Tales of the Shire Should Have 'Stolen' This Feature From…

The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular fantasy franchises around, and for good reason. With a sprawling cast of memorable characters, some superb world-building, and a classic tale of good triumphing over evil, The Lord of the Rings became an immediate blueprint for the adventure genre upon its original 1954/1955 publication. While Tales of the Shire keeps its focus on one small part of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy world, the game goes out of its way to celebrate the entire franchise.

Tales of the Shire opens with Gandalf the Grey guiding the player-character to the would-be village of Bywater, and from there the Easter eggs never stop. There are tons of references to iconic Lord of the Rings heroes like Bilbo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, as well as plenty of nods to locations in Middle-earth like Mirkwood and Fangorn Forest. Tales of the Shire certainly doesn't shy away from its license, but it should have gone even further when it came to the game's soundtrack.

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By Cameron Swan

Tales of the Shire Should Have Used The Lord of the Rings' Soundtrack

Tales of the Shire Does a Solid Job of Echoing The Lord of the Rings' Score

Tales of the Shire has a wholly original score, with none of The Lord of the Rings' music tracks appearing in the cozy Hobbit life-sim. That said, Tales of the Shire's score doesn't abandon the movies' beloved motifs altogether.

Composed by Alessandro Coronas, Tales of the Shire's soundtrack contains a plethora of tracks that seemingly aim to echo Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score, or at least the Hobbit-related portion of the soundtrack. Tracks like "There Lived a Hobbit," "Buying from the Burrows," and "A Second Breakfast Shared" all contain some almost-familiar motifs, and the use of light woodwind instruments capture the same general vibe as Howard Shore's "The Shire" or "Bag End."

The only real issue with Tales of the Shire's soundtrack is that it doesn't play nearly enough during gameplay. There are 18 songs on Tales of the Shire's soundtrack, some of which last almost 10 minutes. But Tales of the Shire rarely lets them play in their entirety, instead choosing to put silence at the forefront of most of its moment-to-moment gameplay. When these tracks do play, however, they do a solid job of evoking the carefree and whimsical nature of Lord of the Rings' Hobbit-folk.

Tales of the Shire's Score Just Can't Live Up to The Lord of the Rings

Unfortunately, no matter how solid Tales of the Shire's soundtrack is, it just can't compete with Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score. Not only did The Lord of the Rings win the Academy Award for Best Original Score twice for both Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King, it's also been around for over two decades, meaning its themes have become cemented in pop-culture history.

There was no way Tales of the Shire's soundtrack was ever going to outshine The Lord of the Rings tracks like "Concerning Hobbits," and though it's commendable to see the cozy game try to imitate the vibe of the movies' score while producing something original, it might have been a better choice to simply include some of Howard Shore's most iconic Hobbit-related tracks. Doing so would have gone a long way to making Tales of the Shire feel like an even more authentic licensed product.

While it likely would have cost a pretty penny to use Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score in Tales of the Shire, it shouldn't have been too much of a legal issue, with developer Weta Workshop having worked extensively on the movie trilogy.

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