Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

Rune Factory games are my bread and butter. Hands down my favourite farmings sims, in a fantasy setting. However, I have rated this one down, not because I didn’t enjoy it or play it a lot, but I feel like these games should improve on the previous games, and this one scored some own goals by ruining some established mechanics. I wouldn't recommend this game to someone over the previous Rune Factory games. Namely: - Characters behind DLC. This game is not the cheapest, and RF games have never done this before. - Locking endgame dungeon behind getting married and having a child. Annoying! - Choose your own festivals, interesting concept but why am I running everything and I can only place 1 per month? - Enormous amount of dialogue repetition. I find a weed or fish up a boot, and Fubuki tells me it's a gift from the gods. - Skill levelling in general. Points mean prizes for weapons, but some of the generic skills like construction/cooking barely yield any rewards. - Crafting. Is gone! Why am I unlocking recipes, and then paying others to make them, when I have all the ingredients? My own village is pay walling me. - Fishing is the worst. Not a levelled skill, boring as hell, everything takes ages to bite, and there's nothing you can do. - Chemist. Didn’t even bother. - Villager labour. The concept is good if you have too much to do, but actually, they were in the way, and they're not that effective. - Villager recruitment. I swear, I boot the same Big Eater/work shy villagers, and they come back! - Villager shipping. You can only stop them harvesting veggies, but they ship fish/animal produce/weeds by default, throughout the day. - Monster taming, no heart levels, no challenges, no interaction, really boring. - Empty islands. Don't tell me I'm exploring the sky's,on my dragons back... just to pick some grass and fish? - Sleeping to progress. Let's have the meeting now, it's 10am. - Repeated request board quests. Not only are quests really samey, but some of them are for the endgame dungeon, before I even unlocked it. I'm looking for a level 90 buffamo that doesn't exist. - No fun/rare drops! I loved finding weapons and randon accessories, or even just a pink melon. I have to craft literally everything. - Item level stops at 9. Wtf? Had to Google this, as was raging that I couldn't get crops to 10. - I WANTED ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO SEPERATELY MARRY EVERY CANDIDATE???? This game is still fun for any farming lover, I'm enjoying the different characters, and story progression. Rune Factory does it best, for me. But this series is starting to feel like they googled Rune Factory and made the game out of features listed rather than knowing their own series. It's feeling less sincere as we go, with questionable changes. UPDATE: I WANTED ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO SEPERATELY MARRY EVERY CANDIDATE????

I wanted to love Guardians of Azuma. As a longtime fan of the series, I went in expecting an evolution of the formula—a fresh take that modernized the experience while preserving the systems that made the franchise special. Instead, what I found was a game that feels determined to leave much of its identity behind. The biggest disappointment is how heavily the game has streamlined and simplified many of the core mechanics. Previous entries rewarded players who were willing to invest time into crafting, farming, gathering materials, and optimizing their characters. There was satisfaction in building efficient farming setups, hunting specific materials, and creating specialized equipment through an in-depth crafting system. Every upgrade felt earned. In Guardians of Azuma, much of that depth feels stripped away. Crafting has been reduced to a shadow of its former self, lacking the complexity and progression that once made it engaging. The grind for materials—a cornerstone of the gameplay loop—is largely gone. While some players may see this as a quality-of-life improvement, for others it removes a huge source of long-term motivation and accomplishment. Another major loss is the disappearance of meaningful farming optimization. Previous games allowed players to create luck-focused builds, stack bonuses, and strategically improve their resource gathering efficiency. There was a genuine sense of progression as your character became better at producing rare materials and valuable items. In Guardians of Azuma, those systems either feel absent or so watered down that they barely matter. The itemization also feels bloated in all the wrong ways. There is an overwhelming number of items, yet many of them lack purpose or impact. Instead of encouraging experimentation and mastery, the abundance of materials often feels like clutter. Quantity has replaced meaningful depth. What makes this particularly frustrating is that the game isn't bad. The visuals are gorgeous, the world is charming, and the presentation is polished. The developers clearly put tremendous effort into making the game appealing to a wider audience. Unfortunately, in the process of modernizing the experience, they seem to have misunderstood what many longtime fans actually loved. Guardians of Azuma feels like a game designed to remove friction, but that friction was often where the satisfaction came from. The planning, the grinding, the optimization, the crafting, and the gradual growth of your farm and character were not obstacles—they were the game. For newcomers, Guardians of Azuma may be an enjoyable and accessible entry point. For veteran players, however, it feels like a beautiful shell that has abandoned much of the depth and identity that defined the series. In trying to appeal to everyone, it risks alienating the very fans who carried the franchise for years. I didn't want a simplified version of Rune Factory. I wanted Rune Factory to evolve while remembering what made it special. Guardians of Azuma modernized the formula, but somewhere along the way, it left too many of its roots behind.

Finally, Stardew Valley delusionists don't have a leg to stand on. This is the pinnacle of Farming Life Sim, at long last on PC. Get lost women, no one can stop me from farming now! I mean, what are the odds I won't find love here either? It's like if Harvest Moon, Zelda and Pokemon was just one game. My wife's boyfriend says it's like Harvest Moon with blackjack and hookers. I have always loved the Waifus and watermelons series and I'll continue supporting these games as long as they keep cranking them out. I love this game! Definitely a vast improvement over Rune Factory 5 for sure. It honestly surpassed my expectations and I am a picky gamer. I was hesitant because of it being an offshoot and not a numerical sequel, but I really enjoyed the entire presentation! It feels like the most polished and high-production game yet. Love the characters, love the plot as weird as it can be at times, love unlocking recipes via frog statues instead of recipe bread, and so on. My only complaint is these games just don’t offer a lot after you’ve beaten them. So go slow! Enjoy building your villages and decorating and completing side quests. Just soak it all in, it is a gorgeous game with beautiful music. As someone who put an obscene amount of hours into RF4 and didn’t care much for RF5, I felt like Guardians of Azuna highlighted everything I love about RF games. I personally really liked the story, characters, town management/decoration, and fighting mechanics in GOA. The de-emphasis on the crafting/farming from mainline RF games was a plus to me since I never liked having to engage heavily in those mechanics. I think if you approach the game as a sideline RF and not as a mainline RF you’ll have a great time with it, and it really makes me excited to see what they plan for RF6! I think that it’s honestly a matter of what someone likes. People who like town management games will like GoA a lot more than people who prefer more strict farming game content. I found it really fun. I love town building and stuff. Also had fun figuring out how to get to collectables. I really liked parts of the story a lot. It has characters I really liked too. The combat is so fun. I’m a big fan of hack and slash and learning to dodge each monsters attacks perfectly was a blast. I enjoy all the different weapons you can choose from and how the combat can be as easy or difficult as you want it to be depending on the difficulty setting and fighting style you go with. The monster designs are very cool and I like how you are incentivized to bring yours with you to fights since they have better quality produce based on their levels. I adore the town building and management system. I’ve spent hours just decorating town plots and there’s a TON of buildings and decorations to use as you wish, along with terraforming. I love the personality of the MC and how they feel like their own defined character rather than just an avatar of the player (I play as the male MC so I can’t speak as much for the female MC). I think in a way it’s a really sort of relaxing game. You kind of get into the rhythm of it and it’s not very high pressure. The NPC’s each having their own defined combat styles and weapons makes all of them feel unique, and team building more nuanced. The interactions between certain character combos in the field is also very cute and makes it feel more like they all have their own defined relationships with each other. The character and town designs are beautiful! You can tell a lot of work was put into the visual design. Even little corners of town that don’t serve a purpose will be laid out beautifully. I also liked assigning villagers, gaining them and losing them based on your town,the system of paying your workers is new and I think it's a cute. You can be gay! Frankly should be the standard but I’m happy RF is letting us date romanceable characters regardless of gender these days. Better late than never! I do think though if you rush to the end game that can make it a lil less enjoyable because theres a lot less end game content. Overall this game is SO MUCH FUN. As long as you keep in mind it is a spin off, it isn't rune factory, fighting takes center stage, and farming is back seated I'd say it's a very solid game. GoA gives me hope for RF6 to be far better than 5. While 4 is still my favorite game in the series, GoA is certainly giving 4 a run for its money and I highly recommend it. 8.5/10

If you are hoping for any amount of in-depth Rune Factory like gameplay, skip this game. It was the definition of "meh". The characters are interesting and, music, and visuals are pretty solid. However... there is literally ZERO depth. No real goals to do anything besides smash the attack button (with the occasional dodge). The farming is a pointless side distraction (offering zero value once you have villagers), and the decorations are really pointless. Beat the game mid summer with level 8-9 on each village (which happened about 4 hours before the end). Every time you made a new weapon, you'd discover a new one for 400 dmg more 5 minutes later. Literally no reason to upgrade any gear, no real reason to farm, no real reason to decorate... just overall bleh. Again... characters and story are entertaining though :)

虽然你那稀疏的种田玩法、又臭又长的主线、简单粗暴的四季村、以及O神like的冒险玩法比较松弛，但你全新的优秀人设、可以穿越娶妻的设定、还有上田丽奈的日丽和lynn的彼方又弥补了这一部分。但是你把可攻略对象放dlc里卖，会显得你没有妈妈。

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma feels like a game that might have gotten passed over initially because of its release that was so near Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. Grand Bazaar was fantastic, but Guardians of Azuma could really be a hidden gem for some people; it’s definitely one of my new favorite Rune Factory games. Even though both games fall into the same genre, the gameplay experience is very different, with Guardians of Azuma offering strong story-driven features, and a pretty well thought-out combat system. Guardians of Azuma includes almost everything you could want from a farming and life sim, while also respecting how different players like to engage with different features. You’re never forced to spend time on elements you don’t enjoy. For example, if fishing and farming isn’t your thing, you can assign villagers to take care of them for you, while still having the freedom to handle those tasks yourself if you want. As you progress far enough, your villages can become almost entirely self-sufficient, which allows you as the player to focus on whatever you want. Village development itself is a major focus, allowing you to decorate the space, build homes for villagers, add shops they can work at for passive income, and construct facilities that let you upgrade gear, cook, and access other important systems. Every item or building you place also adds specific buffs to your village or your character, and there are specific bonuses you can look out for that may offer even bigger bonuses like +100HP. One of the strongest aspects of Guardians of Azuma is its NPC relationship system, which might be one of my favorites in any life sim. Characters greet you, talk about what’s happening in the village and in the main story, and respond in ways that make them feel aware of the world around them. You can choose from a wide variety of activities to do with them to learn what they like, with some interactions unlocking specific cutscenes. Each character has their own questlines, stories, and backgrounds that are slowly uncovered as you build your relationship, and they even interact with other NPCs during certain quests. Because of this, the characters feel much more alive, and if you enjoy romance and marriage systems in games like these, it’s a particularly strong feature here. You can also have children, and anyone you form a bond with, including family members, can be added to your party so you can travel and participate in combat together. This allows you to create teams with different roles like buffers, debuffers, and healers. The writing is often genuinely witty, and each character has a distinct personality and way of speaking that feels unique and memorable. The game is also almost entirely voice acted as well. Combat is somewhat of a large part of Guardians of Azuma, and it’s enhanced by the Sacred Objects system, which acts as both your toolset and your source of special weapon abilities. This adds variety and strategy to fights, such as using a holy weapon against dark creatures that are weak to it. Switching between these objects is quick and intuitive, making combat feel smooth and even flashy. While fighting is fast-paced, it’s not overly difficult as long as you are consistently upgrading your equipment and weapons, and for players who are less interested in fighting, there is a “Story” difficulty option. The bosses are another highlight, as each one has unique abilities and encounters that feel distinct from the standard overworld enemies, and the fights feel engaging and high stakes. Guardians of Azuma features a prevalent story and questline, but its pacing can be uneven. Around ten to twenty hours in, the main questline can feel like it is reaching its conclusion, when in reality that section is closer to the end of the game’s introduction to its mechanics. After that point, the actual storyline and more advanced content opens up, offering what can easily be another twenty hours or so of gameplay. If the story transition had been more seamless, I think I would have avoided the fatigue I started to feel at this point, largely because I had expected the game to be ending rather than expanding. However, if you are looking for a game with a long questline that remains fairly open ended even after the main quests wrap up, this is a bonus because it’s a game you can easily invest a significant amount of time into. Overall, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma feels like an amazing step in the right direction for the Rune Factory series. While I really enjoyed the previous Rune Factory games, this entry improves on older elements while introducing fun new systems that make it feel like a fresh new take. It strikes a strong balance between honoring what longtime fans enjoy and experimenting with new ideas. Highly recommended!

It's an either/or on how you rate this game, and my feelings are mixed about this, but my overall feelings for this is negative. This is not a Rune Factory game. This is a colony management sim wearing a Rune Factory Costume. It's a fairly competent colony management sim, and as a colony management sim, it's fine and fun, but that's not the game that I want to play when I get into Rune Factory. This game makes me want to go back to RF4 or RF5. I like a few of the things that it does on the Rune Factory side of things, like it's inventory management: Larger stacks, stacking fish, and automatic transfer to the item box when your personal inventory is full. I like the character stories; they feel more developed from previous entries. The story is okay. At time of writing, I haven't finished it, but so far, so RF. I dislike the level of automation. I don't get to manage the fields anymore. I don't get to interact with the farm monsters anymore. The parts of the game that make the whole thing cozy are dissociated from the game now, and that was most of my reason for playing Rune Factory in the first place. I hate the leveling system. I don't want to interact with it at all. Previous entries allowed you to get better with different skills by using them consistently, but now you don't have any reason to interact with half of the skills, meaning no experimenting with game mechanics to see what you like. There's no reason to try the longsword, ever. You can get all the buffs by walking around enough days. I hate the change to the stamina system. I haven't been to the baths in this game once. I haven't needed to. You only lose RP with the use of sacred items. You regain RP fast enough that you never really run out. Sure they can be used in combat, but I punch 10+ levels above mine and I'm not challenged enough to use them, and even if I do, I still don't use enough RP to run out. I've only fainted once in the game so far, and that was when I stayed up too late and didn't notice fast enough. Baths were closed anyway. I dislike the crafting system. I like that you interact with the NPCs more as a result of it, making them feel necessary, but it also feels like an unnecessary step. I also chafe at needing money, as well as materials, for crafting. And you can't just straight buy all the weapons and gear that you need. It's far too expensive to do that anyway. All in all, if I take a step back, and ignore the Rune Factory title, it's probably one of the best colony sims I've ever played, and I've played many, but I bought this game because I wanted to play Rune Factory. I'll continue playing the game because it's still pretty good, but if the next title continues on this path, I'll pass.

ゲームとしては、それなりに遊べたので個人的にはおすすめはしやすいゲームですが、過去作のルーンファクトリーを心から楽しんでいた自分としては、駄作としかいいようがありません。 特に酷いのが、鍛冶や食事やお風呂などのスキルレベルの廃止、武器の種類の減少、魔法とルーンアビリティの廃止など、今までのルーンファクトリーにあったシステムが軒並みなくなり、単に里づくりと恋愛要素が入ったRPGに変貌。 装備は鍛冶師に素材と金を渡し作ってもらう。料理も調合も何もかも自分では一切が作れません。 装備の強化も単に攻撃力や防御力が固定値増えるだけのシステムになり、アイテムの強化効果(鉄なら防御＋１などの効果)もなくなり、装備の効果の組み合わせをどうするかなど考える楽しみもなくなった。 これのどこがルーンファクトリーなんでしょうか。ルーンファクトリーとしての面白さが詰まっていたこれらが軒並み廃止されたことで凡庸なゲームになり下がりました。 メタスコアが81点らしいので、これからのルーンファクトリーはこれがデファクトスタンダードになるんでしょうね。今までのルーンファクトリーが大好きだっただけに残念で仕方ないです。 最後にもう一度言うのですが、これがルーンファクトリーであることが本当に残念でなりません。