Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the latest entry into the Rune Factory series. Taking control of the amnesiac heroes known as “Earth Dancers”, your destiny is to save and reclaim the floating isles and lands from a great and imminent threat known as the Great Collapse.
With sacred relics, farming, making friends, and relationships, as in any Rune Factory the goal of wealth and success are bred from the very soil beneath your two legs. Farming seeds, cutting trees, and hacking through many monstrous foes that lie in your way has never felt more satisfying in the Rune Factory series.
Niche Gamer reaps the benefits of nature’s bounty in yet another addition to the rapidly growing sub-genre known as “cozy” farm life JRPGs. How does Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma hold up? Find out in our review!
This is a review coupled with a supplemental video review. You can watch the video review or read the full review of the below:
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Developer: Marvelous
Publisher: Marvelous, XSEED Games
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: June 5, 2025
Price: $59.99
Unlike the other entries in the series, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma takes a more Japanese visual approach to the world and its many subjects. The choice of picking either a male or female hero, both dressed in samurai fused with shrine monk attire, and every town you build and support is very much like being in the Edo era of Japan.
Your usual monsters, such as oni’s and kappas, and other Japanese myths square off against you or get befriended during the travels of each floating island or continent. It’s a very refreshing look for the series. Once the game takes off, you will do what any Rune Factory game does best.
You can build relationships with important townsfolk, date them, give them gifts, and most of all, plant seeds in soil to farm various resources. Your crops can be used to cook amazing recipes to assist you in your travels and keep your head above water in the wilds, and in some cases, literally.
Combat certainly takes a front seat here in this entry, as not only are there a plethora of weapon types to choose from and master, but also the addition of sacred artifacts given by each village god. Including these is essentially the game’s approach to wielding magic spells.
One of the first you are given is a drum which, when banged, will heal you and your party for its most conventional use. If you invest some of your hard-earned skill points, it becomes possible to perform more advanced RP-using skills like a massive AoE attack that will decimate all within the area.
During my travels into the enemy-infested regions outside of the towns, I often found myself enjoying the exploration as there was so much to earn and unlock. Recipes come in so many forms ranging from food, furniture, and equipment, all of which can be found by examining frog statues. While also exploring, it’s important to use the sacred artifacts to purge all of the contamination on the land.
Various spots on the map will have a contagion where the proper sacred artifact will eliminate it, giving the player further access into regions. However, early on, a lot of areas will remain barred off in a Metroid-like fashion of having to backtrack later when you own the necessary tools.
Managing towns can be either the best part of the game or downright the most stressful. As your towns all expand in size, so will the need for more villagers to attend them.
This becomes a very large facet of the game in ensuring that you can keep everyone paid. As each time an in-game day passes, they will take a large portion in payment from all that your village was able to produce.
Luckily, even without the proper knowledge of efficiently running a village, selling crafted items tends to reward you pretty well, especially food dishes made from the farmed ingredients.
It can feel somewhat of a chore, however, constantly having to farm crops. The villagers manage this automatically if you properly allocate them to the right tasks, but if you are dedicated enough, it’s best to do it all yourself.
As more and more villages get unlocked, it will become taxing. The later the day becomes, the more tired and exhausted your character gets. This is certainly a hardship if you plan to balance your time between farming and exploring.
In one case, I was out exploring too long, my character passed out late into the morning, suffering penalties. So, plan your days efficiently, otherwise it could lead to unfortunate setbacks.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a game where proper knowledge of its mechanics and mastery of time management come first. Combat itself isn’t too difficult, as you have many tools inside your kit to deal with them as long as you aren’t underdeveloped.
Leveling up skills is more thought out this time around, as you gain experience points from tasks as well as a universal pool of EXP that can be allocated to any skill you wish to progress. When I played, I kept dumping my universal experience into cooking so I could be even more efficient at it.
If you prefer to lay waste to your foes more efficiently, dump it all into your favorite weapon type. The skill system is truly a masterwork of tinkering. I wish there were more attack options in the weapon types themselves, other than a simple combo and charge attack.
Many good cozy RPGs keep coming out this year. While Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma does things almost flawlessly in its Japanese-inspired visuals and aesthetics, I can’t help but feel it could’ve been a tiny bit better.
Competition has gotten fierce within this sub-genre, yet Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is by far still a worthy addition to the landscape and is a faithful addition to the beloved franchise.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma was reviewed on Nintendo Switch using a code provided by XSEED Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is now available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
