Rune Factory 5 Review - Comfortable And Familiar
Does having the ability to build a barn and fill it with sheep, cows, and flying fish make a game great? Not necessarily, but it’s definitely a highlight. Ten years since the triumph that was Rune Factory 4, the prospect of a new game to sink hundreds of hours into is compelling.
The gameplay loop in Rune Factory 5 is pretty simple, but that’s to the game’s credit. You have a farm to manage, which involves buying seeds, planting and watering crops, and ensuring that your soil is healthy. It’s the standard fare when it comes to farming sims, but Rune Factory has perfected it. Outside of the farming, there’s a pretty extensive world to explore. The town of Rigbarth is full of neighbours to get to know, there are tons of items to craft, and three vast areas full of monsters and dungeons to explore. You will always have something to do.
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There’s a pretty basic storyline, too. The player character wakes up in a forest one day and is immediately thrust into a battle to save a young girl. And yes, the player character has amnesia - that old chestnut. You’re quickly recruited into an organisation called SEED, staffed by rangers who deal with everything from monster outbreaks to the food supply - hence the justification for handing you a farm right off the bat.
The narrative moves along at a pretty leisurely pace, gradually unlocking new dungeons to take on and bosses to fight as you hit particular plot beats. The stakes never feel incredibly high, and that’s a positive - you don’t play Rune Factory for intense stories full of intrigue; you play it for the farm simulation, the characters, and the grinding.
The combat, and therefore a large part of the grinding, has
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