New Lord of the Rings Game Has Completely Divided Fans

Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game is arguably one of this summer’s most anticipated releases. As a cozy game set in the Lord of the Rings universe, the game drew attention from the moment it was announced. After its release saw a few delays, many fans were worried about what shape the game might be in at launch. Tales of the Shire debuted to mixed critical reception, with many reviews skewing negative. But since fans have actually arrived in Bywater, the conversation has gotten a bit more complicated. Is Tales of the Shire good? It very much depends on who you ask.

On Metacritic, Tales of the Shire achieved a pretty mixed 59 score from early reviewers. While most opinions were solidly in the mid range, a few outliers gave incredibly low scores (like the scathing IGN review) or higher ones (like my own review here at ComicBook.com). In cozy gaming groups on Facebook, Discord, and beyond, gamers debated whether to even bother with Tales of the Shire. But enough people did that the discourse around the cozy Lord of the Rings game has become… complicated.

The User Score on Metacritic is a pretty abysmal 3.3, landing it at “generally unfavorable.” On Steam, the game has achieved a Mostly Positive score, up from its early Mixed rating. The PlayStation store tells a similar story, putting the game at 4.45/5 stars with 209 ratings. Clearly, fans are pretty divided about Tales of the Shire. So, what’s going on here?

Tales of the Shire May Suffer From Players’ Misconceptions & Expectations

When critical reviews first went live, many called out “boring” mechanics and a lack of voice acting. These complaints aren’t invalid, necessarily, but they may misunderstand the conventions of the cozy genre. Many of the most popular so-called cozy games, from Stardew Valley to Animal Crossing and beyond, do not have voice acting. So, those who play a lot of these kinds of games might not miss it, but other gamers clearly do.

Similarly, if you don’t like repetitive, slow-paced games, of course a game like Tales of the Shire might feel boring. But many fans of cozy games go in hoping for that slower pace. There’s no combat, no quick decision-making. Just farming, foraging, and a whole lot of cooking. This one really comes down to a matter of preference. Some fans love grinding to unlock every recipe in a game just to see how they turn out. But some gamers used to shooters and RPGs could get bored fast.

That said, not all lovers of cozy games are on board for Tales of the Shire, either. Some hoped for a sort of Stardew Valley, but make it Lord of the Rings approach. And naturally, those gamers were disappointed by what they got. Tales of the Shire didn’t necessarily promise us Stardew Valley levels of depth. But those who went in wishing for it found the less complex farming mechanics and shorter seasons underwhelming.

For all this, the game has received its fair share of praise from fans, too. “Tales of the Shire is exactly what it promises to be,” reads one recent Steam review. Another review from a player with 18+ hours in the game says, “this is what cozy dreams are made of.” Many gamers praise the game’s slow pace and relaxed experience, and I’m not alone in loving that “meal planning is just so much cooler than spamming gifts to make friends.”

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For the most part, it seems that those who went in wanting a slow, cooking-focused game with small stakes are the ones who seem most likely to enjoy Tales of the Shire. That said, performance has been a complaint across the board. The game ran incredibly poorly when it first went out to reviewers, and was only patched about a week before launch. Some players still report having issues with glitches, crashes, and visual problems. In particular, the game looks to be pretty poorly optimized for PC, and many gamers on Steam report struggling with performance.

Ultimately, whether or not you’ll enjoy Tales of the Shire seems to largely depend on what you’re looking for. And, in some cases, which platform you play on. The game looks to be running fairly well now on PS5 and Switch, but is still struggling on PC, depending on your system. Cozy gamers who enjoy the grind of gathering ingredients and cooking meals seem, for the most part, happy with the game. Those hoping for a Stardew in the Shire or wanting something more akin to prior Lord of the Rings games, on the other hand, have been disappointed by Tales of the Shire.