| Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | PC Review | Switch 2 Review | |||
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma invites you to rebuild devastated villages, forge new alliances, and rid the land of the spreading Blight! Read on to learn about the game's plot, gameplay, and other information.
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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. Players are tasked with rebuilding and managing four season-themed villages: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each village maintains its respective season year-round, akin to the seasonal dungeons in previous Rune Factory titles.
Players can instantly jump into Village Builder Mode whenever they are near a certain area in the village. Using a grid-based interface, they can move buildings, place decorations, and lay pathways. Doing so increases the village’s "Scenic Score," which influence various in-game factors, like the protagonist’s stats. An overhead view simplifies the building process, and each village has a capacity limit for structures and decorations depending on their Village Level. As seen in the game’s Features Trailer, at level 6, Spring Village has a capacity of 20 buildings and 120 decorations.
Notably, time operates differently depending on the context: It’s paused during Village Builder Mode, but outside of this mode, one in-game minute is equivalent to 3 real-life seconds. Regardless, the game will be offering players a lot of freedom to shape certain spaces around them. Players can expect each village to include areas they can customize.
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, multifunctional tools granted by the gods that serve purposes in both combat and farming. These treasures replace traditional farming tools and offer unique abilities:
⚫︎ Sacred Parasol: Water crops; glide from elevated areas; summons lightning to strike enemies.
⚫︎ Sacred Drum: Accelerates crop growth; deals earth damage and heals party members
⚫︎ Sacred Sword: Converts crops into higher-level seeds; deals fire damage to enemies; removes early-game Blights
⚫︎ Terra Tiller: A hoe-like tool used during Village Builder Mode for farming
⚫︎ Sacred Fan: Harvests batches of crops efficiently; deals wind damage to enemies; removes mid-game Blights
⚫︎ Sacred Branch: Used to befriend villagers and monsters; rejuvenates save points
The usual farming tools, like the watering can, axe, hammer, and so on, are still present here. But unlike previous Rune Factory games, these tools now do not consume Rune Points (RP) or the game's equivalent of mana. This allows players to build their farm however they wish without fearing their character passing out.
Using Sacred Treasures consumes two or three RP. Moreover, players can use Kamiwaza or Sacred Dances, which consume Spirit Points, to perform special attacks. Spirit Points only refill when you attack or defeat enemies.
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 respawn 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. Moreover, 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 with up to six characters: three active members and three in reserve. Each character possesses a unique fighting style and can be swapped in or out as needed.
Weapon variety has also expanded, with katanas and Western-style swords available alongside Sacred Treasures and the weapons available 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 against large bosses involves targeting enemy weak points and filling a stun gauge beneath the enemy’s health bar. Filling the stun gauge allows players to inflict significant damage while the enemy is incapacitated. Echoing mechanics found in games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a well-timed dodge will activate Bullet Time, briefly slowing down time and giving players an opportunity to unleash attacks on enemies.
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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