It is no secret to many on the PG staff, but Lisa and I are large fans of the Harvest Moon series, as well as Stardew Valley. Sometimes, when you no longer have the urge to slay demons and monsters, the simple farming life is fun and relaxing for a nice change of pace. However, the Rune Factory franchise allows both play-styles to flourish. Wanna go delve in a dungeon? You can. Want to farm the day away, or even romance a villager by giving them your produce? You can do that too.

Rune Factory 4 Special, is a remastered version of Rune Factory 4, which originally released on the Nintendo 3DS back in October of 2013 in North America. I will admit that I don’t have a large amount of experience with the Rune Factory franchise, aside from playing the first one years ago, and having a hard time with the time management aspect of it.

For those that are uninitiated, the idea of Rune Factory is a marriage of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons franchises, and RPG concepts such as leveling systems, skills, combat, and dungeon exploration. It is a step forward from Stardew Valley, which contained combat in the mines, but doesn’t include dungeon-crawling per se.

The premise of Rune Factory 4 is deceptively simple. Your protagonist (male or female) is on an airship to deliver something to the town of Selphia. They are attacked on the way, and fall off the airship, landing in Selphia, but losing their memory (and the item they were carrying) in the process. So, you are given the duties of the local prince/princess, and are in charge of developing the town, running your own farm, and dealing with people’s requests.

The game seems simple at first glance, but it is actually fairly complex. Aside from the farming mechanics, which are mostly what you’d expect from a Harvest Moon-esque title, there are some differences that you might want to make note of. For example, Rune Factory has a progression system that involves leveling up. By doing any number of actions, from farming, mining, fighting with different weapon types, and even things like eating and sleeping, you gain levels in different skills.

This is important, because these levels improve your base stats, particularly your HP and RP, known as Rune Points, which classify similarly to your stamina. RP is required to do everything, from mining, to farming, to even fishing. The good part about this system though, is that as you raise those skills, they take less RP, so after a while, your tools don’t take much stamina to use at all.

Resource management is at the forefront of this game, much like any title in the franchise. You have to make sure you are growing crops, cooking food, using your time wisely, and monitoring your RP and health. Otherwise, you can get yourself into a variety of problems and issues.

It is also important to know that unlike most Harvest Moon games, in Rune Factory 4, crops don’t wither from season to season. Some crops grow better (or worse) in certain seasons, but you have no fear of losing your crops on the first day of a new season.

In addition to typical Harvest Moon mainstays, like befriending villagers and romancing them, you can also tame monsters who will either assist on your farm, or accompany you on adventures. You can also have certain villagers accompany you on adventures, but their assistance is limited, as they have to return home at a certain time of day (usually around 9 PM.)

Monsters on the other hand, will follow you as long as you want, though sometimes companion monsters and characters can get in your way while you are doing your everyday chores and tasks. Your monster friends will also drop items in your Monster Barns, allowing you to get things like furs and other things that you can use for crafting.

Crafting is also a big part of Rune Factory 4, allowing you to do everything from crafting medicine, to cooking food, and making weapons and armor. This is where the secondary progression system comes in.

By doing quests, completing story milestones, and doing a variety of other things like exploration, you can acquire Princess Points. These points allow you to further develop your town. You want to make sure you have plenty of festivals to bring in tourists, so that your Princess Rank goes up. Additionally, as you unlock shops and various other services, your tourist numbers will rise.

If you use Princess Points to take license exams, you can craft a variety of things, and you can purchase new crafting workstations. Some of these are obvious, like the knife, the pot, and the frying pan. Others are a bit more outside of the box, like the crafting table which lets you both upgrade and craft armor and accessories.

You can also do things like mining, fishing, and gathering, all of which takes time, but can be lucrative if you learn to use your time wisely. Staying well rounded is important, since some days crafting might be more useful for your time than adventuring, especially if you’re at a tough spot and need to upgrade.

The amount of things to do in Rune Factory 4 Special is immense, and it is even bigger when you learn that there is a new “Newlywed Mode” which can be accessed from the main menu. It allows you to experience a special scenario with any character you have married in a playthrough. This special edition of the game also has a more challenging “Hell” difficulty for veterans of the series.

I don’t even have much to complain about with this game really. The controls can be somewhat difficult to get used to, but other than that, my only complaint is the one I mentioned previously about companions getting in the way.

In this trying time, when people are stuck at home, this is the perfect sort of gaming experience for people who want something a little more low-key. I hope that with the recent announcement of Rune Factory 5 in Japan, that we see it come to the Switch in the west as well.

If you’re a fan of the franchise, or a newcomer that wants to try something new, this entry in the franchise is a great game to take on the go, or to play at home while we’re all stuck inside. The combat is fun, the storyline is great, and who doesn’t love a good farming adventure? This is perfect for Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley fans too.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Rune Factory 4 Special was provided by XSEED Games for this Review

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Rune Factory 4 Special

$39.99 USD

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Fun, Beautiful Visuals
• Lots of things to do
• Great progression systems
• Great crafting and farming mechanics
• Super fun combat

Cons

• Companions can get in the way
• Controls Can be Clunky