Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Preview - Promising enough to be Rune Factory 6

Rune Factory has been a relatively unknown spin-off from the Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon franchise. The main series by Marvelous, originally called Harvest Moon before the break up between Marvelous and Natsume, paved the way for all those cosy farming games from the East (Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, Harvestella) or the West (Stardew Valley, Fae Farm, Tales of the Shire). Rune Factory, which first debuted on Nintendo DS in 2006, added action JRPG elements to the mix, and it has since had five entries and several remakes. The newest entry launches on May 30th on Nintendo Switch and PC.

The first thing to note is that Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma isn't Rune Factory 6, rather a spin-off. That, however, shouldn't diminish your excitement about the game. In fact, it should be the complete opposite. I was less than impressed - to put it mildly - with Rune Factory 5, which came out in the West in 2022, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much better Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma seems to be, both in regards to game mechanics (a much deeper building and simulation system, and more robust combat thanks to ranged weapons) and visuals (drastically improved graphics).

In fact, after a hands-on test, I find it hard to see why this isn't marketed as a full entry, although it seems that it has to do with the overall plot of the series rather than game mechanics, which doesn't really matter much as each entry has its own story, setting, and characters. The series always follows the trope of the amnesic protagonist, and it's also the case here, so you shouldn't worry too much anyway.

The new Rune Factory takes place in the nation of Azuma, a place mentioned in the games but never seen before, with Japanese influences in the environment and architecture. If you've never played a Rune Factory game before, it is basically a farming and life simulation game (you grow crops, you befriend townspeople, and even romance them) but you can also explore the wilderness, fight monsters, with real-time combat and follow a fantasy plot with monsters, magic, dragons, and the like. It is not the deepest sim game (unlike Story of Seasons, you can't own animals, for example) and it's not the most complex JRPG, but the mix between both genres gives you a good taste of the best of both worlds: the relaxed nature of cosy sim games and the excitement of the JRPG adventure. It's like playing two games in one.

The main new thing you will find in Guardians of Azuma is that the simulation aspect has been improved, and now, besides growing crops, you can literally build the entire town. Farm enough materials and you can build carts, houses, watermills, distilleries... Place any type of buildings alongside paths or water bodies, and add man-made or natural decorations which will boost some stats. This seems limited to only some plots of land around the town, as you cannot terraform, but they are large enough to allow you for creativity and experimentation. And with more buildings and facilities, more people will come: you can manage them, assign them jobs based on their skills, with the goal of increasing profits after each day, something that will most likely feedback to the RPG elements.

And yes, I've talked about towns: you will be in charged of four towns (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter towns), and you can even send people from one town to the other. You will be in charge of everything: it's not just making the town look prettier, but making them more efficient and productive.

The combat system also has been improved with the addition of ranged weapons, which according to Marvelous was one of the things fans had requested the most. Now, besides swords, you can use bows to fight monsters. Our playtest was more focused on the building and sim aspect rather than the combat: we only fought the first boss of the game, and it was fairly easy, as expected, but entertaining and satisfactory with a dodge mechanic that allows us to counterattack.

Finally, it's worth taking about the graphics. There's a big improvement over Rune Factory 5, which looked quite awful, with a really pleasing, colourful, and bright appearance, with characters and elements really popping up over watercolour-like backgrounds. It's nothing breath-taking, as it is clearly scaled so that it can run on Nintendo Switch, but it looks really nice.

Everything about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma works in its favour, and it seems Marvelous has finally discovered how a modern Rune Factory should look and play. And the final good news is that we will be able to enjoy it at the same time as Japanese people: for the first time, it will have a worldwide launch on May 30, 2025, and it will come with English, German, French, and Spanish localisation, with an English or Japanese voiceover.