A core part of the cozy game experience is the player's ability to turn their new virtual house into a home. This simple goal usually acts as the backbone of a life-sim, encouraging players to engage in all of the game's systems to earn new furniture for their abode. Tales of the Shire is no exception to this cozy game rule.
Cooking, fishing, foraging, and gardening are the four core pillars of Tales of the Shire's gameplay loop, and all four will lead the player to the same general destination. The more players cook for their fellow Hobbit villagers, the more they sell off their wares, and the more they complete fetch quests for their neighbors, the more furniture they'll acquire for their Hobbit-hole. And when it comes to placing that furniture, Tales of the Shire might have a leg up on Animal Crossing.
Tales of the Shire Review
A Lord of the Rings life-sim, Tales of the Shire tries to live up to its inherently great premise, but the Hobbit game falls short in a few ways.
Animal Crossing Might Want to Follow in Tales of the Shire's Footsteps With its Decorating Mechanic
Animal Crossing's Grid-Based Decorating System Is Accessible, But Restrictive
Animal Crossing has essentially used the same decorating system since the series' debut in 2001. When players have furniture they want to place, they head into their inventory, pull that item out, and manually move it around the space using their in-game character. This placement system is grid-based, with players only being able to move their furniture in set directions, and a set distance.
A key strength of Animal Crossing's grid-based decorating system is that it's extremely accessible. Moving furniture along a set of predetermined tiles is incredibly intuitive, and the simplicity of physically moving each item ensures that players of all skill levels will be able to immediately understand one of Animal Crossing's core mechanics.
That said, Animal Crossing's grid-based placement has often been criticized for feeling a little too restrictive. Players can only position their furniture in straight lines, and they can only rotate items 90 degrees. Though this simplicity is also a part of Animal Crossing's charm, it might be time for the system to evolve a little.
Tales of the Shire's Gridless Decorating System Puts Player-Freedom First
Though it has plenty of features that pale in comparison to those found in its competition, one of Tales of the Shire's greatest strengths is its interior and exterior decorating mechanic. Unlike Animal Crossing, Tales of the Shire allows players to place their furniture freely in their Hobbit home, using a completely gridless system.
This means that players can move their furniture with no restrictions, rotating each object to their heart's content until it fits the room perfectly. This gridless system also lets players place furniture items on top of one another. Tales of the Shire is home to a wealth of "Clutter" items, which are smaller items of furniture like pillows, candlesticks, and cutlery that are designed to be pushed together atop a counter or bookshelf. These individual items can all be placed freely in the environment as well.
Tales of the Shire gives players full control over their Hobbit-hole customization, and while the furniture items themselves aren't overly expressive, the player's ability to freely place each one adds a lot of individuality to Tales of the Shire's player experience.
- Released
- July 29, 2025
- Developer(s)
- Wētā Workshop
- Publisher(s)
- Private Division
- Franchise
- The Lord of the Rings
- Number of Players
- 1
