New Lord Of The Rings Game Looks Very Peaceful, Reminds Us There's Some Good In This World

Private Division and Weta Workshop have released a new trailer for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, and it looks absolutely delightful.

Tales of the Shire is described as a "cozy Hobbit life sim" set in Middle-earth, and specifically, the town of Bywater. Weta Workshop's internal game studio is developing the game, which is set for release in the second half of 2024 on Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

As you'll see in the trailer, Tales of the Shire invites players to Bywater where they can make friends, decorate their Hobbit hole home, explore the countryside to collect mushrooms, and partake in activities like fishing, gardening, and cooking.

And of course, players can eat second breakfast. The goal, it seems, is to foster a sense of community within the town and eventually throw a big Bywater Festival.

"Players have been clamoring for a warm and inviting The Lord of the Rings game for years now, and it's exactly what we're delivering with Tales of the Shire," Private Division's Michael Worosz said.

Obviously, it's too soon to say anything about the quality of Tales of the Shire and how it actually plays, but it certainly looks inviting and cozy.

This is an officially licensed game, and Weta has been given the "broadest creative license to interpret the underlying lore of the books," reads a line from the press release.

In addition to Tales of the Shire, Lord of the Rings fans are getting another Lord of the Rings MMO from Amazon, though it's been some time since we've had an update on that. 2023 had a Lord of the Rings game release, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, but it was very poorly received.

For more on the cozy games movement, check out a rundown of the cozy games we're looking forward to this year in the gallery below.