Lisa and I love farming games. Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, and any sort of game with a farming element usually catch my attention in one form or another. However, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin caught my attention in more than one regard. The developers provided a side-scrolling action game that also provides realistic rice farming mechanics? What sort of madness is this? Wonderful madness, that’s what.

In Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, you play as the titular heroine, a harvest goddess cast from her home in the Lofty realm with a mission. If she can clear the Isle of Demons (known as Hinoe Island) of its dark denizens, then she can return to her comfortable place in luxury back home. With her is a group of humans who stumbled into the Lofty Realm and now find themselves helping Sakuna.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin takes place in essentially two phases. You have the side-scrolling action combat and platforming section, and the farming simulation section. You explore parts of the island to collect ingredients and food for your small group of humans (and yourself), as well as trying to reach deeper into the island’s vast areas. At home, you engage in farming which is based on real rice farming processes. So much so, in fact, that when asked for a farming guide, the developers linked someone to real literature on rice farming techniques.

That’s right folks, you have to do things exactly as real rice farmers do. This means planting, weeding, keeping an eye on water levels, creating fertilizer, and a variety of other variables. The problem with this is it’s a little too realistic and there are no real tutorials that explain how to perfect these things. There are scrolls you can find that give you more information, but the farming is so realistic, that there is no “gamified” tutorial or solution to success.

In fact, since in-game seasons only last a few days, your first few years will likely be full of trial and error in order to figure out how to even properly farm. Sakuna will give you verbal cues sometimes, telling you that you planted things too close together or that the crop is looking good (or bad) but your guidance is minimal.

However, the reason the seasons are so short is that as a Harvest Goddess Sakuna levels up by harvesting a successful crop and turning it into rice. Rice and ingredients found in levels can also be used in meals. Sakuna has a Fullness meter (as well as a health bar) that must be filled in order for her to recover health in levels. In order to fill this, each in-game evening you can go to Myrthe, one of your human companions, and ask her to make a meal.

You can either choose what meals she makes by combining various sets of ingredients in a menu or you can let her decide what to make. Different dishes give you different stat bonuses for the duration of your fullness bar, so experimenting is important. Myrthe can also process certain foods, like meats, so they will not expire. Most ingredients will expire after a while so it is important that you process things when you are able.

Taking care of your companions in town and doing side quests for them, opens up ways for them to assist you further, such as allowing you to open a blacksmith shop or a tailor. Additionally, after a certain point, you can send them out to gather ingredients for you, in case you need something specific. The real tricky thing is managing the in-game day/night cycle.

If you are in a level when it becomes nighttime, enemies become stronger and you are unable to heal. Additionally, it becomes very difficult to see, which can be frustrating. The combat controls are pretty interesting though. You can assign skills that you obtain through leveling to your A button, with different directional inputs allowing more skills to be equipped.

You can also use Sakuna’s Divine Raiment as a sort of grapple, either latching on to walls for platforming purposes, or during combat to get behind an enemy or change your position. It is effective for dodging attacks or getting behind shields, but pay attention to any nearby spikes, otherwise it can be dangerous.

The combat can be a bit hard on the hands, due to the amount of button mashing. Also, the days could be a little longer, just for exploration’s sake. Each area on the island has different objectives you can (and should) complete in order to unlock new areas. Some areas may take multiple days to do, but when you leave an area the enemies will respawn, so it can be frustrating.

In reality, the time concept is the biggest issue in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. I truly believe that if the seasons were a little longer and the days were a little longer, the game might not be quite so tough. However, the realistic farming is a cool concept and it is fun, but it is a little too realistic. Without some gamified tutorials and guidance to make sure you are doing it right, it gets a bit frustrating.

All in All, I really like Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. There are a lot of progression systems and mechanics that are fun to play around with. The story and characters are well done, the voice acting is great, and above all the game is just good plain fun. Even with my issues with Sakuna’s adventure, I really think that it is worth the wait considering people (like myself) have followed this game for quite some time.

If you like farming and action, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a perfect experience to dip your feet into. The Switch version also lets you take Sakuna and her friends on the go, which is a great touch. While I don’t think this is a game that kids will resonate with, adults will likely enjoy accompanying Sakuna on her journey.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin was provided by XSEED Games for this review.

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Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

$39.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great Story and Characters
• Lots of Stuff to Do
• Voice Acting is Well Done

Cons

• Farming is a Little too Realistic