Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Gameis set to be released on July 15, 2025. Set in the charming hobbit village of Bywater in the Shire,Tales of the Shireis a cozy game that allows players to build bonds with the residents of Bywater, turn their hobbit hole into a home, and experience all the joys that life as a hobbit has to offer.
The Lord of the Rings may seem like an odd setting to use for a cozy game, but one of the major themes Tolkien was concerned with was the preservation of the natural world and the importance of nature. The Shire represents the parts of the world that are worth fighting for, andTales of the Shirewas created to depict those spaces. As creating beautiful, natural spaces is important to recreating the Shire, decorating inTales of the Shireisn’t limited to a grid like most cozy games are.
Tales of the Shire Offers Innovative Customization and Decorating
One of the mostimportant features of any cozy gameis customization. Players can typically customize their character, home interior, and plot of land, such as a garden or farm, in a cozy sim. Typically, all setting customization, such as interior and exterior decorating, relies on the use of a grid for the placement of objects. Grids can make decorating easier and create more order, but they can pose a significant barrier to creativity and limit the player in terms of what they can do with a space.
Grids can make decorated spaces look artificial, and decorations look clumsily placed. Placing items onto a grid and making them look natural can be a skill in itself in some cozy games, and its efficiency largely depends on the appearance and rotation of the items.
Another common issue is alignment; not all objects are the same size, so some items don’t align correctly when placed on a grid, which results in asymmetrical placement, weird gaps, or objects clashing. Because objects snap to a grid, creating a cluttered aesthetic becomes difficult, especially if thecozy game doesn’t have specific objectscreated for a cluttered aesthetic.
Tales of the Shire Embraces Gridless Decorating
Tales of the Shirebypasses all of these problems completely as it won’t have a grid system for both interior and exterior decorating. As theaesthetic for hobbit holes trends towards cottagecore, many players will likely want to decorate their homes inTales of the Shirein a similar way, with clutter and layering decorating objects. The removal of a grid and the implementation of free placement will create a more natural look, both indoors and outdoors. Garden beds have to be placed before planting seeds for flowers or crops but can also be positioned freely outdoors.
Free-form object placement, rather than being limited by a grid, encourages more creative decoration and supports a slower, more mindful style of gameplay that aligns with the cozy game genre. This is because it offers greater opportunities for creative expression and removes the frustrations with the limitations that grid placements bring. It accommodates a variety of interior design aesthetics while reflectingTales of the Shire’s emphasis on harmony with naturein outdoor spaces and gardening, and it also gives players more options and freedom of choice, which is often a good thing.
