Cozy games have long been associated with handheld platforms. Harvest Moon GB released on the original Game Boy all the way back in 1997, Animal Crossing: Wild World is one of the 10 best-selling Nintendo DS games of all time, and Stardew Valley runs like a dream on the Steam Deck. Tales of the Shire should have been the latest cozy game to continue this decades-long pattern.
Tales of the Shire released a week ago on just about every modern platform, including the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck. But while Tales of the Shire had all of the right pieces in place to be another great handheld cozy game, its portable ports drop the ball in some pretty significant ways.
Tales of the Shire Could Have Been Another Great Handheld Cozy Game
Tales of the Shire's Gameplay Loop Is Perfectly Suited to Handheld Devices
Much like other popular cozy life-sims, the entirety of Tales of the Shire's gameplay loop revolves around completing bite-sized activities to gradually progress through the game's main story, and slowly climbing the ranks of Tales of the Shire's social clubs. Fishing, foraging, cooking, and gardening are all activities designed to be engaged with for a few minutes at a time, and then moved on from.
This loop feels like a perfect fit for handheld consoles. Given the brisk nature of Tales of the Shire's main activities, those on Switch or Steam Deck can hop into a game, complete a bevy of daily errands, and make some decent progress, all in the span of a few minutes. Tales of the Shire's individual quests also usually take just a few minutes of the player's time, making them the ideal length for a very quick pick-up-and-play session.
Tales of the Shire's day/night cycle reinforces this playstyle even further. Each day in Tales of the Shire lasts around 17 real-world minutes. That's the perfect length for anyone who wants to make some progress during their real-world daily commute, or for those who don't have too much time to rewind by themselves at the end of a long day.
Tales of the Shire's Handheld Ports Drop The Ball
But there's a big problem holding back Tales of the Shire's handheld ports, and that's their rather severe lack of polish. At least during launch week, Tales of the Shire's Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck versions have been criticized heavily for their inferior graphics, with the Switch version in particular drawing a lot of ire from players due to its lower resolution, blurry textures, and all-round unpolished presentation.
These portable iterations of Tales of the Shire also reportedly suffer from some major technical problems. Sudden crashes, visual glitches, audio stutters, blank screens, and progress-preventing bugs have all been reported during Tales of the Shire's first week on the Switch's eShop, while FPS issues are a common occurrence on Steam Deck. Though its gameplay loop seems tailor-made for handheld consoles, the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch seem like the worst places to currently play Tales of the Shire.
It's possible that these handheld versions of Tales of the Shire will receive some patches in the coming weeks that dramatically improve their technical performance, but it might already be too little too late. Given Tales of the Shire's divisive critical reception, it's very likely that any buzz that was surrounding the cozy Hobbit game has worn off already, and that'll make it difficult to attract new players, even if the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch versions of the game receive improvements.
- Released
- July 29, 2025
- Developer(s)
- Wētā Workshop
- Publisher(s)
- Private Division
- Franchise
- The Lord of the Rings
- Number of Players
- 1
