Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review

Game: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Genre: Action, RPG
System: Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 (also Steam)
Developer | Publisher: Marvelous (XSeed)
Age Rating: US Teen | EU 16+
Price: Switch (2): US $59.99 ($69.99) | UK £49.99 (£59.99) | EU € 59,99 (€ 69,99)
Release Date: June 5th, 2025

A review code was provided, and many thanks to Decibel PR.

Ever since the start of the series, every Rune Factory game has landed on my gaming consoles. As a spin-off series of Story of Seasons, Rune Factory added the very welcome diversion from farming, which is the base of Story of Seasons games. It adds a healthy dose of exploration and fighting enemies into the mix, and the games hooked me from the start.

The first four games were a big success on the DS family of systems, and though I wasn’t bowled over by Rune Factory 5, producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto still did a great job. Fast forward five years, and we have a new instalment of the series, called Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. With a new producer at the helm, Shiro Maekawa, Marvelous decided to take an entirely new direction with the series. Is this fan of the ‘old’ Rune Factory series ready for the change?

After the Celestial Collapse

After a thrilling intro (I’ve always been fascinated by dragons!), my protagonist YvoCaro finds herself waking up with no memory and a fluffy, white and small companion, Woolby. Woolby looks like a Woolly, but he has curling horns and ads fun commentary to the adventure.

A close-up dialogue scene of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma featuring a silver-haired character in a white and red outfit standing next to a cute, anthropomorphic ram character with large curled horns and a fluffy body. Pink cherry blossoms fill the background as the ram exclaims, “Right?! Let’s hear some praise for the REAL hero of the hour—yours truly!” Published on: LadiesGamers — Woolby is a cutie in this form, though his voice is a bit annoying….

A great disaster, known as the Celestial Collapse, has left the land of Azuma broken and the gods of nature missing. And, of course, it’s up to YvoCaro (and, in extension, to me) to help restore balance and hope. A mysterious voice grants her the powers of an Earth Dancer, which sounds very important. Little does she know this means she’ll be very, very busy for some time to come. In a surprise move, she even gets the title of major handed to her for Spring village, and for the villages after that. A bit surprising, would you give control over to a total stranger? But of course, YvoCaro never shies away from a challenge!

A mystical scene of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma where the player rides a long, white dragon through a vibrant, purple-tinted sky. Floating islands and a giant patterned red beam dominate the landscape, as the quest “Mushroom Appraisal” prompts the player to visit a floating mushroom island. Published on: LadiesGamers — Up in the skies, you can see the core of the Celestial Collapse

Eastern Inspired with a Strong Protagonist

You can choose how you want to play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. You can try for the difficult setting, the normal setting, or go for the story mode. This last one is easier, helping you focus on the storyline without frustration. Although I started on normal, I adjusted the setting to story mode after the first boss. I’m not very good at action-based fighting, and I’d only gotten through the first major fight by the skin of my teeth.

The tutorial is good. It fits in nicely while progressing the story, and it never felt annoying to be pulled out of the gameplay. New things are introduced constantly, and even after many hours of gameplay, new elements are still added.

The player Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma character stands in front of a small red shrine with another villager, flanked by burning torches. The game HUD shows the time, date, and village level, with a quest objective titled “Guardian's Grove Lumber Hunt.” Party member portraits are displayed on the left. Published on: LadiesGamers — Use the Dance of Bonds to pay your respect.

Quite a few elements stand out compared to the first five Rune Factory games. Azuma is an eastern-inspired region with architecture, fashion, and names influenced by Japanese culture. Most previous games are set in Western-style fantasy towns with medieval or rustic European influences.

You are an Earth Dancer, a special individual tasked with protecting Azuma’s elemental balance, restoring harmony with the help of Sacred Treasures. What I noticed is that you are a strong person; the other villagers depend on you as they feel you get things done. Not a character with amnesia who is helped to get back on their feet by the villagers, like in older Rune Factory games.

Managing the Village

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, you have to get busy with farming, rebuilding, and even reviving the gods themselves. In the earlier games, you had to do a lot yourself, until you could capture monsters and set them to work. This time, you only do some initial farming, but soon, people move back to the village. You can set them up to work in a range of jobs, such as working in the fields, taking care of mining, logging, or in shops. Each villager has special qualities, will deliver a certain amount of work, and will cost a certain amount of G to be fed.

A menu screen of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma showing villager details for a character named Kojiro, a logger from Summer Village. He’s depicted wearing an orange top and dark pink patterned hakama. Stats show his qualities as “Journeyman Smith” and “Hard Worker,” with daily upkeep listed. Published on: LadiesGamers — Managing your workforce

At first, you are happy with every potential worker coming through the gates, but eventually, you will have to manage the workforce to find the right balance. You also have to make sure they have enough tiles to sow seeds in. You don’t use a hoe to make those; instead, when you are in the building menu, Woolby can make them using red soil and rich soil, which in turn is made by weeds and withered grass.

You have to keep the villagers happy, and aside from offering ample housing, this can also be done by decorating the town, adding businesses and more. Crafting decorations is done by carpenter Takumi, but you have to provide the materials and the money. And of course, you need crafting recipes and cooking recipes too. You get recipes by awakening stone frogs and paying respect to shrines with the dance of Bonds.

A serene moment in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma where the party gathers beside a large frog statue wrapped in sacred rope, overlooking a lake. Yellow flowers dot the grass and trees sway under a bright blue sky. A quest prompt titled “Make Way for the Mikoshi Melee!” is visible. Published on: LadiesGamers — Wake up every frog to get nice recipes.

Instead of being a farming sim, this new Rune Factory game focuses more on managing the towns, the workers, and the satisfaction the inhabitants feel about being a part of your town. Even taking care of the animals you befriend is done by the villagers, and you can’t pet or brush them.

Some players might not like this change, but I really love it, tinkering with the revenues, happiness of villagers and levelling up the towns.

Romance and Friendship

True to the series, Guardians of Azuma also includes romance and friendship, with a full cast of voiced characters you can befriend or fall in love with. I like the way you can spend time with them and deepen the bond between you, not by running around the village together, but by choosing a topic you can discuss or by giving a gift. It costs a couple of minutes of your day, and you don’t actually witness what is discussed. But it’s an effective way to level up the friendship.

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, A character with pink hair and green eyes, wearing an elaborate kimono adorned with floral patterns and accessories, stands in front of a large tree with cherry blossoms. She says, “You are forgiven, Sakaki. I have seen and felt how dearly you care for this village.” Published on: LadiesGamers — The goddess of Spring

The characters are interesting, and I like the way you can put them in your team to explore outside in the countryside, thus bonding with them as well. In the fights with monsters, a good blend of attackers, defenders and healers is really very helpful.

Battles and Exploration

The fighting in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is more intricate than in earlier games. Most monsters outside of the villages are quite ferocious, and there are many of them to vanquish before you can move in. Fortunately, the party that you can gather around you is a big help; it’s not like you still have to do most of it on your own. While they got your back, you can cure the land of the blight and revive trees.

An action battle scene in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma where the player character and party members face a monstrous, glowing-eyed tree labeled “Cursed Tree Lv.15.” Bright green projectiles and effects fill the area, while the surroundings are dark and ominous with twisted trees and pink energy. Published on: LadiesGamers — The first boss battle

Combos are introduced, combinations using several buttons like the ZR button combined with X. Evasive moves that, when timed right, will stop time, briefly allowing you to deal more damage. As I mentioned, I’m never very good at mastering special evasive moves that stop time, or combos that deal extra damage. In story mode, the boss battles are doable, though, with the help of the Sacred Treasures, as they deal a lot of damage. Just be sure to stock up on plenty of meals that will replenish your HP or RP.

Exploration is a vital part of the game, and well fleshed out too. You’ll never be bored as there’s plenty to discover and fight. And once you unlock the ability to take to the skies, there’s even more to explore. Eventually, you can tame the wild monsters so you’ll have your own critters in a barn, being able to get their produce like eggs and milk. Cooking can be done at a campfire, or you can have certain villagers who will cook for you as long as you bring the materials.

A peaceful scenic view in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma labeled “Summer Village,” featuring a traditional Japanese-style structure on the right, rocky terrain in the foreground, and a distinct mountain rising in the distance under a cloudy sky. Lush greenery surrounds the area. Published on: LadiesGamers — Reviving Summer Village

You can pick up quests from the quest board or ask specific villagers if they have quests for you. The quests are your bread and butter: you can earn money, but also logs and other materials. Most importantly, weeds and withered grass. They can be hard to come by, and you need them to make field tiles.

At the end of the day the statistics show you how you are doing managing the villages: how much did you ship out, how much do the workers cost and more.

Visuals, Sound and More

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma features a soundtrack that is clearly inspired by Eastern tunes. The soundtrack adjusts to what you are doing in the game. Gentle, melodic tunes play while you explore your farm or village, and when you’re out in the wilds or exploring dungeons, the music shifts to more upbeat and adventurous themes. It’s never intrusive but always there in the background, enhancing the gameplay experience.

Surprisingly, the game is playable in English! It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play games like Rune Factory or Atelier in English spoken language, and I love it.

I like the game’s art style, once again completely different from earlier games that used anime-style visuals. Guardians of Azuma still shows us a colourful world, but the characters look more lifelike, complete with facial expressions. This makes for great vistas of the world of Azuma, too.

The player character in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma stands at the edge of a cliff during a stunning sunset, overlooking scattered rocky islands and lush plateaus surrounded by deep orange skies and purple sea. The interface shows party stats and quest progress titled “Dream Discussions.” Published on: LadiesGamers — What a beautiful vista, right?

The game plays well on the Switch OLED in handheld mode, and the button controls are intuitive. But if you don’t like them as they are, you can also change the controller mapping.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma takes inspiration from other games like the Atelier Ryza games. Boosting your skills, your weapons and the Sacred Treasures is done by unlocking them in a skill tree. Overall, it feels like a well rounded RPG.

Conclusion

Marvelous totally changed direction, and I can say I love it. They kept the essence of farming, exploring, and romance and put a new twist on all of it. Adding a management element into the mix by taking care of various villages and workers is brilliant; it takes away what can ultimately become a tedious chore. To me, the fighting is more difficult, but then I’m never a big fan of action fighting. But by adding story mode, it is very much doable.

There really is so much to tell about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, I could fill many pages detailing all there is to do in the game. For now, though, I’ll add my verdict to this review.

Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up