| Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma | |||||||
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| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Order & DLC | PC Review | Switch 2 Review | |||
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma sees players reviving four different seasonal villages and the land of Azuma itself. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Review Overview
What is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2)?
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (simplified as Guardians of Azuma or RF:GoA) is an upcoming action RPG and life-simulation game developed by Marvelous Inc. It was released on June 5, 2025. Similar to Rune Factory Frontier and Tides of Destiny, this game is a spin-off in the Rune Factory series, which is itself a spin-off of Marvelous’ Story of Seasons (formerly Harvest Moon) series.
The game takes place in Azuma, an eastern land heavily inspired by Japanese aesthetics and traditions. Players assume the role of an Earth Dancer, tasked with restoring hope and vitality to the land after it has been ravaged by a cataclysmic event known as the Celestial Collapse and the subsequent spread of a corrupting force called the Blight.
Guardians of Azuma keeps the series' core gameplay loop of farming, combat, and social interaction, but it introduces several new features. Players can now use the power of dance and sacred treasures, along with new weapons like bows and talismans, to fight the Blight. A key new mechanic, not seen in previous Rune Factory games, is the ability to rebuild entire villages, construct buildings, and attract residents who contribute to the village's growth. The game also emphasizes building relationships with other characters, with options to romance and recruit them to help in battles.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma features:
⚫︎ Extensive Village Builder Mode
⚫︎ Deepened Farming Mechanics
⚫︎ Revamped Romance and Relationship System
⚫︎ 15 Romanceable Characters
⚫︎ Robust Action RPG Combat
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma’s gameplay and story.
 Switch 2 |
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| $69.99 |
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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Best cast of Characters in the Series so Far Village Builder Mode is Great Streamlined Mechanics and QoL Features are Welcome Sound Design Brings Azuma to Life |
There are Some Noticeable Frame Drops Paid DLC Locks Off Extra Bonding Events $10 More Expensive |
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Overall Score - 90/100
Farming, dungeon crawling, and dating have never meshed together this smoothly, and Guardians of Azuma finally gives Rune Factory fans the polished, story-driven leap they’ve been waiting for. The Switch 2 version doesn’t quite hit PC-level performance, but the portability makes it easy to overlook. With a charming cast and life sim mechanics that respect your time, it’s hard not to get hooked, even with the occasional framerate dip. Just be ready to pay the $10 tax for the luxury of playing from your bed.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Story - 9/10
The story here doesn’t stray far from Rune Factory tradition. You’re still an amnesiac with powers. However, Guardians of Azuma adds just enough emotional weight to make it stick. The cast is also well-written, with a bonding system that feels organic enough to make even choosing a favorite love interest an impossible task. Sure, it’s not Clair Obscur levels of storytelling, but for Rune Factory, this is the most invested I’ve ever been in who's running which shop in town, or stealing my heart.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Gameplay - 10/10
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is still the same cozy action RPG with life sim elements you’d expect, but Guardians of Azuma finally irons out the rough edges that used to slow the series down. Letting villagers run the fields while you micromanage from afar is a game-changer, and the expanded town-building and exploration loop makes it easy to lose hours without even noticing. Combat’s flashier, Sacred Treasures bring some much-needed flair, and while the Switch 2 version doesn’t hit perfect performance, it’s still the best this series has ever felt on a handheld.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Visuals - 8/10
The Switch 2 version cleans things up nicely with higher resolutions and sharper visuals compared to the original Switch, but don’t expect the crispness of its PC counterpart. Blurry textures and pop-ins still sneak their way into the world, especially if you get up close and personal with Azuma’s scenery. That said, the art direction carries a lot of charm, and from a distance, it’s easy to get swept up in the vibrant towns and seasonal landscapes. It’s not flawless, but it’s a definite step up for handheld farming escapism.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Audio - 10/10
The audio in Guardians of Azuma does a great job of pulling you into its Japanese-inspired world, with a soundtrack that’s equal parts soothing and spirited. There’s a warmth to the traditional-sounding music that makes even routine days feel just a little more special. Voice acting really shines here too, with nearly all the story and bonding moments fully voiced, which goes a long way in making the cast feel alive. Also, fun fact: Mauro de Saint-Coquille shares a voice actor with Eren Yeager—make of that what you will when he’s flirting with you.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Value for Money - 8/10
There’s no denying Guardians of Azuma will devour your free time, but whether it devours your wallet depends on what version you’re eyeing. The $70 price tag on Switch 2 stings a little, especially with the PC version running cheaper and smoother, but handheld farming while you’re curled up in bed has its own pull. If you’re upgrading from the original Switch version, the extra ten bucks feels justified for the performance bump alone. Either way, you’re getting a mountain of content that easily justifies the hours. What’s harder to swallow is the paid DLC that locks off extra bonding events for Cuilang and Pilika, despite both being already part of the main story.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review (Switch 2): A Clear Step Up from the Switch Version
I’ve already made it no secret how much I adore Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Earlier this month, I reviewed the PC version of the game and handed it a 94 out of 100, a score I still stand by today, days and another hundred hours of farming and romancing later. As someone who’s followed the Rune Factory series for years, through the highs of Rune Factory 4 and the growing pains of Rune Factory 5, Guardians of Azuma just felt like the leap this franchise desperately needed.
That probably explains why I was practically foaming at the mouth when we received download codes for the Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Guardians of Azuma. I’d already dumped triple-digit hours into the PC release, and yet, the thought of sinking another lifetime into Azuma on a handheld I could bring to bed, on the couch, or on grocery trips? That’s the dream! So much so that I went through the usual fan ritual of preordering the Earth Dancer edition. But as fate would have it, a week before launch, Amazon canceled my preorder. It happens. I’ve been down this road enough times with Rune Factory to know the heartbreak.
But I wasn’t about to let that stop me. So, digital edition it is. Downloaded, installed, and ready to devour my free time all over again, only this time on the Nintendo Switch 2, where I can waste hours scouring for materials or chasing after my favorite romance candidates from the comfort of literally anywhere. If you’ve been around the Rune Factory fandom for a while, you’ll probably understand the obsession. This is the same series that got me through long school nights with Rune Factory 3, or had me glued to my 3DS farming fields and fishing in Rune Factory 4. Heck, I even defended Rune Factory 5 when it stumbled at launch because, for all its jank, I’ve always seen the heart buried under the technical issues.
I'll admit, I haven't poured nearly as many hours into the Switch 2 edition of the game as I did when I reviewed it on PC. Back then, I clocked in well over a hundred hours. For the Switch 2, though, I've only just broken the 20-hour mark.
Even with less playtime, I've already spotted a bunch of differences worth highlighting. And while I haven't personally gotten my hands on the original Switch version, aside from checking out some YouTube videos, my focus here is on how the new Switch 2 experience stacks up.
We'll talk about that later on.
Healing Gods and Healing Hearts
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel when it comes to storytelling, but that’s hardly a complaint if you’ve been following the series for a while. This is still classic Rune Factory through and through. You wake up as an amnesiac protagonist, get dropped into a struggling village, and before you know it, you’re planting turnips and fending off monsters like it’s your divine calling.
The key difference this time is that there’s actually some emotional weight to it all. You play as either Kaguya or Subaru, two characters who aren't total blank slates. They’ve got history—shared history, in fact—and the story isn’t shy about letting their unresolved baggage linger in the air. Whichever character you don’t pick sticks around as an NPC, and predictably, a potential love interest. Compared to the series' usual paper-thin opening hours, it’s refreshing to see characters grappling with more than just "I forgot my name, time to farm."
The broader plot follows series tradition: as an Earth Dancer (essentially this game’s more lore-flavored term for Earthmate), you’ve got a connection to the land and its deities. Azuma’s been in rough shape ever since the Celestial Collapse, a cataclysmic event that struck fifty years before the game’s events and left the world fragmented, its seasonal gods weakened, and its villages barely holding on. Your mission then is to reawaken the gods, heal the land, and maybe figure out who you really are along the way. You’ll visit four seasonal villages, each tied to a different god—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—and help restore their powers. Predictably, each village comes with new characters to befriend (or romance), more side quests to juggle, and areas to explore.
Look, it’s not going to win Best Narrative at The Game Awards anytime soon—Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 probably has that in the bag already—but for what it is, Guardians of Azuma keeps things engaging enough to pull you along. It certainly presents its story better than Rune Factory 5 or the most egregious offender in my book, Rune Factory 4 on the 3DS, which could have you spend hundreds of hours just waiting for the next main story quest to trigger.
Story quests here are organized alongside your regular requests, all trackable from the main menu. You’ll never feel lost wondering if you’ve accidentally locked yourself out of progress, and the steady narrative drip keeps things moving without ever getting in the way of the real reason you’re here in the first place—to farm, to craft, to charm your way through Azuma. It’s still cozy, still familiar, but with just enough added depth to make even longtime fans feel like they’re experiencing something fresh.
Love is in the Air and in Azuma
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma makes one thing clear within your first few hours in Azuma: this is easily the most polished, most thoughtful cast of characters the series has ever assembled. It’s not even a competition. For all the things the franchise has done well over the years, the life sim aspects haven’t changed much. But the bonding system here finally feels like a proper evolution, and I’d argue it’s what Guardians of Azuma does better than any Rune Factory game before it.
Rather than forcing you into the same tired routine of gifting items in your inventory every day to villagers like a desperate hoarder, Guardians of Azuma overhauls the process entirely. Building bonds feels organic now. You can spend time with characters through actual activities, like inviting them to different spots around Azuma or engaging in tasks they’re interested in. Gifting still exists, but relationships grow primarily through interaction. It’s natural, and honestly long overdue for this series.
And the cast makes this new system worth diving into. Not only are they packed with personality, but I was dozens of hours deep before I could even consider settling on one person to romance—and even then, I still wasn’t sure. The character writing is the sharpest it’s even been. It has humor, it has heart, and just the right amount of slice of life to keep you coming back for more. I mean, when was the last time a Rune Factory game made even the non-romanceable villagers feel so fleshed out that fans (myself included) were practically begging for romance DLC? If Marvelous ever decides to drop that DLC pack letting me marry half the village, I’ll be first in line. And given the way the game’s structured, there’s really no reason not to.
That’s where Rewoven Fates comes, a mechanic that, frankly, feels like it was designed specifically for indecisive players like me. Through Rewoven Fates, you can experience alternate timelines where you pursue different romantic partners, all without having to restart your game or sacrifice progress. If you want to marry Matsuri in one timeline and Pilika in another, you can! There’s no downside to experimenting, so you can follow your heart (or curiosity) as much as you like. It’s purely there to let you explore every possibility the cast offers. And yes, Guardians of Azuma finally lets you pursue same-sex relationships. Whether your protagonist is male or female, every eligible romance option remains on the table.
Breath of the Wild Lite
Given this is a Rune Factory spin-off, it's safe to say the farming aspects will play second fiddle to whatever new gameplay elements they're experimenting with. We saw this pattern with Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, and it's a trend that's probably here to stay until the next numbered game arrives. However, if you’ve played a Rune Factory game before, you probably already know the rhythm: farm in the morning, swing a sword in the afternoon, maybe flirt with your favorite villager, repeat until you’ve accidentally lost 200 hours of your life. Guardians of Azuma keeps that loop intact but polishes the edges, streamlines the busywork, and tosses in a few new tricks to keep even longtime fans like me hooked.
Take farming, for starters. It’s as familiar as ever: clear land, till soil, plant seeds, water them, and profit. That loop is still here and still cozy as heck. But about an hour or two in, the game tells you that, as the village chief, you can offload your backbreaking labor to the villagers. Before, you could only ask your tamed monsters to do it, but this time, the villagers are working for you. I had my own NPC-powered farm crew working the fields while I kicked back, managed layouts, and kept tabs on everything through neat profit/loss statements at the end of the day. You can micromanage if you want, but Guardians of Azuma respects your time enough to automate the grind.
And that sense of scale only grows when town management kicks in. Not only are you farming, you’re also building entire villages, assigning townspeople to jobs, planning production lines, and decorating to your heart’s content. And just when you’ve got one town under control, the story throws in a second. Then a third. Then fourth. Suddenly, you’re juggling requests, friendships, stats, and local economies, and the hours start disappearing.
Exploration’s gotten a glow-up too. Guardians of Azuma clearly took notes from Breath of the Wild—on a much smaller budget, obviously—but the DNA is there. You’ll gradually unlock new areas with the help of Sacred Treasures, plot-important artifacts that double as traversal tools and combat upgrades. There are landmarks scattered around—frog statues with new crafting recipes, shrines doling out onigiri, dragon statues for fast travel—and a surprising number of secrets tucked away.
Combat here is definitely the best it’s ever been for the series, though that’s admittedly a low bar to clear. You’ve got your standard arsenal—short swords, long swords, axes, and the like—but now, there’s more variety, including bows and talismans. Each weapon type comes with its own skill tree, and they level independently, which means the more you use something, the deadlier it becomes. I gravitated towards bows for their high attack and long range, but the options encourage experimentation.
You can also fight using the Sacred Treasures. For instance, The Sacred Drum can keep your party alive or speed up crop growth, the Sacred Parasol blasts enemies with water while doubling as a watering can, and the Sacred Sword allows you to burn your enemies and get higher-level seeds. It's situational, sure, but it keeps the gameplay loop feeling interconnected and streamlines much of the busywork of the previous titles.
What to do When the Credits Roll?
I didn’t talk much about the post-game content back when I reviewed Guardians of Azuma on PC, but with the Switch 2 edition now giving me an excuse to dive in all over again, I think it’s worth circling back to that conversation, especially given how mixed the community’s been on what the game offers after the main story wraps.
Yes, the post-game exists. And yes, it’s admittedly light, depending on what you’re looking for. Once you’ve cleared the story and followed through with having a child, you’ll eventually unlock a post-game dungeon, much like Rune Factory 4’s Sharance Maze. It’s full of level 100+ monsters and new recipes for late-game gear. But as cool as that sounds on paper, it can feel like it’s over in a flash. Between the game’s overall lower difficulty curve and how easy it is to become overpowered with the right gear and setup, this dungeon doesn’t exactly measure up to how overpowered monsters feel in Sharance Maze.
That being said, I’d argue there’s already so much to do before you even finish the main story that most players won’t feel short-charged. Bonding with villagers, tackling side quests, raising your skills, building up the four seasonal villages—it’s all there, and it adds up to hundreds of hours of gameplay long before you even reach the end. If you’re like me and prefer to take your time exploring and obsessing over how your farm looks, then Guardians of Azuma will give you more than enough content to keep you occupied for the long haul.
PC vs Switch vs Switch 2
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma running on PC
I’ve now played Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma long enough to see real crops grow, but only on PC and the Switch 2 so far. I still haven’t had the chance to get hands-on with the regular Nintendo Switch version of the game. That being said, I’ve watched enough videos and grilled my friend who owns it to get a pretty good sense of how it stacks up across platforms, and, well, it’s pretty much the performance spectrum you’d expect.
Starting with the PC version, which was where I first reviewed the game, it runs really well… most of the time. On my setup, I had the game on the highest settings (but still on 60 frames per second), and virtually no lag. The only real stumbles happened in late-game fights when there’s so much happening all at once. But overall, the experience was pretty smooth. Even at my settings, though, I did call out in my original review how Guardians of Azuma can look a bit rough around the edges. Environments can feel blocky, and blurry textures creep in, especially when you’re up close. From a distance, however, it’s mostly fine.
As for the regular Nintendo Switch version, based on what I’ve seen and heard, it’s honestly not too bad. Compared to the disaster that was Rune Factory 5 on Switch—where frame drops were basically baked into the farming experience—this is a noticeable improvement. You’re looking at a mostly stable 30fps while exploring the world, but combat sequences and entering villages still cause the frame rate to hitch. It’s especially noticeable when a lot of NPCs, buildings, or environmental clutter fill the screen. The level of detail culling is also hard to miss—that’s basically where objects pop in or change detail levels based on your distance, which can make backgrounds feel barren until you get close enough. Add some jagged aliasing on edges and low-res textures, and yeah, it’s a compromised version visually. Still, it gets the job done.
The Switch 2 edition, though, is definitely trying to keep pace with the PC version, and to its credit, it mostly succeeds. The game targets 60fps, and while it’s not quite as crisp as what you get on a high-end PC, the higher resolution and smoother performance over the original Switch are immediately noticeable. For me, that’s enough.
However, the Switch 2 edition does come with its quirks. Weirdly enough, the best way to play the game is docked or in tabletop mode with the Joy-Cons detached, all thanks to the game’s support for mouse mode. I found it seamless to toggle between traditional controls and mouse mode. It’s awkward at first, sure, mainly because of how thin the Joy-Con 2 controllers are compared to a regular mouse, but it works. Handheld players like me, though, get the short end of the stick here. Mouse mode isn’t really functional unless your Joy-Cons are detached, and much like the Switch version, the Switch 2 edition doesn’t introduce any new handheld-friendly features. No touchscreen support, no gyro aim, nothing.
Performance-wise, the game isn’t flawless either. Despite the Switch 2’s beefier hardware, Guardians of Azuma still lags in certain spots. Pop into a village with too many buildings and decorations, or throw down in combat against a horde of orcs with a full four-person party, and you’ll see frame dips down to around 40fps. It’s not game-breaking, but coming from the relatively smooth performance on PC, it’s a noticeable drop you’ll feel. Still, considering where this series has been performance-wise in the past, I’ll happily take a few frame dips.
Is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch 2) Worth It?
Yes, for the Portability Alone
As with most niche games, the answer to whether or not Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is worth it depends on how (and where) you like to play. The Switch 2 edition is priced at $70, a full $10 more than its PC and original Switch counterparts. And while I love this series enough to get multiple versions, I won’t pretend the extra $10 doesn’t sting a little.
If you’ve been playing on PC like I have, the truth is, unless you’re specifically after a handheld experience, the Switch 2 edition isn’t entirely worth double-dipping. The PC version just plays better, with higher frame rates, sharper visuals, and mouse mode. That said, I can’t deny that there’s something convenient about playing Guardians of Azuma from the comfort of your bed. Now, if you’re coming from the original Switch version, the $10 upgrade pack is a much easier sell. You’re getting higher resolution visuals, a generally more stable framerate, and a smoother overall experience.
For those still deciding between the PC or Switch 2 version, it’s really a matter of priorities. If you want the best performance, go PC. If you value stable performance and portability enough to pay the extra $10, the Switch 2 won’t disappoint. At the end of the day, no matter the platform, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is worth playing. It’s the most ambitious, polished entry the series has ever produced, with enough quality-of-life improvements to keep even veteran players hooked. Here’s hoping they keep many of Azuma’s qualities in Rune Factory 6.
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| $69.99 |
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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma FAQ
Who are Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma’s Bachelors and Bachelorettes?
Guardians of Azuma has 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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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Product Information
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| Title | RUNE FACTORY: GUARDIANS OF AZUMA |
|---|---|
| Release Date | June 5, 2025 More Details |
| Developer | Marvelous Entertainment |
| Publisher | XSEED Games Marvelous USA, Inc. Marvelous Europe |
| Supported Platforms | PC (via Steam) Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | RPG, Action, Adventure, Farming Simulator |
| Number of Players | Single-Player (1) |
| ESRB Rating | ESRB Teen |
| Official Website | Official Website for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma |
