10 Video Games That Just Got DELAYED

Anyone who remembers the 2003 Hobbit game knows that departing from the established IP aesthetic for The Lord of the Rings is not always the best idea - and doubly so when developers decide to make the characters chubby and cute. Nevertheless, after years of quite serious visually on-brand games such as Shadow of Mordor, and such a recent disaster as Gollum, which we can only assume was supposed to look somewhat like Peter Jackson’s trilogy, gamers are definitely open to trying something different.

Well, something different Tales of the Shire certainly is. Despite being developed by the wonderful Wētā Workshop, an SFX outfit that was directly involved in both the physical and digital effects of the LOTR trilogy, the game is taking a different tack, placing players in a rosy, cosy, Bywater (in the Shire) where congenial hobbits live side by side, and we get the opportunity to gambol, garden, harvest, cook, and do everything not normally considered viable for a Rings game.

The title was first set for a 2024 release, before being delayed to the 25th of March. Since then, however, Wētā have released a statement setting the 29th of July this year as the new release, and are hard at work pimping up their graphics in the meantime (@ GameSpot).