Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review (Switch, Switch 2, & PC)

Ask any Rune Factory fan, and they will probably name a different entry as their favorite. Rune Factory 4 will possibly come up or its predecessor. But dare I say Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the new contender for the best Rune Factory game of all time? 

It’s thanks to taking full advantage of the power of the next-gen Nintendo Switch 2 console. But also, the gameplay itself thrives on delivering a most engaging narrative, a satisfying combat, and an easily accessible village management and farming simulation system. 

Overall, you can easily spot the strides taken to elevate gameplay in the series, from adding new mechanics and quality-of-life improvements. Yet, a few rough edges still exist, albeit easy to write off in favor of the core experience. 

If you’re curious to find out whether this game is right for you, do stick around while we explore all that’s perfect, good, and bad in our Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma review below.

The Fall of Azuma

A catastrophic event known as the Celestial Collapse has befallen the Eastern land of Azuma. As a result, the flow of Rune power has been compromised, the Earth shattered and ridden in blight, while the keepers of the land, the nature gods, scamper into hiding. 

It’s been 50 years of Azuma’s suffering, the collapse of its produce. Monsters have begun sprouting in the distant fields and threatening the safety of Azuma’s people. Amid the chaos and disarray, you, the player, arise. Amnesiac, as the Rune Factory seems to stick its guns to. 

We quickly jump into flashbacks of Azuma’s chaotic state and your role to restore order and peace. Never mind your amnesiac status, which, frankly, I’m still yet to grasp its significance to the story. It’s an already overplayed hand that’s doubly predictable and annoying. 

In any case, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma’s story paces itself graciously, introducing you to a charming cast of distinct personalities. Gradually, you explore more lore and content, unearthing Azuma’s history and future. And in the mid-to-late stages, the story spreads its wings, culminating in an overall terrific tale. 

No Strangers Here

A significant part of the story’s engrossing factor is its character bonding. Your protagonist, whether male or female, runs into different NPCs with whom you can create deeper connections. You do so via cutscenes and events that expound further on the NPC’s background. And the dialogue further expounds on their personalities and interests.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma handles relationships quite intentionally, too. Rather than consistently gift NPCs and hope that the bond meter goes up when you figure out their likes and needs, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma lets you engage NPCs in conversations and activities, instead.

The conversations are often illuminating, thanks to the distinct and charming characters you meet. A few even gel well with the protagonist, blossoming into a potential romantic pursuit. If it’s not a stimulating conversation, based on a chosen topic, then you can invite NPCs to perform certain activities with you. 

You can cook together, for example. And as a result, unlock new side quests and new places to visit. Overall, bonding in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is pretty well done. It’s a no-brainer to, time and again, seek out an NPC to pursue a deeper relationship. Perhaps, get them to marry and start a family with you. Or at the very least, have them join you in exploration and combat expeditions.

Villagers Assemble

The story pushes forward the task to revive Azuma. And your restorative journey involves building and constructing new houses, shops, and more. And doing a great architectural job so that a community of villagers begins to bloom. You can decorate the buildings, too, ensuring your new villagers are happy. 

While most farming simulators involve manually planting crops, watering, and harvesting them, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma streamlines these processes into a quick and easy system. You choose the land with good soil to plant crops and rear animals. However, while you manually do so at the start of the game, soon, you’ll gain villagers proficient in farming, who you can assign to perform these tasks for you.

Villagers aren’t always restricted to one job, though. So, you can always shuffle them around across farming, blacksmithing, and more jobs. And gradually, your village’s resource production and economy will grow, raising the level of each of the four villages you’re tasked with reviving. 

Admittedly, once you’ve set up a consistent flow of resources in one village, the playthrough can grow a bit repetitive in the next three. However, each village does have its distinct properties that help diversify gameplay. For instance, each village is tied to a specific season, say winter, that influences the crops you can farm there. Not to mention the unique aesthetic based on the season.

Without a Glitch

Speaking of aesthetics, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma looks pretty vivid and colorful. The character and environmental detail are impressive, drawing inspiration from anime. 

However, the world could have used a variety, with massive fields feeling sparse at times. Further, visuals are especially crisp and clean on the Nintendo Switch 2. And performance runs smoothly without a glitch. 

Open Sesame

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma’s sense of freedom lies in its outside world. You can always explore the regions outside the villages for enemies to fight, treasure to scoop up, collectibles to add to your repertoire, and more. 

You can especially take to the skies on your dragon to explore distinct islands, offering more of their own enemies, treasures, etc. In the outside world lies a deep variety of things to do, including fishing and archery. 

I’m not mad at the combat, incorporating varied ways to defeat enemies. You have your diverse weapons, which you can equip two at a time. Whether dual blades, long swords, or bows, each weapon adapts to melee or ranged combat differently, along with different speed and weight. 

Moreover, you have elemental-based sacred treasures that not only spice up combat but exploration and farming, too. While some deal fire or water damage to enemies, others diversify use cases to improve bond levels with NPCs, decorate buildings, and more. 

And then you have your special moves, like charged attacks and healing, tied to your weapons and sacred treasures. These are all avenues to take down enemies in different ways. Plus, they come with skill trees you can always tinker around with to upgrade abilities, increase core stats, and more. 

Level Up

Admittedly, enemies can be a little too easy to beat. But the precise dodge makes it more satisfying. It slows down time, in return, which can be advantageous to unleash special moves. You also keep track of aspects like enemy stagger meter, so you can drain it enough to inflict actual damage.

Overall, combat intensifies in the mid-to-late stages. That’s when enemies have grown more powerful to provide a bigger challenge. In the times when things begin to grow repetitive, from similar enemy variety to performing the same village management tasks, the sheer wealth of avenues you can take, from combat to exploration and bonding, helps ease the mind. 

A Few Mishaps

Still, you can’t help but wish certain features carried more depth. Take the empty spaces where you build and decorate. It can feel restrictive in scale. Meanwhile, customization options are rather generic. At a point, the combat and bonding feel more intentional, like they received more attention in development. 

You might run into other mishaps that can either be easily swept away or linger on. Aspects like how you only get bonuses for placing the first instance of a particular decoration, but no additional bonuses for future ones. It takes away the motivation to make villages truly unique. 

Also, the decoration items don’t necessarily tie to specific villages, and it feels like any decoration can go anywhere. The villagers do not seem to have unique tastes on that front either. 

Listen, no game is perfect, especially when gamers have different tastes. Across the board, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will definitely reveal its issues. The question is, are these enough to detract from your playthrough?

Verdict

There’s a whole lot of good to commend on Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. The story, while employing a few predictable arcs and adopting the overused amnesiac protagonist for no reason at all, mostly gets the job done. And onward into the game, the narrative grows more profound, featuring pretty engaging character arcs and bonding scenarios. 

Combat, as well, is to be applauded, with its sheer variety of tools and abilities you can craft and upgrade, and aspects like the perfect dodge and dash that further add a layer of depth and strategy. Meanwhile, exploration has its perks, rewarding you with valuable collectibles and more things to do. What’s not entirely perfect is the village management and decoration. It feels generic and limited. 

Certainly, the mechanics could have been more intentional, giving you an incentive to continue rebuilding the best four villages, which NPCs will enjoy. Ultimately, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is well worth it, and even if there are a few mishaps, they can ultimately be ignored in favor of an overall satisfying playthrough.