It’s that time of year again! The Lords are at PAX East once again, and we are covering multiple exciting announcements, reveals, and more. One of the many exciting games at the show is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Playing through the two-part 30-minute demo at the XSEED/Marvelous USA booth, here are my impressions on the upcoming action/RPG adventure.
What is Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?
Inspired by folklore and history, Rune Factory‘s latest installment explores the eastern country of Azuma, fighting against the corruption spreading throughout the land to bring hope back to this once-prosperous land.
Players are tasked with repairing villages across Azuma while fighting through dungeons using the power of dance, sacred instruments, and more.
The Celestial Collapse—a calamity caused by a colossal object crashing into the eastern lands known as Azuma. The devastating impact sent fragments of terrain to the skies above and the seas below. With the earth shattered, the power provided by the runes ceased to flow. The gods of nature vanished soon after. Mountains crumbled and fields withered, leaving the people with nothing…not even hope.
You awaken, startled by a dream of dueling dragons. You don’t remember how or why, but a voice resonates within you.
“Accept the power of an Earth Dancer. Use this power to save the land.”
A Sharpened Blade – Combat/Dungeon Demo
The PAX East demo offered two experiences: a combat-focused and a village-building demo.
Beginning my session with the combat demo, I played as the female protagonist as I ran through the demo effortlessly, fighting through monsters. Combat controls felt great, alternating between two sets of standard weapons (with the option to switch your load-outs at any time).
I was also given access to several of the Sacred Instruments, offering unique combat skills and abilities to help with item gathering and exploration. One example is a water umbrella. This dealt heavy water damage to enemies and allowed me to glide in the air.
Party members are AI-controlled, assisting in battles and helping keep focus on the action, not micromanaging my team. However, they did chime in from time to time during and after battles, giving them additional character.
After fighting some basic enemies, I encountered the boss fight, a sizable creature. I easily took them down and was guided by the Marvelous USA/XSEED PR person to leave the cave dungeon. Upon leaving the dungeon, I could explore the game’s open world.
This was where my passive skills and exploration abilities with the Sacred Instruments came in handy, especially with the Water Umbrella helping me cross large canyons. While exploration doesn’t have the options of a Breath of the Wild, it felt great to run around and explore.
A Quiet Life – Townbuilding Demo
Combat and dungeon crawling are critical pieces of the Rune Factory gameplay flow. In addition, there is a major town-building element to the experience.
The second demo focused squarely on this, opting to play as the male protagonist for this session. The game’s farming and town-building controls are easy to grasp.
Using a mixture of a top-down and third-person perspective, I could easily clean up patches of land, build different styles of land (rich soil for crops and waterways, etc), and use the Sacred Instrument.
The biggest aspect of this demo was how I effortlessly wrapped my head around all the deep mechanics. Building patches of land and making the ‘right’ foundation for your town sounds complex on paper. Yet, even a newbie to the Rune Factory series not only figured out how everything worked, but also had a lot of fun doing so.
Nintendo Switch 2 players can leverage full support for the Mouse controls, making the building process even more streamlined and in line with the PC version of the title.
A Wonderful Life – Closing Thoughts on Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
I walked away from my time with the demos eager to play the full release. Between an enjoyable combat system, the promise of deep social elements, engaging village-building mechanics, and more, I can’t wait to play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.
The game will release for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on June 5th. Stay tuned for future updates on Rune Factory! And look forward to additional PAX East coverage here at Lords of Gaming!
