Tales of the Shire is heading our way next year. I’m sure you recall the game was delayed from its intended launch this year. However, if this is a game you’ve been keen to try, we have some new details. The development team at Weta Workshop is taking more inspiration from the series of novels than the movies.
Recently, Gamerant had the chance to speak with game designer Catherine Booth. During the conversation, the publication learned more about the design choices made for this project. For instance, when asked where the team was taking inspiration from when it came to designing the world and décor choices, it was clear the team was closely viewing the books. However, beyond the novels, it looks like author Tolkien himself also inspired the team.
Catherine noted that the books and design choices mentioned were also more about Tolkien looking back at his childhood and writing about what he knew of the world growing up. So, the designs you see in the game are also very much the mid-century and early 1990s décor.
It’s very much grounded in Tolkien’s books. We’re very much inspired by the aesthetic of the time that he grew up in, even prior to the age he was when he wrote the books. What he would have had around him growing up—because we know that was really a huge inspiration for him when he was writing about the Shire. It was about his childhood, it was about his upbringing, it was about being in nature.
We were inspired by the things that would have been surrounding him at that time. That sort of mid-century, early 1900s kind of aesthetic, even going slightly further back. Woody, homey, rustic—all those kinds of things have inspired us. We’ve focused on what the books are giving us, trying to bring forth that feeling, but in a variety of different ways so that if the player has different aesthetic ideas, they’re not locked into, say, brown wood. There are lots of different places they can go with that.
I really like how the art team has managed to achieve all of those different options and make them feel very different while staying within that sort of scope of, “What would Tolkien have experienced when he was writing this?” It’s our take on a historically grounded, source material-grounded inspiration. – Catherine Booth
While the game focuses on being a hobbit and living life, don’t expect to decorate your home with the One Ring. Instead, it’s already been confirmed you won’t be seeing this item. The game will be taking place after the events of The Hobbit. As a result, the team wanted to ensure they didn’t feature anything that the citizens of the Shire wouldn’t be aware of.
We’ve been very careful about our references to the One Ring because of where the game is set. We’re setting the game after the events of The Hobbit. That’s happened, Bilbo’s come back to the Shire, and the vibe is that all the hobbits are like, “Oh, whatever. You just went on some weird trip. Came back really rich.” That’s all. That’s their level of caring about it, which is really appropriate for The Hobbit.
Then, because the events of Lord of the Rings haven’t taken place yet, we didn’t want to make any references to the One Ring. We’ve really made sure that there are no plot holes or weird inconsistencies going on, that it works for the time. – Catherine Booth
Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game will be released on March 25, 2025. You’ll find the game available on the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch platforms when it is released. In the meantime while we wait you can view the official announcement trailer for Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings game in the video we have embedded below.
