| Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Gameplay
Managing Villages and Farms
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma builds upon the series' established farming and life simulation mechanics. Player progression appears linked to the development of four distinct towns: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Villages. Based on available trailers and gameplay footage, these villages seem to level up as players advance through the game. While the game features these season-themed villages, it also includes traditional in-game seasonal changes. However, the four main villages are expected to maintain their respective seasons, similar to the seasonal dungeons found in previous Rune Factory titles.
Players can customize their farms using a grid-based interface to move buildings, place decorations, and lay paths. Doing so increases the village’s "Scenic Score." An overhead view simplifies this process. However, the number of placeable buildings and decorations is limited. As seen in the game’s Features Trailer, at level 6, Spring Village has a capacity of 20 buildings and 120 decorations. This limit may be due to these buildings and decorations providing stat boosts to the player and their villages. There are six village stats: Farming, Logging, Fishing, Mining, Herding, and Trading.
Previous games in the series only allowed befriended monsters to help with farm work. These monsters resided in barns, where players could care for them and collect resources like milk and eggs. Now, villagers, too, can be assigned tasks like farming and blacksmithing, with each one possessing varying skill levels in different areas. However, these helpers must be compensated through a certain amount of gold (in-game currency) per day.
Moreover, as players will be hiring villagers for crafting gear, these now cost gold on top of the crafting materials necessary to make them.
Sacred Treasures
Guardians of Azuma introduces Sacred Treasures, which serve dual purposes in combat and farming. For instance, the parasol is capable of watering crops, enabling players to glide from elevated areas, and summoning lightning to strike foes. Similarly, the drum can accelerate crop growth and heal party members, and the flame sword will allow players to convert their crops into seeds and deal fire damage to enemies. These actions will cost Rune Points (RP) or the Rune Factory series’ equivalent of mana. At the time of writing, four sacred treasures have been revealed—the fan, the drum, the parasol, and the flame sword.
Adventuring and Combat
Gathering resources is essential for obtaining gear, food, and other necessities, and players can acquire these by exploring the game’s many areas. A notable addition to the series is the minimap’s new feature: It now displays resource locations with distinct icons to make it easier to pinpoint what players need. These resources spawn daily.
The gathering process itself has also been streamlined. Interacting with resource nodes like trees and rocks now only require a single button press, unlike previous games where actions like breaking rocks with a hammer, for instance, required repeated inputs. Special locations like frog shrines offer opportunities to earn items, recipes, or decorations through ritual dances.
Befriended monsters can be ridden for faster travel, though doing so occupies a party slot. Players can form parties of up to six characters: four active members and two in reserve. Each character possesses a unique fighting style and can be swapped in or out as needed.
Weapon variety has expanded, with katanas and western-style swords available alongside Sacred Treasures and the available weapons from the previous games like dual blades and spears. There are also two new weapon types: the talisman and the bow, which can be used to combat enemies from a distance.
Combat involves targeting enemy weak points and depleting a stun gauge beneath the enemy’s health bar. Filling the stun gauge allows players to inflict significant damage while the enemy is incapacitated.
Social Interactions
Guardians of Azuma brings back the series’ life simulation mechanics with notable additions. Dialogue options with romanceable characters now consume in-game time and have associated bond levels. Adventuring with these characters increases their bond level. Moreover, similar to Rune Factory 5, all characters are romanceable regardless of the player’s chosen protagonist gender, which allows for same-sex relationships.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Story
The narrative unfolds in Azuma, a land irrevocably changed by the Celestial Collapse—a cataclysmic event caused by a colossal object’s impact. This collision fractured the land and disrupted the flow of runes, causing the disappearances of nature’s deities. Amidst the ruins and dwindling hope, the player, as the protagonist, awakens, haunted by a dream of dueling dragons.
Instead of being an Earthmate, as in previous installments, players are now an Earth Dancer, using dance as a means of both fighting and healing Azuma. Through the use of sacred treasures and the power of dance, they must endeavor to rebuild the land and revive nature’s six gods.
As in previous Rune Factory games, the protagonist begins with amnesia, guided by a voice urging them to harness the power of an Earth Dancer and protect Azuma. Players can choose to play as either Subaru or Kaguya, two individuals whose destinies are intertwined. They were once betrothed, but a past event drove the two apart. The character not chosen becomes a supporting NPC and a potential romantic interest.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Marriage Candidates
Guardians of Azuma offers players a diverse selection of marriage candidates, totaling 16 in all. This includes 14 characters available in the base game, plus two additional marriage options introduced with the Seasons of Love DLC. The candidates include:
⚫︎ Subaru: One of the main protagonists on a mission to save Azuma from the Blight.
⚫︎ Kaguya: One of the main protagonists who is on the same mission as Subaru.
⚫︎ Iroha: The owner of Iroha’s Teahouse in Spring Village.
⚫︎ Murasame: A samurai whose goal is to become the world’s greatest swordsman.
⚫︎ Hina: A returning character from Rune Factory 5 who claims to be an archeologist.
⚫︎ Mauro: A self-proclaimed treasure hunter from a foreign land.
⚫︎ Ulalaka: Azuma’s kind, gentle god of spring and merriment.
⚫︎ Matsuri: Azuma’s carefree god of summer and swords.
⚫︎ Kurama: Azuma’s calm, cool-headed god of autumn and wind.
⚫︎ Fubuki: Azuma’s warmhearted wolf god of winter and water.
⚫︎ Kanata: Azuma’s god of light and the heavens.
⚫︎ Kai: A leader of the oni feared for his incredible strength.
⚫︎ Clarice: Leader of a mysterious group who arrived in Azuma with an unknown goal.
⚫︎ Ikaruga: A mystic from the capital who leads the Jingasa Corps.
⚫︎ Pilika: From the Seasons of Love DLC. She is a hunter who hails from Azuma’s far north.
⚫︎ Cuilang: From the Seasons of Love DLC. He is a mechanical expert who lives in Autumn Village.
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