For the love of god, send in the Nazgul

Tales Of The Shireunfolds in a world without shadow.

Oh god, no.

Oh god, get it off me.

A scene of cooking in Tales Of the Shire with bowls and ingredients laid out across a stone tabletop

Will the Ringwraiths come?

No, they wont.

Will I get to see Bilbo descend into madness?

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Tales Of The Shire is every bit the extraordinarily happy Hobbit life sim it comes off as.

Its Tolkiens Green Hill Zone, a gust of sunshine before the plunge into Moria and Mordor.

I dont mean any of the above as criticism.

A hobbit cooking with a frying pan in Tales Of the Shire

As Sylvia Plath wrote, the flowers are too vivid, too excitable.

The air is too balmy.

Perhaps the sunshine is bait, and the second half of the game consists ofThe Scouring of the Shire.

A shot of an outside feasting table under wooden arches in Tales Of the Shire

I can imagine people getting murdered here.

There are certainly a few hobbits that have it coming.

I guess I should stop wringing my hands and roll through a few specifics.

A sunny day in Tales Of the Shire with a path rolling up to a hobbit house with a big green tree on top

There are three things I especially like about Tales Of The Shire as a HobbityStardew Valley.

One is the waypointing system, which consists of birds.

Dont fret too much if you screw up, however.

A scene of a hobbit hole with autumnal trees above in Tales Of the Shire

Theres no odds of becoming a village pariah for oversalting the soup you just have to keep trying.

A conversation between two Hobbits in Tales Of the Shire