Rune Factory is a long-running farming and life sim that spun off from Harvest Moon, made unique by its helping of action RPG combat and progression. A game that could certainly wear the trending ‘cozy’ adjective, but with some sword-slashing thrills thrown in. With cozy whatever-sims all the rage right now, it kind of makes sense for publisher Marvelous to pull this 2010 Nintendo DS release from the back cupboard.
Armed with my Nintendo Switch OLED, featuring my display of choice for Nintendo DS remasters, I’ve been able to enjoy going hands-on with the first two hours of Rune Factory 3 Special’s story mode. Despite only being able to meet my neighbours and potential romantic interests during the ensuing lengthy tutorial, I’m pleased to say that there’s still something pure and unique that hopefully earns the ‘Special’ title on this release.
The first striking impression this game makes upon firing it up is how colourfully vibrant it is, and totally committed to its particularly idyllic fantasy anime aesthetic. From the opening anime cutscene to the menus and pre-rendered backgrounds, there is colour and art on display that adequately smooths over the technical limitations of the DS original. This is also helped by the 3D models of the characters having been redone for this release, which are looking suitably sharp.
Romantic interest is but one of the many seeds sown in Rune Factory 3 Special
Considering the hubbub around the previous release’s visual hitches in Rune Factory 5‘s switch to full 3D, returning to the beautifully painted top-down world the series had previously preferred is something of a revelation. No other cozy farming sims are doing idyllic anime aesthetics that pop this well on the Switch’s OLED. I wish I could say that with a straight face, but this is becoming an increasingly crowded genre with plenty of small teams throwing big ideas into the fray. Nevertheless, Rune Factory still kind of nails the formula that later cozy-centric developers have iterated on.
Once the player has named and birth-dated their androgynous little guy, the red-haired Shara introduces herself as the welcoming committee. She inducts the player with a series of conversations and quizzes to tailor the player’s introductory experience. This is neat and has your character speaking with each of the main personalities around the small town hub. Each character stands out mostly by their hair colour, the defining feature that floats about the minimap as they go about their day (should you need to identify somebody on the run, which you will).
Your purpose in this game is to become the caretaker of the enormous tree that sits at the head of this fantasy town. It is called the Sharance Tree and it is celebrated by the townsfolk, but it has fallen into a bit of disrepair. You are responsible for weeding the soil in front of the tree, cleaning up the farm area and revitalising it for profit and influence.
The characters themselves don’t leave too much of an impression as especially deep and thoughtful but have a notable key quirk to define them. As you go about this early quest of speaking to each townsperson and having them introduce some tutorial that ties into the service and system they provide, you must first track them down. Sure, it seems obvious that the vendor for the weapons shop should be residing and operating within the said shop. But these denizens have their own schedules, wants and needs, and may decide to dash across town at a moment’s notice. The ensuing hustle and bustle of characters across the town gave these early two hours a sense of dynamism and preoccupation that I felt was more gradual and infrequent in other life sims like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley.
The first combat encounter has goblin fellas trying to run amok on your unkempt farm
The big twist of Rune Factory, and what really separates it from its parent series Harvest Moon, is the combat. Although the town and its habitable god-tree are safe areas, the surrounding wilderness outside the town is home to all manner of monsters that can be slain for profit and character advancement. I didn’t get far enough in my preview to see how this fares outside of a single combat tutorial, but if the combat controls like the farming, then I may be a little apprehensive.
The farming, arguably the core loop that will occupy the main routine of the player’s daily grind in this game, felt a little wonky to me. Mind you, the original game came out some 13 years ago, but I struggled with being able to get my little dude to commit actions in the correct spaces. Items such as crops often sit atop one another without any shading or image texture to reflect precisely which part of the ground it is hovering above. Grabbed objects are always taken into hand rather than immediately stored, which might seem minor at first, but it means there are additional, unnecessary steps involved in acquiring, discarding, and generally managing the large influx of inventory that these games generally involve. In short, I feel there are some quality-of-life considerations missing here that might make the routine grind of this title just a tad more tedious than it needs to be.
Grindy though this game may be, it at least seeks to reward every single action the player can possibly take during their time in this world. Whether it is sleeping, walking, toiling or perhaps even talking, a little level-up text dings above the player’s head. Having not played the original game, I’m not yet sure how rewarding these skill advancements will be, but the steady dopamine drip is nevertheless appreciated.
Naruto running is the preferred method of travel for these folks. It’s hilarious to behold.
So after two brief hours razzing myself up as the hot new bachelor in town, I’m nevertheless pleased to be playing Rune Factory 3 in 2023. It looks terrific in all but the dinky little item graphics which don’t quite fit with the aesthetic of the world they awkwardly sit upon. Its characters are always on the run and seemingly living interesting lives in this lovely little world. While I have only seen my first few seeds blossom and I’m yet to see how the combat fares, my brief brush with the title has inspired me to get into its garden come spring time, with a release set for September 5 for Nintendo Switch and Steam.
Previewed on Nintendo Switch // Preview code supplied by publisher
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Rune Factory 3 Special launches on September 5 on Nintendo Switch and PC.
