Games World

Review: Rune Factory 5 – A Dependable Old Farmhand That Could Use A Spruce Up

Finally back in season.

Farm sim games are rather difficult to mess up. Give players a welcoming town full of friendly residents, a field that they can till to make ridiculous sums of money, and a few side activities like fishing or mining to fill in any gaps, and you’ve pretty much got the basics covered. Rune Factory games have always nailed all these elements, but they’ve built their reputation on how they throw in other gameplay elements like exploration and combat to bring things more in line with a typical RPG. The good news is that Rune Factory 5 meets expectations and does everything its predecessors did. The bad news is that it pretty much only does what its predecessors did.

The story picks up with your nameless protagonist blowing into the town of Rigbarth and quickly joining the ranks of SEED, an elite military unit that maintains peace in the region. Trouble is brewing as people have begun disappearing and you’re told that the rune energy flowing from sacred places is weakening, so of course the local captain deems this mysterious stranger as the best person to solve the problem. Aided by supportive friends and allies, you thus set out on an adventure to get to the bottom of what’s been causing all the ruckus and maybe learn something about your veiled past. We appreciate the attempt to give Rune Factory 5 a little more of a story than is featured in the typical farm sim, but it must be said that a ‘fate of the world’ plot like this feels a little out of place.

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