Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements

There’s a lot going on with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma! It’s a new entry in the series, but also a spin-off. It’s adding a new type of gameplay, given we actually build up towns. There’s also the whole thing of the previous entry experiencing some issues. However, this new game seems like a new opportunity and, after some hands-on time with it, makes it seem the team learned learn from past missteps and mistakes. In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, players step into the shoes of an Earth Dancer. It’s a special kind of warrior not unlike an Earthmate. They are connected to the land and able to heal and foster its growth. Which is good, as a blight hit Azuma affecting many villages there. This means using sacred treasures to grow crops, banish corruption, and fight foes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Jjh6CpQF0&ab_channel=MarvelousUSA When I first stepped into Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for the demo, town management and farming were the focus. You’ll need to get necessary items to build up a village and place buildings or plots of land for farming. These affect the Earth Dancer, for example increasing HP. It can also mean new items are available to buy or access, and adding fields provide chances to grow crops. After land is cleared and places are built, citizens who returned to the area can be assigned jobs or roles to help out. They may have abilities or traits that make them specifically suited to certain tasks. As part of this prep, the sacred treasures came into play. For example, an umbrella could be used for water-based attacks in a fight or to gently glide from one elevated landmass to another, or you could use it to water crops. A drum? It could be used to attack and heal or to speed up growth by one day. There’s a sense of connection, so I could see how everything’s purpose could change and provide different benefits based on context. It also seemed great for ensuring there was no clutter among the tools. Especially since each piece of equipment would also be used to banish a certain type of corrupted growth, indicated by color. When it comes to fighting, these treasures are more of a prized resource due to needing energy to be used. As such, every Earth Dancer relies on one of those equipped pieces alongside a secondary weapon that doesn’t require any type of saved stamina to use. These can be melee ones, like the traditional swords from past Rune Factory games, or new ones like a ranged type of talisman like a Touhou Project danmaku. I got to test out these, as well as see how a full party of four worked in-action, in a cleared dungeon. You can have up to three people join you in your quest. In this case, the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma romance options Murasame, Iroha, and Ulalaka were by my side. Each is designed to take on certain roles based on their personality, so Murasame was an aggressive warrior and Iroha was more of a tank-type. Heading in meant facing various monsters inspired by yokai, as well as facing an equine boss. Said boss could also be staggered and temporarily stunned by exploiting weaknesses, with the sword sacred treasure and its fire attack proving critical for that. Images via Marvelous While developing the land and quickly running through a dungeon were the initial focuses of my Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma demo experience, romance with some characters came up as well. The two scenes I got to see involved the bachelor Murasame and the bachelorette Iroha. He’s a warrior who ended up needing to survive on his own in the wild for a time, and the event with him focused on that. Meanwhile, Iroha runs a teahouse, and hers ended up being a mix of making it a success and luring in more people to the town she loved. In each case, it felt like the characters got to be the focus, which is exactly what I feel we want from these heart events. Also, I appreciated the quality of life adjustment tied to finding them. When both were available, I could see special icons on the map highlighting that I could get to know them better and further our relationship. It seems like ensuring the four core gameplay elements of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are well-balanced could prove critical to ensuring this entry’s success. We aren’t just farming, fighting, and finding love anymore. A whole region’s success depends on us managing rebuilding efforts. It should prove interesting to see how well that goes. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025. The post Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements appeared first on Siliconera.

Mar 21, 2025 - 14:16

Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements

There’s a lot going on with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma! It’s a new entry in the series, but also a spin-off. It’s adding a new type of gameplay, given we actually build up towns. There’s also the whole thing of the previous entry experiencing some issues. However, this new game seems like a new opportunity and, after some hands-on time with it, makes it seem the team learned learn from past missteps and mistakes.

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, players step into the shoes of an Earth Dancer. It’s a special kind of warrior not unlike an Earthmate. They are connected to the land and able to heal and foster its growth. Which is good, as a blight hit Azuma affecting many villages there. This means using sacred treasures to grow crops, banish corruption, and fight foes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Jjh6CpQF0&ab_channel=MarvelousUSA

When I first stepped into Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for the demo, town management and farming were the focus. You’ll need to get necessary items to build up a village and place buildings or plots of land for farming. These affect the Earth Dancer, for example increasing HP. It can also mean new items are available to buy or access, and adding fields provide chances to grow crops. After land is cleared and places are built, citizens who returned to the area can be assigned jobs or roles to help out. They may have abilities or traits that make them specifically suited to certain tasks.

As part of this prep, the sacred treasures came into play. For example, an umbrella could be used for water-based attacks in a fight or to gently glide from one elevated landmass to another, or you could use it to water crops. A drum? It could be used to attack and heal or to speed up growth by one day. There’s a sense of connection, so I could see how everything’s purpose could change and provide different benefits based on context. It also seemed great for ensuring there was no clutter among the tools. Especially since each piece of equipment would also be used to banish a certain type of corrupted growth, indicated by color.

When it comes to fighting, these treasures are more of a prized resource due to needing energy to be used. As such, every Earth Dancer relies on one of those equipped pieces alongside a secondary weapon that doesn’t require any type of saved stamina to use. These can be melee ones, like the traditional swords from past Rune Factory games, or new ones like a ranged type of talisman like a Touhou Project danmaku. I got to test out these, as well as see how a full party of four worked in-action, in a cleared dungeon. You can have up to three people join you in your quest. In this case, the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma romance options Murasame, Iroha, and Ulalaka were by my side. Each is designed to take on certain roles based on their personality, so Murasame was an aggressive warrior and Iroha was more of a tank-type. Heading in meant facing various monsters inspired by yokai, as well as facing an equine boss. Said boss could also be staggered and temporarily stunned by exploiting weaknesses, with the sword sacred treasure and its fire attack proving critical for that.

While developing the land and quickly running through a dungeon were the initial focuses of my Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma demo experience, romance with some characters came up as well. The two scenes I got to see involved the bachelor Murasame and the bachelorette Iroha. He’s a warrior who ended up needing to survive on his own in the wild for a time, and the event with him focused on that. Meanwhile, Iroha runs a teahouse, and hers ended up being a mix of making it a success and luring in more people to the town she loved. In each case, it felt like the characters got to be the focus, which is exactly what I feel we want from these heart events. Also, I appreciated the quality of life adjustment tied to finding them. When both were available, I could see special icons on the map highlighting that I could get to know them better and further our relationship.

It seems like ensuring the four core gameplay elements of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are well-balanced could prove critical to ensuring this entry’s success. We aren’t just farming, fighting, and finding love anymore. A whole region’s success depends on us managing rebuilding efforts. It should prove interesting to see how well that goes.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025.

The post Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements appeared first on Siliconera.