Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Review

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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is Marvelous’ latest entry in the Rune Factory franchise. Released June 4, 2025, on Steam and Nintendo Switch, Guardians of Azuma is not a numbered entry in the series; rather, it’s somewhat of a spin-off story. If it’s a tangential tale, you would never know it from the quality of the game: everything from the familiar farming simulation to the NPC romance is just as good as its predecessors. Better, even, than some.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Summary

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma takes place after an event known as the Celestial Collapse, whereby all the gods in the eastern land of Azuma lost their powers and vanished one-by-one. The power of runes no longer flows through this devastated and fractured land, and it’s up to you as an Earth Dancer to restore things to what they once were—prosperous, safe, and filled with joy.

Part farming sim/community-builder, part action RPG, Guardians of Azuma offers tons to do to fill your time, a sweet and inspiring story, and a cast of characters I won’t soon forget.

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, you’ll get:

Farming, fishing, foraging, and resource collection/management
Combat-heavy exploration with different difficulty options and a party of 3+ helpful NPCs
Crafting and decorating across 4 distinct villages and biomes
Community management, assigning tasks and ensuring the population under your care is happy
Social sim elements of building relationship ties, participating in events and cutscenes, and even some romance
Voice cutscenes for major story events

My Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Experience

Hours played: 45+ hrs
Rolled credits: Yes
Coziness rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A lot of what you love about Rune Factory returns in Guardians of Azuma: farming and herding, resource gathering, crafting and building, exploration through the wilds, the occasional dungeon crawl, and a colorful cast of friendly NPCs. The game also adds just enough uniqueness to make it stand out from its predecessors while keeping the spirit of the franchise intact.

Guardians of Azuma far outpaces Rune Factory 5 in terms of quality. It seems like the developer has found a winning formula to take the famed franchise into the modern day. The setting, lightly based on Feudal Japan, is fresh and exciting. The story keeps familiar elements (amnesia, anyone?) but tries a ton of new things. Think: gods galore, multiple villages, islands in the sky, dragon riders, and even visits to the underworld.

Returning Rune Factory players will recognize the gameplay loop. Shift between cozy farming and community-building and cozy RPG dungeon exploration with combat. The combat feels great, and you can cycle between different weapons, tools, and abilities on-the-fly. It feels more strategic and dynamic than its predecessors in that way.

Using your sword, bow, and myriad divine tools gifted to you by the gods, there are limitless ways to approach each combat scenario. You can heal your party with the beat of a drum, or trap enemies in a cyclone of fire with your blazing blade. Summon water with your parasol to put out fires, smash rocks with the fists of an oni, and disperse fog with the wave of your fan.

When you are ready to rest for the night, you have a series of shrines as your stomping grounds. Sleep and shop at Spring Village, Summer Village, Autumn Village, or (you guessed it) Winter Village. You can build towns and farmland in each area, growing region-specific crops and trees.

And if you are feeling all farm sim’ed out, never fear. As your villages expand and improve, you can attract new residents and assign them chores. That’s right, you can offload work like gardening, fishing, and gathering and focus on whatever makes you tick instead. You could explore the outer world and banish areas of Blight. You could visit every floating island on the back of your partner dragon. You can sink your time into rich, detailed character quests that might even lead to romance.

The character storylines are probably some of the best in the franchise. Every key NPC has an exciting narrative journey, from selling your soul for strength to uncovering the meaning of humanity or simply trying to elevate a family business known locally for its famous dango. They are fully voice acted, too, which brings even more flavor to the already aromatic cast. A mix of cutscenes, combat, and fetch quests keep character arcs engaging. And you will eventually be able to declare your love for someone, if you’re feeling it.

You can date multiple people in Guardians of Azuma, no jealousy issues or tension. Once you agree to marry, however, all other dating statuses will revert back to platonic. The game lets you explore branching timelines, though, so you can marry different romance candidates without restarting your game. Which is great for those of us (me) who struggled to choose just one favorite.

Although I would happily replay Guardians of Azuma, just to experience the story again. Earthmate becomes “the Earth Dancer” in Azuma, where the Celestial Collapse left huge swathes of the world in disarray. The gods became weakened from the calamity, unable to fight back to protect their lands and people. Revitalizing each region can restore power to its deity, which is a task best handled by someone with a deep connection to the land. But there are dark forces at work trying to end the gods’ reign for good, and she goes by the Godslayer.

There are a few really satisfying narrative twists. Tons of downtime to build your villages how you like. Rewards around every corner for big explorers. And a cast of characters that bounce off one another so well, even filler scenes are a blast.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma proved to me that the franchise I love is finally ready to join us in the modern world of gaming. And I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Final Thoughts

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a life raft to cozy games who felt deeply let down by Rune Factory 5. The game is fresh where it needs to be fresh, familiar where it needs to be familiar. It’s an exciting, cozy adventure wrapped around a heartwarming story about self-sacrifice for the greater good.

Should you play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?

Yes, if you like farming sims with combat
Yes, if you are already a fan of the Rune Factory franchise
Yes, if you like community building and terrain design elements
No, if you skip cutscenes and dialogue
No, if you prefer games with no fighting

Stay cozy, gamers!

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