Many people who use gaming to unwind flock towards the cosier side of the hobby, and what’s cosier than farming. There have been games about living off the land and growing crops since before I was born, and even now in 2025 they’re as popular as ever. Whether you planted your first seed in Harvest Moon on the Gameboy, got swept away by Stardew Valley, or are a wild and crazy Ooblets fan like me, you’ll share an appreciation for farm management. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the latest in a long line of Rune Factory games, that leans a lot harder into fantasy swordplay than tilling fields.
In a land shattered into pieces by a big disaster, your role in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is that of an Earth Dancer. Admittedly you only find this out because of a dream about dragons, but it’s a dream that will change your life together. With the power of magical tools from season-based gods you can restore the world back to a more fruitful crop filled place, so you’re sent on a mission to rebuild civilisation one turnip at a time. It’s a very familiar anime style story, but one that’s charming enough and features plenty of friendly faces.
After a lot of chatting with the villagers of the starting spring time settlement, you’ll start to learn the ins and outs of life in Guardians of Azuma. You’ll get used to sweeping up piles of leaves and picking plants. You’ll place squares of soil where you can plant your first turnips, and you’ll water those crops until they can be harvested and sold. It probably sounds like a totally normal setup for a slow paced and relaxing farming game, but it’s actually anything but.
You see, with the power of your flowery drum you can instantly grow crops at the push of a button. Gone are the days of waiting weeks for a harvest, instead you just use a bit of god magic and your veggies will be ripe and ready to sell. You don’t have to worry about switching tools either, there are just context sensitive buttons to press to water or harvest a square you’re standing next to. Each square will even grow four crops at once with one seed packet, and this all adds up to some seriously fast-paced farming that doesn’t require you to put the hours of effort in.
Instead you’ll be able to spend the bulk of your time in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma out exploring the world. With monsters, resources and secrets crammed into every corner of the map, there is so much to keep you busy outside of the village. Combat with enemies is fast paced and frenetic, with various unlockable special attacks, weapon types, and a whole lot of dodging. It’s never really overly challenging, but it still feels good to unleash charged attacks and flaming arrows on the Oni that are wandering the land.
After you’ve gathered a whole load of bits and bobs from the world, it’s time to use them to improve your village. Not content with just featuring farming, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma allows you to build a whole damn village. Houses can be built to add more people to the community, shops can be built to raise more money, and decorations can be placed to pretty the place up a bit. Everything you build will also boost your character’s stats, which is a great way to get stronger.
Pretty much everything you do in Guardians of Azuma will grant you some experience, which can be spent in a whole load of different skill trees. These contain even more stat boosts, as well as special abilities to unlock. With everything from cooking, sword proficiency and even social skills to upgrade, you’ll be able to improve yourself regardless of how you want to live your life as an Earth Dancer.
However you have your fun in Rune Factory, you’ll make plenty of friends along the way. By chatting about various subjects, taking trips out into the wilderness together or exchanging birthday gifts, you’ll increase a bond level with the other villagers who live alongside you. There are romance options for those looking to start a family and settle down, as well as festivals to attend together for some good old fashioned fun. It’s typical life sim stuff you’ll have seen before, but that doesn’t make your friendships any less special.
As well as key characters you can get to know as you progress the story, there are also regular people who’ll move into your flourishing village. These less charismatic members of society are particularly useful because you can task them with doing your chores for you, ensuring that you have more time for dates and boss fights. After only a couple of hours I had villagers doing all my farming, chopping up wood, and mining boulders to make my life easier, and I was more than happy to let them.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a seriously compelling life sim, and I’ve only scratched the surface of its scope here. There are dozens of islands you’ll be able to explore on your dragon once the game opens up, as well as different seasonal villages to help. Exploring various statues and shrines will also unlock countless recipes you can use to improve your life, be they food recipes you can use to make nutritious snacks or blueprints on how to craft a new bench. Alongside hundreds of side requests, optional objectives and a sizable story you never get a chance to tire of Guardians of Azuma.
This entry in the Rune Factory series is exactly what I want from a game like this, but long term fans will possibly struggle with how little farming and life sim time management you really need to bother with. Others more excited by the combat may find that a little basic too, especially because of the lack of challenge.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will ruffle a few farming feathers, but those who want a hefty chunk of action with their life sims will love it. With flashy combat, fast paced farming, and so many ways to improve your stats, Guardians of Azuma is a seriously compelling game that kept my attention from start to finish.