Action RPG/farming sim Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma from Marvelous and XSEED Games is ready to go on Nintendo Switch 2. Learn more about it in our Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma review!
Action RPG/farming sim Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma from Marvelous and XSEED Games is ready to go on Nintendo Switch 2. The game places you in the role of an Earth Dancer as you set out on a journey to the titular Eastern land of Azuma, a territory that hadn’t been explored in the Rune Factory franchise until now! As you can tell from the trailer and screens in this Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma review, the land of Azuma draws inspiration from Japanese culture. That means you’ll run into things such as festivals, monsters, and items based on Japanese elements that feel very traditional.
Azuma has certainly seen better days. The once thriving and joyful land is now in ruins, and it was all because of the Celestial Collapse. This was a calamity caused by a colossal object that crashed into the land of Azuma, with the impact sending fragments of terrain to the skies above and the seas below. The earth was shattered, and the power of the runes stopped flowing freely. The gods of nature vanished soon after this. It’s been nearly 50 years since the Celestial Collapse, and it’s now up to you to bring back hope to the people of Azuma. The Black Dragon is spreading corruption through the land, and you must put a stop to it before there’s no turning back.
You can play through Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma in one of three difficulty settings: Story, Balanced, and Hard. If you go with the Story difficulty setting, then you’ll be able to focus on the game’s plot since battles will be much easier to complete. The Balanced difficulty setting offers the standard experience with a challenge that will test your skills without making you feel overwhelmed. As for the Hard difficulty setting, it will throw stronger enemies at you that will punish you with attacks that deal more damage, so you better be ready for it!
Once you have selected between the male and female character options and your name and birthday, you’ll be ready to dive into this new adventure. You’ll be taking control of your character with the left analog stick as you use the right analog stick for the camera. You can use your weapon to attack by pressing the Y button. Jump by pressing the B button. Dodge incoming attacks by pressing the R button. You’ll need to be on high alert during combat so that you can avoid receiving any damage that could put your life in jeopardy. Use the L button to open up the Sacred Treasure ring, and then choose one with the right analog stick.
Interact with other characters or items by pressing the A button as needed. Aim with your bow by pressing the ZL button, and shoot arrows by pressing the ZR button. Swap weapons by pressing left on the D-Pad. Open up your inventory by pressing up on the D-Pad so that you can make the most of the items that you collect. You’ll have a minimap available to you to check your surroundings, and you can also open up the full map by pressing the – button. Zoom in on the minimap by pressing right on the D-Pad. And if you’re ever feeling lost, you’ll be able to open up the Camp Menu with the + button and check the Adventure Log for some tips.
You’ll be working on completing main quests and sidequests as you make your way through Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. You can track quests from the corresponding menu so that you can know what it is that you need to do and what it is that needs to be done. You’ll be eased into this right after waking up since Iroha will ask that you use the broom she’s kindly given you to help sweep away. This main quest is called Morning Chores, and you’ll need to sweep the leaves five times. In case you’re wondering, Iroha is the cheerful owner of the teahouse at Spring Village. You can learn more about the characters that you meet by visiting the profiles section of the menu.
Always be sure to interact with save statues so that you can save your progress. This will be crucial if you’re defeated and must reload a save to give it another go. You can also sleep to restore your hit points (HP) and rune points (RP). HP is related to your health, which will dictate how much damage you can take before being defeated. RP are used for special abilities. You can use items to recover both, but do know that RP will also recover automatically over time. If you stay up too late, you’ll end up falling asleep, which will gradually drain your HP until you eventually end up falling unconscious. You’ll need both to take on the monsters that are out to get you!
The different villages that you’ll visit need to be restored and rebuilt to their former glory. People have walked away from the villages since many of the trees have dried up, monsters are turning up in droves, and the flora and fauna are decaying. This is why you will need to not only farm but also use your abilities to construct and place buildings to lure people back. You’ll also be working on bringing back the power of the ancient gods that used to protect each of the villages. There’s Ulalaka, the kind and god of spring and merriment; Matsuri, the god of summer and swords; Kurama, the god of autumn and the wind; Fubuki, the wolf god of winter and water; and Kanata, the god of light and heavens.
Since this one is a Rune Factory game, that means you’ll need to make good use fo your green thumb to work on the different crops that you’ll be taking care of. Along with preparing the field and planting seeds, you’ll also need to water your fields daily or they won’t grow. Neglect them long enough, and they could end up whitering away! Watering your crops won’t take much of your time, and is an integral part of the gameplay loop. You should also use the Drum Dance to help crows and trees grow faster. Do know that the Drum Dance will only work on each target once per day. You can also use it to revive whitered crops.
You can work on unlocking nodes in the Skill Trees to learn new techinques as well as to boost your overall stat values. You’ll be doing this by spending experience points (XP) earned during your adventure as you perform a variety of actions. Take, for example, the Drum Dance in the Sacred Treasures Skill Tree. You can unlock the Shockwave node by spending 15 XP. What this will due is make it so that performing the Drum Dance generates a shockwave that can send enemies flying. Go to the Short Swords Skill Tree and spend 16 XP to unlock the charge attack, which will allow you to lunge forward with a dramatic horizontal slash, or spend 10 HP to unlock the Max HP Up I node to boost your overall max HP by 3.
Action RPG/farming sim Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is worth checking out on Nintendo Switch 2. The game places you in the role of an Earth Dancer as you set out on a journey to the titular Eastern land of Azuma, a territory that hadn’t been explored in the Rune Factory franchise until now! As you can tell from the trailer and screens in this Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma review, the land of Azuma draws inspiration from Japanese culture. That means you’ll run into things such as festivals, monsters, and items based on Japanese elements that feel very traditional. Azuma has certainly seen better days. The once thriving and joyful land is now in ruins, and it was all because of the Celestial Collapse.
This was a calamity caused by a colossal object that crashed into the land of Azuma, with the impact sending fragments of terrain to the skies above and the seas below. The earth was shattered, and the power of the runes stopped flowing freely. The gods of nature vanished soon after this. It’s been nearly 50 years since the Celestial Collapse, and it’s now up to you to bring back hope to the people of Azuma. The Black Dragon is spreading corruption through the land, and you must put a stop to it before there’s no turning back. You won’t be doing this on your own and will soon find yourself leading a party of would-be-heroes ready to do some good in this bleak world.
The game features voice acting in English, which was a pleasant surprise since, nowadays, many games with voice acting only have Japanese voice actors. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is out on Nintendo Switch 2 with a $69.99 price tag. If you own the Nintendo Switch version, you can get the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack for $10.00 to, well, upgrade your game to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. You can also get some DLC for the game with the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma – Digital Deluxe DLC Set for $19.99, which includes the following:
– Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma – Seasons of Love Bundle
– Pilika’s Bonding Stories
– Cuilang’s Bonding Stories
– Marvelous Swimsuit Bundle (a swimsuit costume for each protagonist and romance candidate)
– Festive Attire – Subaru
– Festive Attire – Kaguya
– Dark Woolby Costume
You could also go all-in and get the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma – Super Digital Deluxe DLC Set for $19.99, which will get you all of the above, as well as the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Digital Art Book and Soundtrack.
Disclaimer
This Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma review is based on a Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by Marvelous.
