Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma - Review
Earthdancer, Azuma needs your help! Only you can farm, build things, help with menial tasks and save the world of Azama from the end that is looming ever closer. Oh, and maybe you can get married too.
Rune Factory is back once more, and while we didn’t get a ‘main line’ entry to coincide with the release of the Switch 2, what we did get is an extremely impactful and well-developed spin-off within the Rune Factory universe. I will preface this with that as interesting as the Rune Factory series has always seemed, Guardians of Azuma is my first foray into the series. So everything is fresh, new and shiny for me. That said, I have a plethora of experience with both JRPGs and farm sim style games, like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons.
Rune Factory does a tremendous job of blending the casual, time filling and daily chore simulator of running a farm (or in this case, several farm-like locations) alongside story-driven, hack and slash JRPG gameplay. You’ll plant crops, grow crops, pick crops, plant them again. Grow some trees, maybe even grow some rice. Alongside that you’ll build up your villages, building shops and smiths, throwing decorations up and increasing the overall appeal of your towns. Doing so will increase the village levels which will bring more villagers in. More villagers means you can automate more of your daily activities and gives you more freedom to focus experiencing the story, interacting with all the NPCS and exploring the world with plenty of fighting and monster catching.
Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma does a tremendous job of littering enough other elements and focuses into the more monotonous sections of the farming elements that keeps them interesting, fresh and engaging. The more you engage, the more experience you’ll acquire when you sleep, which gives you the ability to increase your stats, give yourself benefits like discounts or more money when selling, or more power to your unique abilities that you’ll unlock as you progress through the game. The additional elements really enhance the repetitive elements, and the automation aspects let you focus elsewhere when you don’t want to engage with them anymore.
Guardians of Azuma has a surprisingly competent and well-paced story and narrative, that doesn’t overstay its welcome but feels like it naturally links all parts of the game in a logical way. You’ll need to engage with the different characters, build up your villages to adequate levels, play through the days to get to the next story beat, and actually fight your way through the world and bosses to unlock more things to do, and unlock more characters to engage with. It’s nothing ground-breaking, a somewhat typical save the world because you are the chosen one JRPG trope, but the way it tells the story is powerful. The flawless linking of gameplay systems in a way that makes them feel part of the story, rather than just something to do to fill time, is done fantastically here.
Combat is likely to be a little divisive than the other aspects of the game. Its pretty run-of-the-mill in its progression. Each area will get you levelled just enough to be on par with the boss that you’ll encounter at the end of the area. The dungeons and the overworld areas are somewhat boring to progress through, becoming even more so as you get closer to the end. There is a few more interesting sections, but there does come parts where it feels like the game is being padded for the sake of padding. Particularly at an integral story beat section about halfway through the game, where you’ll go inside four almost identical dungeons with only minor differences, and rather boring boss encounters to finish them off.
Bosses overall are somewhat interesting, if not vaguely boring. Most of the bosses are unique enemy types which is nice, but beyond working out their specific weakness, there is very little in the way of actual strategy to beating most of them. It’s a bang your head against the boss until it stuns, then hit it some more for bigger damage numbers. Rinse, repeat and you’re pretty much done. Rune Factory has difficulty options, but none of them really feel all that punishing. I was defeated maybe three or four times across all sections of the game. The bosses unfortunately are not the threats they really should be, and they feel like something inserted to finish an area, rather than being a challenge.
Enemy variety is disappointingly low too. There’s maybe six or seven total enemy types through the game, and then three or four progressively tougher variants of them as you progress through the game. Usually just with an element added to their attack, or some sort of status ailment to make them feel vaguely more threatening. You also get slapped with 90% of them in the first few sections of the game, so you don’t get a sense of awe and wonder as you get further in, which is wildly disappointing with how underdeveloped the boss fights are as well. Couple this with a rather hit hit hit style of combat, with a little bit of resource management thrown in and the combat can easily be the weakest part of the gameplay.
The special attacks and skills you unlock as you play through the game are at least visually impressive and somewhat interesting, while also packing big damage when you use them. Couple these with your special actions and there is at least something interesting in the way you can approach grinding, but for the most part it’s nothing particularly thrilling. Interestingly, this may be one of the few JRPGs I’ve experienced where you’ll hit level cap pretty much as you finish the game, which makes it feel well rounded in that aspect in the very least. There is a few mechanics in having attackers, defenders, buffers, debuffers and healers in your party, but for the most part, I just took the three NPCs I liked the most, a healer, a debuffer and an attacker and never really found much need to mix it up. Some of the later fights did do some damage and they would temporarily be downed, but it was nothing major. I know it’s not the main focus, but some more love and care in the combat and enemy variety would have gone a lone way in making this feel like a fully rounded experience.
The cast of characters are all wildly enjoyable, and each character feels like a well-rounded character with just enough personality to make you want to learn about all of them. Some characters do feel like they have more interesting backstories, like Murasame. Regardless of picking the male or female protagonist, you’ll be able to romance a vast majority of the characters throughout the game. Not all characters are romanceable, but the romanceable ones are all available regardless which protagonist you pick. Fully exploring their stories and the romancing of them does require you to progress the game, with some characters only being possible to fully explore their stories in the post-game. It feels like this is something that they encourage you to fully explore with every character you find interesting, while ensuring you won’t accidentally lock yourself out of any of the stories until you’re ready to commit.
Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma is a solid overall game. For those that are looking for a stronger combat experience, they may find the game somewhat meandering. But for the overall experience and the smart way that all features are linked together, Rune Factory is going to be one that is hard to beat. The farming and chore part of the game doesn’t overstay and the mechanics around it for automation and rewarding are done in a way that feels engaging. The cast of characters are wonderful and well-developed, and the story while not being groundbreaking is fun, exciting and enjoyable. A great entry, and one that has me interested in more of the Rune Factory series.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Marvelous Europe
The Pros
Strong cast of characters
Village activities integrated well
Enjoyable story
The Cons
Meandering combat
Lack of enemy variety
Lacklustre bosses
