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The Guardian
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game review – too cosy for comfort
After several hours toiling in the pastoral fields of Hobbiton, it finally started to sink in why two generations of Bagginses felt compelled to leave in search of dangerous adventure. Sure, the Shire has a hazy comfort to it, and there's plenty of unique food to gorge on and friendly faces to meet. But once the saccharine novelty begins to wear off, this bucolic wonderland is actually a fairly dull place to live. Tales of the Shire is set in the Third Age of Middle-earth, years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. As such, there are no Nazgûls or Uruk-hai – instead the 'action' centres on the quaint town of Bywater, whose most pressing issue is its municipal status. Here, you play as a recent transplant from the nearby hamlet of Bree, who gets swept up in the process of turning the town into an official village by building infrastructure and befriending locals one odd job and home-cooked meal at a time. Naturally this high-fantasy life simulator houses plenty of Tolkienian paraphernalia. You can find the Three-Farthing Stone nestled atop a hillside, and walk through the homely Green Dragon Inn. Plus, there are plenty of familiar surnames bobbing around, from Tooks to Cottons and Brandybucks – heck, even Gandalf pops his head in every so often. A chunky art style frames these iconic spaces and characters, coating the world with an appropriately twee veneer. It's not a huge map to explore, but what's there is tenderly dressed, with hanging washing swaying in the breeze, dinky lanterns, and roaming wildlife aplenty. As an upstart Hobbit, your primary goal is to feed and be fed, with all aspects of day-to-day life revolving around this all-important activity. In the wild you can find veggies, nuts and fruits to forage, and the rivers are home to plenty of fishing spots where you earn your catch of the day. There are also seasonal seedlings to purchase and plant, as well as artisanal shop stalls offering speciality items such as flour. With each day running on a timer, the major source of friction is in how efficiently you can dash about and hoover up the goods before bedtime. It's a well-trodden loop familiar to anyone who has played rural life sims such as Stardew Valley or Harvest Moon. But here, the steady flow of button clicks and undemanding chores operates more successfully as a sleep-inducing mental message than any form of compelling challenge. If you can brave the repetition and invest in your relationships with others, the game begins to open up, providing a slew of formulaic but appetising skill paths to rank up. Collecting ingredients is only half the story; you'll also need to cook them up into satisfying bundles to serve at extravagant Breakfasts, Second Breakfasts, Elevenses, and so on. Combining elements of Cooking Mama and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tales of the Shire asks you to balance culinary profiles and textures to curate the perfect plate. To do this, you'll chop, mix and sauté ingredients while consulting a flavour compass in the bottom corner of your screen to ensure your food is as delicious as possible. Eventually, by feeding the right folks, your kitchen expands and there are more opportunities available to get you into the Middle-earth Michelin Guide. But beyond its overly familiar mechanics, Tales of the Shire's most pressing problem is how naive and placid it all feels. When vague interpersonal issues arise between your new friends, they're always resolved in a swift, often mundane manner. Much of your time is spent running between frustrated halflings as they burden you with their petty dissatisfactions. Not all cosy games need to evoke hard emotions. However, it does feel like a disservice to the emotionally complex source material not to explore the richness of the world at large – especially when dry humour, tragedy and finely drawn social structures are what make Tolkien's writing so powerful. Without any challenging quandaries to pull at your heartstrings, the promising atmosphere in Tales of the Shire is overwhelmed by endless fetch quests. Diehard Tolkienites and Stardew Valley lifers may be better off looking elsewhere for their cosy thrills. Tales of the Shire is out now, £34.99.
Digital Trends
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
Tales of the Shire wasn't the game I wanted to play, but the game I needed to play
This month has been an especially stressful one for me. Without getting into too many details, I had more on my plate than usual and had to be extra judicious about how I spent my time. This caused me to treat playing games more like a job than something to enjoy. Well, technically playing games has always been my job, but I never want to approach a game with that mindset. Unfortunately for Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game, that was my mentality on first touch — get through it as fast as possible so I could write my article and move on to my next assignment. That's a recipe for failure for any game, but especially so for a cozy game in which patience and the act of doing the more mundane tasks are the reward in and of themselves. Once I met the game on its own terms, it ended up being exactly what I needed to manage my stress. A fine stew takes time Tales of the Shire doesn't feature any epic quest or ancient evils, but focuses on simple Hobbits with simple problems. The closest you get to the wider Lord of the Rings world is a quick meeting with Gandalf and some references to other familiar areas within The Shire. Otherwise, this game is a far more accurate depiction of a Hobbit's life than Bilbo or Frodo's would have you believe. Recommended Videos After creating my own unique Hobbit and arriving in the new village of Bywater, I was struck by the art direction Tales of the Shire chose. It evokes feelings of a watercolor or oil painting that creates an almost dreamlike look to the world. It feels like a concerted effort to evoke the tone of The Hobbit book rather than the darker, grittier tone of The Lord of the Rings, which is quite effective in stills and motion. Sadly, I wasn't so receptive to the gameplay that morning. The first few hours consist of some introductory quests that serve as small tutorials for things like cooking, using your map, planting crops, and all the other chores that make up any good cozy farming sim. This is all framed around the first major quest in the game, which is to settle an argument about whether or not Bywater fits the technical definition of a village according to a lost rulebook you need to find. Thrilling stuff, right? Finding the book is an excuse to give me a complete tour of Bywater to meet the main villagers I will be befriending. Each Hobbit that once had the book tells you they passed it along for one reason or another to someone else, again and again until I finally find it in the most obvious of spots. It isn't the game's fault that this extended fetch-quest rubbed me the wrong way. I was too focused on treating the game like a task that every additional step felt like a waste of time. Bywater isn't a huge village, but my Hobbit isn't all that nimble, so trekking from one end to the other right off the bat was a poor first impression. Also, the cuteness of replacing a sprint with skipping only felt like salt in the wound when I was already on edge with the game. I stopped playing after this first quest, unsure if I would go back. Two days later, I did but only after reflecting on how I wasn't playing Tales of the Shire on its own terms. This isn't a game about the destination, but enjoying the journey and living life slowly — just like a Hobbit. I would need to put aside my stress and let the game move at its own pace to give it an honest shot. When I stopped worrying about not knowing where to go to find the specific fish I needed, or where I could harvest berries for a pie and just enjoyed the process of fishing and foraging, I began to settle into the laid-back atmosphere Tales of the Shire wants to provide. Cooking has very few timed elements and is almost impossible to fully fail, there are no harsh time limits on just about anything I encountered. Even when I accidentally missed a dinner I had invited two Hobbits to, all I got was a mildly passive-aggressive letter in the mail. It was such a relief to have my biggest problem be a slightly grumpy Hobbit that could be won over with just a dinner or two. Even with the tone and pace clicking for me, Tales of the Shire does have some niggles that detract from fully enjoying its world. The biggest was the very limited inventory at the start. Cooking is such a core feature that I wanted to stockpile every fruit, mushroom, fish, and vegetable I came across on a daily basis, but ran out of space frustratingly fast. Being forced to skip back home two or three times a day started to resurface my resentment for the overly saccharine animation. There's also no way to easily track what ingredients I need for a dish. Having a way to pin one or more recipes to the screen so I could easily reference what specific breed of fish or other ingredient I needed while out and about without having to dig through my menu feels like a missed opportunity. Those issues aside, for my first true cozy game experience, Tales of the Shire came at just the right time to help me slow down and appreciate the journey and not focus on the destination. Tales of the Shire is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC.
Buzz Feed
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Actors Who Lost Massive Paychecks By Turning Down Iconic Movie Roles
Hollywood is an unpredictable place; even with the right script and the perfect director, it can be hard to tell which movies will smash the box office and which will be total flops. And so, here are a bunch of actors who, if they could, would probably go back in time and say yes to some very lucrative movie roles they wound up turning down. Sean Connery - The Lord of the Rings If James Bond wasn't enough, Sean Connery nearly found himself at the center of another beloved movie franchise — this time, playing Gandalf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Studio executive Mark Ordesky said in 2021 that Sean was offered the part of Gandalf (which eventually went to Ian McKellen) but "said no," because "he read the material and just didn't get it." To make matters more painful, a previous report claimed that the late 007 actor was offered 15% of the franchise's box office gross, too... which would've turned out to be a paycheck for an estimated $450 million. Eeeek. Will Smith - The Matrix In 1998, following the release of huge box office hits like Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black, Will Smith was offered the lead role in The Matrix. As we now know, he turned it down, and the part of Neo went to Keanu Reeves. Years later, Will explained that he passed on the movie because he was unsure about the Wachowskis' pitch for the he made a movie called Wild Wild West, which remains one of the biggest flops of his career, while The Matrix made over $460 million worldwide and sparked a lucrative franchise. Given how big of a movie star Will was in the '90s, it's also possible that the film would've made even more if he'd been in it... Talk about a missed opportunity. Brad Pitt — The Matrix Since we're talking about The Matrix, it's worth mentioning that Brad Pitt turned down the opportunity to play Neo as well. 'I did pass on The Matrix. I took the red pill. That's the only one I'm naming,' he said in 2020 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. 'I wasn't offered two or three. Only the first one, just to clarify that.'Notably, Brad wasn't willing to divulge any more info about what he may have lost out on, saying: "If I didn't get it, then it wasn't mine." "I really believe [the role] was never mine. It's not mine. It was someone else's, and they go and make it. I really do believe in that," he said. "If we were doing a show on the great movies I've passed on, we would need two nights." Matt Damon - Avatar If there's a man who can own his mistakes, it's Matt Damon. The Good Will Hunting star has made no secret of his regret over turning down an offer to star in James Cameron's Avatar in 2009. "I'm sure it's the most money an actor ever turned down," he told Chris Wallace in 2023, explaining that he couldn't do it because he was "in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie." To add insult to injury, he was offered 10% of the box office, and, considering that Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of all time, it's fair to say he missed out on quite the payday ($250 million, to be exact). Dougray Scott - X-Men Today, Wolverine is synonymous with Hugh Jackman; however, the Aussie actor wasn't originally who they had in mind to play the iconic role. Filmmaker Bryan Singer initially wanted Russell Crowe to play Wolverine in the 2000 X-Men movie, and when Russell turned it down, he went to Scottish actor Dougray Scott. Dougray actually accepted the offer, but unfortunately, wasn't able to go ahead with the movie due to filming delays on Mission: Impossible. 'Tom Cruise didn't let me do it," Dougray told the Daily Telegraph in 2020. 'We were doing Mission: Impossible, and he was like, 'You've got to stay and finish the film,' and I said, 'I will, but I'll go and do that as well. ' For whatever reason, he said I couldn't." Now, I'm not necessarily one to hold a grudge, but considering Hugh Jackman is now worth a reported $120 million, I could understand being a little pissed. Toshiro Mifune - Star Wars When it comes to lucrative movie franchises, it doesn't really get much bigger than Star Wars. So, just imagine you missed out on an opportunity to be a part of it from the very start. In 2015, the daughter of Toshiro Mifune previously revealed that he father — who starred in iconic movies like Seven Samurai and Rashomon — was approached by George Lucas to appear in the original 1977 Star Wars movie, the one we now know as A New Hope. "He was offered the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but he was concerned about how the film would look and that it would cheapen the image of samurai, on which George Lucas had based a lot of the character and fighting style,' his daughter, Mika, said. 'At the time, sci-fi movies still looked quite cheap as the effects were not advanced and he had a lot of samurai pride. There was talk about him taking the Darth Vader role as his face would be covered, but in the end he turned that down too.' Tom Selleck - Indiana Jones From one Harrison Ford film franchise to another, it sounds like the Indiana Jones movies very nearly had a different leading man. While promoting his memoir in 2024, Tom Selleck revealed that he was initially approached to play Indy in Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981; however, he'd already started working on Magnum, P.I., which made the negotiations a bit complicated. "Steven Spielberg and George Lucas kept the offer out to me," he revealed on Today. 'They said, 'We'll work it out and you can do both.' And the more they wanted me, the more CBS said, 'No, we don't want to let him do it.'' So, Tom had no choice but to turn it down, and Harrison later said he was very "grateful" for the way things played out — I would be, too, if I were worth a reported $300 million thanks (mostly) to the massive movie franchises I started in. Jared Leto - Titanic It's hard to imagine a world in which anyone other than our beloved Leonardo DiCaprio played Jack Dawson in Titanic, but it turns out James Cameron had his eyes on some other stars before Leo landed the part. According to reports, Jared Leto was one of the top contenders to play Jack before Leo entered the picture; however, he apparently refused to audition, potentially missing out on a role in a movie that would go on to gross over $2 billion worldwide. Talk about a Sliding Doors moment! Rachel McAdams - Iron Man In a 2023 profile with Bustle, Rachel McAdams talked about her break from acting in the 2000s, during which time she turned down five pretty major roles in movies that went on to be very successful: The Devil Wears Prada, Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible III, Iron Man, and Get Smart. Notably, she was apparently Jon Favreau's first choice to play Pepper Potts in Iron Man, which would have made her a part of the MCU from the very beginning. But, despite losing out on a whole lot of money, it sounds like Rachel has no regrets, knowing that turning down the roles was the right choice for her at that time. 'There's certainly things like 'I wish I'd done that.' I step back and go, 'That was the right person for that," she told Bustle. 'I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given, because I knew I was in such a lucky spot. But I also knew it wasn't quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane.' There you have it! It's wild to think how different some of these movies and franchises could've been...
Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I watched all extended versions of Lord of the Rings in the cinema and here's my verdict'
It'd been over a decade since reporter Alice Sjoberg had seen the Lord of the Rings films, so she decided to take the opportunity to watch the extended versions at the cinema for the first time Cineworld is celebrating their Unlimited feature, a membership programme which allows members to watch as many films as they want for a monthly fee, turning 25. So to celebrate, they brought back some of the top films from the last 25 years for fans to enjoy for a discounted rate for everyone. So when I saw on social media that the Cineworld near me was showing all three of the Lord of the Rings movies three days in a row, I immediately knew I wanted to go. If there's anything that'll make those films better, it's seeing them in the cinema. But when I later realised they were showing the extended versions, I got even more excited as I'd only ever watched the theatrical cuts of each movie. So, I quickly booked tickets for me and my boyfriend, who is a big Lord of the Rings fan, and together we went to experience the iconic films on the big screen. But will 12 hours in total prove to make this trilogy 'too much'? Only time would tell... The Fellowship of the Ring First up was of course the Fellowship of the Ring, which was showing on the Monday evening at 6.30pm. We made sure to get there early enough to use the bathroom and get ourselves some popcorn and drinks ahead of the three-and-a-half hour long film. The first extra scene came right at the beginning, which saw the introduction of the one ring and how it came to be so powerful and feared among people in Middle Earth. As a novice in the world of Lord of the Rings, I really appreciated this, as it added extra depth into the story - not that it needs it. Next up came the scenes in the Shire, which already were some of my favourite as I'd happily live there myself if I could. While I felt like it dragged a bit at some points, you just can't beat the feel-good moments such as during Gandalf's fireworks extravaganza. This truly made me excited for watching the rest of the movies, as the cinematic experiences made it even better. It also added extra backstory to all of the Hobbit characters. While this is nice in the moment, it really adds a nice build up and backstory for the later films. One of the extra scenes that truly blew me away in this film was when Frodo and Sam spotted the Wood Elves heading to the Undying Lands. While it didn't add much in terms of the plot, the scenery, music, and overall emotion of the moment made it a breathtakingly beautiful scene that ended with me covered in goosebumps. As I'd not watched the films from beginning to end in so long, there were also moments and scenes in this film that I'd completely forgotten about, which made it feel like I was watching them again for the first time. The extra scenes also made me sympathise with Aragorn right from the start. Don't get me wrong, he is and remains one of my favourite characters, but seeing him visit his mum's monument in Rivendell and sing and Elvish song that refers back to his feelings for Arwen really makes him more relatable. The Two Towers The following evening, it was time for my boyfriend's favourite film, The Two Towers. It follows the journeys of the members of the Fellowship, after it got divided into three groups and went on their separate adventures to do what they could to prepare for the upcoming fight against antagonist Saruman. While I was excited for this, our cinema experience started with a disappointment as we soon realised all the ads and trailers were the exact same as the previous night, and they were even in the same order! While this isn't the movies fault, I had hoped for a bit more variety. However, one of my favourite parts about this film was how much screen time Merry and Pippin got. Once again, I'd completely forgotten about their adventures with the Ents, especially Treebeard. A particular favourite moment of mine was when they drank the nourishment of the Ents and quickly starts competing to see who can grow taller than the other. Since the films are quite heavy and dark overall, these lighthearted moments become more enjoyable. Another example of this is when Legolas and Gimli start to compete with each other over how many orcs they've killed at the end battle, which not only helps show the competitive friendship between the two, but also makes the long fight scene a bit more fun and light-hearted. Speaking of the fight scenes, of which there are many - these scenes have always been incredible to watch. But watching them in the cinema really made it worth having to stay up until almost midnight every night to watch them, even for someone like me who normally has a strict 10pm bedtime. The Return of the King All of the sudden, it was Wednesday and it was time to return to Cineworld for the longest movie in the trilogy. It also had an added 51 minutes of footage added to it, making the film over four hours long. This film included several scenes I think I would miss if I rewatched the theatrical release now, as they truly made an already great film even better. The most notable scene in this extended version is Saruman's death. This takes place when Gandalf and the others come across a defeated Saruman who is still defiant, but is quickly stabbed by Wormtongue and falls off his tower to his death. Meanwhile, in the theatrical cut, Saruman's story just ends and he is simply not heard from again. The extended version also included answers to a previous plot hole on how Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli take over the Black Ships, which I'm sure fans were overjoyed to learn when they first saw it. Overall, I spent over 12 hours watching the extended versions of this trilogy in the cinema, but would I recommend it to others? Absolutely. These films became even more amazing when watching them on the big screen, and the extended versions never felt like they were as long as they actually were as there were constantly interesting things happening. I am so happy that Cineworld decided to bring these films back to the cinema, and I hope more cinemas will do the same in the future as I'm desperate to watch them again.
Powys County Times
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Powys County Times
Wimbledon diary: Sir Ian McKellen takes in the tennis and fans pack Henman Hill
Gandalf witnessed some Centre Court wizardry on day nine of Wimbledon. Actor Sir Ian McKellen, who starred as The Lord of the Rings character, watched Aryna Sabalenka battle back to reach the women's semi-finals before taking in Cameron Norrie's quarter-final defeat to defending men's champion Carlos Alcaraz. The 86-year-old was joined in the Royal Box by fellow thespians Sir Mark Rylance, Sienna Miller, Jodie Foster and Richard E. Grant, singer Katherine Jenkins and coffee magnate Giuseppe Lavazza. Former cricketer David Gower was among those representing the world of sport, while Scotland and Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay and Arsenal duo Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber enjoyed the action from less exclusive seats. *** American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova celebrated progression to the semi-finals with a special guest. The 23-year-old was accompanied by nephew Jaxon for her post-match interview on Court One following a 6-1 7-6 (9) win over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Jaxon, who turns four on Thursday, only arrived in the UK on Tuesday morning. An early birthday present for Amanda's nephew, Jackson #Wimbledon — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2025 After ensuring his long trip was worthwhile, Anisimova said: 'My sister and her husband are also here and I'm super grateful that they flew in and got to experience this with me – it doesn't happen often.' *** The tension on Centre Court during Sabalenka's match against Laura Siegemund was broken when a mobile phone began to ring. The usual accompanying tuts and moans from other spectators grew louder when it became apparent no one could turn off the annoying ring tone. One unfortunate spectator was rifling through her bag trying to find the offending item. But it turned out to have been left behind by someone else and they were trying to locate it remotely. The phone was eventually found under a seat and handed to a member of security. *** Henman Hill was rammed late on Tuesday afternoon. Fans were glued to the big screen, with the majority cheering on British number three Norrie in his efforts to pull of a major upset against world number two Alcaraz. Barely a spare blade of grass was available as other spectators queued to join them. Quote of the day 'I'm more for line umpires, to be honest. Sometimes it's scary to let machines do what they want, you know (smiling)?' – Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov joined the growing list of players to question Wimbledon's electronic line calling system following a malfunction during his quarter-final loss to Taylor Fritz. Picture of the day Wednesday's match of the day Teenage Russian Mirra Andreeva has been one of the standout performers in the women's draw. The 18-year-old, who is coached by 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez, is bidding to reach a second grand slam semi-final and has been given another Centre Court slot after shining in front of Roger Federer on Monday during her fourth-round defeat of Emma Navarro. Standing in her way is 2021 Olympic champion Belinda Bencic. The 28-year-old Swiss player is also enjoying her best run at SW19, having missed last year's tournament after giving birth to daughter Bella in April 2024. Wednesday weather watch
