20 Recent Video Games EVERYONE Knew Would Suck
12. Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game
A cosy, Lord of the Rings-themed life sim actually sounds like a pretty neat use of the franchise license, though from the moment the reveal trailer for Tales of the Shire dropped, there was plenty of skepticism about its cheap-looking, mobile game-esque art style and visual fidelity.
Beyond this, the reveal trailer suspiciously showed off little honest-to-god gameplay aside from a few menial activities, so it didn't exactly leave a stellar first impression for most Rings fans.
And ultimately, that's because Tales of the Shire is an extremely shallow game - one whose undemanding nature might be fleetingly appealing to those craving comfort food, but tedium soon enough sets in given how little it has going on.
Everything here feels like an especially generic rendition of the life sim formula, ensuring that Tales of the Shire functions well as a sleeping aid but less so as an actual video game.
Sure, it's not the abject embarrassment that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was, but are we really setting the bar that low for games based on one of the most cherished IP of all time?