The Tales of the Shire system requirements are so light you'll be able to play it on an actual potato (whether boiled, mashed, stewed, or cooked in any other manner)

Tales of the Shire has been a little divisive so far, and I'm happy to say that the pool of gamers who will be able to form their own opinions after playing the game looks to be quite large. That's because the minimum and recommended specifications have been released, and it looks like you'll be able to run this game on the starchiest of foods, cooked exactly to your liking.

Whether you boil it, mash it, or stew it, your GTX 770 or Radeon R9 270X should be able to run this Hobbit sim (I'm sorry for any offence, ancient rig gamers, the potato fruit is just too low-hanging not to take a swing). Below are the full specs:

When our Kara looked at the game last year, she said it "lacks an identity and is frankly just disappointing", and "feels like a clumsy, half-baked attempt to resolve the last few years of Lord of the Rings games."

That's not exactly a resounding endorsement, but since then, the release date was pushed back and there have hopefully been some changes and improvements. Our Andrea took a look more recently and found decorating her in-game home to spark joy in the right ways.

If it manages to at least follow through on the home living and decor aspect of the cosy LOTR game, there should be enough pull for at least some gamers.

Heck, I'd probably give it a go, and from the looks of it, I'd do just fine with my RTX 3060 Ti, which slots right into that recommended requirements column to play at 1080p on High settings at 60 fps. I'm not sure about it on my 1440p monitor, but hopefully, upscaling would aid me there.

It's 16 GB of RAM minimum, which I suppose some might consider to be high for a retro-styled game with other low requirements, but it's difficult to run a game on less these days given how much memory Windows and other background apps can consume.

What's meant by 'low' might be considered a little restrictive, too—1080p on very low settings at 30 fps—but I'll take it in an era where we're starting to see the rise of always-on ray tracing and the likes. That a circa 2013 graphics card is being advertised as capable of running the game at all is fantastic.

Tales of the Shire is set for launch on July 29, 2025, so there's not long to wait, even for starch-based gamers.

Best gaming rigs 2025

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1. Best gaming laptop: Razer Blade 16

2. Best gaming PC: HP Omen 35L

3. Best handheld gaming PC: Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS ed.

4. Best mini PC: Minisforum AtomMan G7 PT

5. Best VR headset: Meta Quest 3