To be entirely candid right off the bat, the only review of mine that I still genuinely regret regards the latest mainline entry in the Rune Factory series, Rune Factory 5. Not counting vague childhood memories of Tides of Destiny, Rune Factory 5 was my first full foray into the franchise. And while I enjoyed myself then, my later experiences playing the third and fourth mainline entries showed me just how underwhelming and disappointing 5 truly was.

Admittedly, I still wouldn’t necessarily call myself a dedicated fan, but my interest in the series was reignited with the announcement of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. This entry looked to be a substantial step-up from what came directly before in several ways, so I wanted to see how it panned out, and as it turns out, it is now one of my favorite releases this year, thanks to an endearing cast, polished gameplay, and a gripping narrative.

Strong Narrative & Distinct Setting

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma occurs in the eastern lands of Azuma as you follow an amnesiac protagonist who discovers themself to be an Earth Dancer, one who is burdened with the arduous goal of saving the land from a calamity known as the Celestial Collapse. Throughout this journey, they meet and befriend the land’s gods and learn about the actual circumstances surrounding their past, as well as Azuma itself. Their quest begins with waking the gods from their respective villages, yet this adventure evolves far beyond that premise.

While this entry’s story has humble beginnings, its second half becomes highly ambitious and intensely character-driven, with genuine stakes making several encounters memorably tense. Unfortunately, we can’t delve into the specifics here since story elements beyond the second village can’t be discussed.

Still, I was indescribably captivated by how this plot paced itself, with lore, character relationships, and future conflicts being powerfully delivered without overwhelming abundance. Granted, I want to avoid needlessly over-selling what takes place since this isn’t a highly dense, overwhelmingly intricate RPG. However, I’m confident that newcomers and even established fans are in for a real treat for what Azuma has in store.

Further, the fully voiced protagonist has a personality of their own, and despite it being somewhat blank-slate-esque to account for the bonding sequences, they truthfully feel like their own person to a respectable extent. Their dynamics with the cast, regardless of romanceability, all feel natural, remedying one of the central issues I tend to have with nameable main characters you’re supposed to put yourself in the shoes of. As for the other characters inhabiting Azuma, not every single one clicked for me, partially because some of their introductions and first impressions are sidelined in the main story.

An Endearing Cast

Of course, Rune Factory is primarily about its characters, and this facet is strengthened by bonding events, which Guardians of Azuma has no shortage of. I won’t say that every person and every exchange compelled me because that isn’t true; a handful of individuals just didn’t have standout traits that drew me in. Still, one of the shining aspects of Rune Factory is discovering who you’re endeared to, regardless of potential romantic inclinations, and then taking the time to get to know them better. Not every bondable character is romanceable either.

Bonding is quick and straightforward; merely talking to a character and then choosing an activity or conversation topic results in either a loss or a gain in affection; you can also opt to grant gifts instead. It’s all quite self-explanatory and can feel repetitive, but bonding quests mitigate that shortcoming. When you raise a bond level high enough and have made certain strides in the main story, you unlock quests that must be completed to progress these bonds. They tend to be relatively to-the-point and full of heart, thanks to the presence of prominent voice acting. Speaking of, the English dub is exemplary here, with each cast member being well-suited.

My favorite characters, whom I admittedly also ended up deciding upon when choosing romances, were Hina, a returning character from Rune Factory 5, Kanata, the goddess of heaven and light, and the enigmatic Clarice, who comes across as more than a little intimidating. While I can’t speak for the male romance routes, the female ones leave you rather spoiled for choice, as they’re all quite distinctively captivating. This consideration becomes even more notable when considering the prospect of having children. Sadly, two of the romance routes are locked to DLC, which is quite cruel since the involved characters can still be bonded with in the base game.

As you get to know these characters, you can view their profiles, preferences, and gameplay bonuses earned from specific bond level milestones. Besides exploration and farming, these interactions are the bulk of the experience, and they’re implemented in meaningfully compact ways without being overly drawn out. Considering the many characters to bond with, a well-paced balance is achieved, allowing for growing closer to them without needing to spend hours upon hours per character. I was cautious about this facet since the activities and topics you choose for bonding are often one-and-done with no distinctive exchanges, but the character-specific quests eventually made me not mind.

It’s also worth noting that multiple romances can be pursued in a sense, thanks to the Rewoven Fates feature. Essentially, you can explore other romances via parallel worlds, and you don’t lose your items or stats. So, there’s far less pressure here than in other Rune Factory titles regarding who your final partner would be. This can be seen as a negative of sorts for those who prefer commitment, which I do, but I also appreciate the yearning to see the outcomes of crucial what-if choices without needing to do entirely new playthroughs.

Intuitive, Multi-Faceted Combat

Besides recipes and such, one of the many perks from the bonding bonuses is that these characters can join you out on the field as party members, participating in combat encounters. Later on, monsters can even be captured and participate as party members, adding further strategic variety, especially when thinking about each character’s battle roles.

Battles in Guardians of Azuma are reasonably intuitive, with these action bouts consisting of executing combos and dodging telegraphed strikes, with special abilities spicing it all up. You have plenty of choice in your equipped weapon, which all feel immensely different in speed and weight, doubly so when considering how each tool has its own skill tree that imparts stat gains and new techniques. As a few examples, you can use the quick dual blades, bows for ranged benefits, or long swords, which are powerful yet comparatively slow.

Additionally, you can upgrade and create equipment, including armor and accessories, at blacksmiths; this becomes necessary in the later areas when enemy damage steadily increases. I fell in love with Guardian of Azuma’s combat loop because not only does it feel smooth and crisp with slick movement and audio design, but the simplicity of the action meshes well with the upgrading, tying into the series’ gathering roots. Your general upkeep and stat improvements are just as, if not more crucial, than the processes of understanding how the enemies operate, instilling additional layers of consideration.

Moreover, the bosses are all noteworthy and unique in their combat applications and mechanics, resulting in memorable match-ups. Another major combat technique is perfect dodging, which, when performed adequately, causes time to slow down, giving you an opportune moment to lay down the hurt. Charged attacks for select weapons are highly boosted from these instances, given the free time you gain. Honestly, comparing the combat of Rune Factory 5 to Guardians of Azuma is like night and day.

Vast & Intricate Exploration

Alongside the combat, I was impressed by this entry’s exploration, which features vast fields and plenty of well-designed dungeons bolstered by side paths, individual aesthetics, and mini puzzles that ensure progression is never dull. Thankfully, the open maps don’t overextend in scope, striking a middle ground where they take time to traverse yet don’t have needless padding or empty spaces meant to impart an illusion of size.

Enhancing this navigation are collectibles in the form of shrines and frog statues, where interacting with them grants numerous rewards, such as recipes for crafting and cooking. Other activities you gradually unlock, like fishing and target-shooting with your bow and arrow, are pretty addictive and simple to parse.

Further, as you progress through the story, you earn tools from the gods that significantly impact both exploration and combat. In addition to elemental properties, these items, which can also be swapped on the fly, can remove previously impassable blockades, granting sufficient motivation to re-explore older areas to see all they have to offer. Several convenient fast travel points make this feat a non-frustrating one, too.

One last aspect of travel worth mentioning is the air, where you can ride a dragon to several sky islands. There is a decent number of these areas, usually containing mini areas full of enemies and items. Plus, they align with the strength of the open maps in that there isn’t an overabundance of them, making those that are present stand out. In essence, taking the time to wander around in Guardians of Azuma to see everything that every location offers is well worth the time and effort.

Village Interaction, Farming & Growth

The other central avenue of gameplay in Guardians of Azuma resides in the villages, where you can farm and fill the landscapes with various structures and decorations. Similar to the combat and exploration, these aspects are intuitive and self-explanatory, with even those not necessarily accustomed to farming gameplay assuredly able to pick up on these tasks without much issue. At most, the frequent menus may make progress initially perplexing, but the game does a favorable job of implementing mandated objectives requiring you to investigate the generalities of each major function.

Farming is approachable as it merely requires you to craft appropriate tiles, set them down on agreeable land, and then plant seeds. Admittedly, there are other factors to account for, such as the types of soil, which seeds thrive best in specific villages, and more, though there isn’t much overt complexity to it all. Making the collective process even more digestible is that as villages grow, which is communicated by experience gauges filled via gradual tasks, new villagers join, who you can then assign to select jobs. These occupations, which can also be swapped as often as you’d like, include farming, so assigning multiple villagers to that ensures that you don’t have to keep up with the minutiae of the day-to-day.

Farming is especially crucial since that’s how you earn the bulk of your currency. Grown crops are sent in shipping boxes that are delivered on a daily basis, though you can also manually input any items you have on hand; crops are just the most consistently reliable, as their applied shipments occur passively. This all may sound overwhelming, yet it becomes second-nature relatively quickly, with most of the time and loose complexity spent assigning NPCs across multiple villages. On another note, you don’t necessarily need to let NPCs handle the farming; it’s a choice. Still, the mountains of other things you can do take precedence, so planting the seeds is all that’s really worth doing in a practical sense.

Like other entries, Guardians of Azuma has a calendar system with a perceptible passage of time daily. Characters with occupations only work at select times, while others can wander from village to village, creating a genuine sense of community that expands gradually. Granted, the characters’ lack of reaction when visiting a newly available village for the first time is a tad off-putting.

NPCs also have birthdays you can celebrate by granting gifts, adding a neat layer to passive progression. However, time can also impact you negatively since staying up past midnight can incur damage and leave after effects for the following day, meaning you’re encouraged to get regular doses of rest.

The villages have plenty going on, between quest boards that refill consistently, bonding, farm upkeep, and other shops. Like assigning farmers, you can set NPCs as blacksmiths or other shop vendors, though the pool of applicable individuals for these jobs is far smaller. Carpenters are pretty vital since they’re the ones who can create buildings, decorations, and facilities.

Cumulatively, as you unlock more villages, you’ll have your hands full with ensuring they’re all operating at their best to gain more levels to unlock new recipes and functionalities; rinse and repeat. It’s an addictive cycle that certainly works, but there will come a point much later on where there isn’t much to actually do on a day-to-day basis, as you’ll generate a reliably high income.

Design Shortcomings

Strangely, the villages of Guardians of Azuma are too small-scale, with not much actual land you can mess around with for farming, buildings, or decorations. There is a satisfying sense of progression with the same elemental-imbued obstacles from the open fields also being present across some villages, leading to occasional increases in landmass amid story advancements, but it’s infrequent.

Even as someone who prefers farming and other tangentially-simulation elements in supplemental forms, I still found myself wishing for more space. You obtain so many decoration-centric recipes that I sometimes questioned their collective point other than rapidly placing and removing them for village missions.

Another point of contention I had regards the cooking. You learn countless recipes from exploration and rewards, letting you cook either by yourself or, depending on the meal, with someone else to unique results. It’s a worthwhile practice, mainly due to how much health and stat bonuses the more potent dishes grant. However, finding the ingredients needed for these foods can become irksome.

Besides being purchaseable from certain vendors, specific meals require other meals, which eventually becomes a mess of traversing menus to find what you need to make. It would have been nice if you had been told where to get the unobtained ingredients when selecting a dish. In fact, being able to buy ingredients straight from the cooking menu would have also been ideal.

One last irking point, though pretty minor, involves the skill tree. For the most part, this system is compelling as it always ensures you gain bonuses regardless of which gameplay avenue you pursue. You can learn new combat techniques, gain access to new bonding event locations, and much more, with experience earned as those respectively associated actions are performed. It’s all a continuously thrilling practice.

However, I wasn’t much of a fan of how these trees tend to be at least half-populated with stat-boosting nodes that don’t seem entirely relevant to the subject at hand. This aspect didn’t diminish my enjoyment or anything, but I would have preferred if these skill trees were trimmed to only include notable abilities.

Regarding performance, Guardians of Azuma is stable and consistent on PC, with no perceptible bugs or crashes permeating my experience. Further, the soundtrack boasts many memorable tunes fitting with the Eastern aesthetic, and the presentation is always endearing and colorful, with each area being distinctive in its appeal.

Conclusion – A Fresh Must-Play Entry for Fans & Newcomers Alike

It isn’t often that a brand new entry in a series can reinvigorate itself so seemingly effortlessly after just a single entry. Yet, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma illustrates the actualization of that idealization.

Between addictive customization, fulfilling exploration, satisfyingly varied combat, a loveable cast, and an absolutely terrific narrative, Guardians of Azuma is an all-timer that cements itself as one of the series’ undeniable greats. Even if not every facet was polished to a sheen, such as the menus and scale, what’s here is genuinely hard to put down, resulting in one of 2025’s most substantial hits.