Summary
In a world where cozy game after cozy game continues to show itself,Tales of the Shirestands tall. Despite including plenty of features most commonly associated with cozy games,Tales of the Shireis based on J. R. R. Tolkien’sLord of the Ringsuniverse, which automatically makes it an altogether different animal. Set in the charming village of the Shire’s Bywater,Tales of the Shiresees players living out their lives as a Hobbit with complete access to relaxing activities like fishing, exploration, decorating, and cooking. In fact,Tales of the Shire’s cooking is at the heart of its gameplay, which makes sense from a lore standpoint, considering Hobbits have an unmatched love for food.
Tales of the Shire’s cookingis one of its most prominent gameplay features. Based on what has been revealed so far, it seems to be much more complex and involved than cooking in other games that don’t wholly revolve around the activity. Fortunately, this bodes well for the rest of the game’s features, especially if the developer went just as far with everything elseTales of the Shirehas to offer.
Tales of the Shire’s In-Depth Cooking Mechanics Are a Good Omen for the Game’s Other Features
Tales of the Shire’s Cooking Is Much More Involved Than the Simple Gathering and Combining of Ingredients
Whereas mostgames with cookingsimply require players to have the correct ingredients available to prepare a particular dish,Tales of the Shiretakes it several steps further by involving the player in almost every step of the cooking process. After learning a recipe (usually after receiving a letter from another villager), players can proceed to gather the ingredients for it. From there, they can combine the ingredients at their cooking table and begin to prepare the dish.
SomeTales of the Shiredishescall for very specific ingredients, while others might only call for something more general, like a “hearty vegetable” of the player’s choice. After selecting which ingredients will be used in the recipe, players can begin preparing them. They can then choose how chunky or how smooth an ingredient is by how many times they chop it, and even add spices to the dish to take it up a notch. This is where things can get tricky, however, as adding too much spice can throw off the entire recipe and lead to a lackluster response from the recipient.
Other Tales of the Shire Features May Be Just as Involved as Cooking
While cooking is undoubtedly going to be the highlight ofTales of the Shire’s gameplay, there are plenty of other features players can look forward to as well that might even be just as involved as cooking. Interior and exterior home decoration are a prominent feature ofTales of the Shire’s gameplay, and it already looks promising. Hobbit hole decoration inTales of the Shireallows players to place various items on the inside and outside the house, even allowing them to place smaller items, like books and dishes, individually. This is already a sign ofTales of the Shire’s in-depth cooking mechanicsleaking into other areas of the game as well.
Otherfeatures inTales of the Shire, like fishing and foraging, may also take after this approach to gameplay by allowing players to be more involved every step of the way. Perhaps players will be given more agency over the quality of a herb they pick by how they pick it, similar to how foraging works inAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The same could be said aboutTales of the Shire’s fishing, maybe by going the usual route of changing the quality of the fish caught according to the bait used. At the very least, cooking inTales of the Shiresounds like it will be one of the most involved aspects of its gameplay.
