To announce the game, Private Division released a teaser trailer which gives us the tiniest glimpse of the upcoming title. In the video, we see someone painting in a journal surrounded by the coziest things you can imagine. In the journal, we can see a character, as well as lots of other concept art that gives us the general vibe of Tales of the Shire. 

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We don't have any other context for the game, but since it's being described as "cozy", and farming/life sims are all the rage right now, we're going to guess that it could be something similar to Stardew Valley, but with a Hobbit twist.

Although there's still a lot to learn about this game, it seems fans of Lord of the Rings and cozy games are already excited to learn more about the project. "SO TALES OF THE SHIRE HUH! COSY HOBBIT GAME?! IS THIS MADE FOR ME?!" one Twitter user posted following the game's reveal. "Tales of the Shire is now my most anticipated game of 2024!", another said, despite not knowing very much about it at all right now.

Find out all about another upcoming Middle-earth game with our The Lord of the Rings Return to Moria preview.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.