Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

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Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Developer(s)	Marvelous
Publisher(s)	JP: Marvelous NA: Marvelous USA EU: Marvelous Europe
Series	Rune Factory
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch 2 Windows
Release	June 5, 2025
Genre(s)	Role-playing, simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma^[a] is a 2025 role-playing simulation game developed and by Marvelous. It is part of the Rune Factory series and was released for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Windows.

Guardians of Azuma blends elements of farming, dungeon crawling, and life simulation. Players assume the role of an "Earth Dancer," utilizing the power of dance, sacred treasures, and weapons like bows and talismans to combat a corruption known as the Blight. The game introduces a guardian spirit system, where elemental spirits assist the player in both combat and farming activities.^{[1][non-primary source needed]}

Players can engage in activities such as cultivating crops, raising monsters, crafting, and developing relationships with local NPCs. The game features expanded social interactions, allowing players to befriend or romance any of the eligible candidates in fully voiced scenarios. Additionally, players can recruit these characters to aid in battles.^{[1][non-primary source needed]}

The game is set in the fantasy region of Azuma, a mountainous territory inspired by traditional Japanese aesthetics. Azuma is divided into seasonal zones, each with its own unique environment and festivals. The story centers around restoring balance to the region by forming bonds with guardian spirits and uncovering the mysteries of the past, following a calamity known as the Celestial Collapse.^{[1][non-primary source needed]}

The player, as one of the two main characters: Subaru or Kaguya (their names can be changed), rides a white dragon to engage a black dragon that their friend, the other main character that the player did not choose, is riding on. Following the fight, the player falls and crash-lands in a dragon shrine in the Spring Village, one of the villages in Azuma. They reside in the shrine for half a year, having lost their memory in the fight. Azuma has been falling to disarray after the Celestial Collapse occurred, causing runes to stop flowing and people to leave the village. The player experiences a dream where a mysterious woman reveals that they are an Earth Dancer, a type of Earthmate, and gifts them with a drum-like object. They later meets Mokoshiro, a flying Wooly who is a descendant of a legendary dragon god Mihoshi Habaki; he is nicknamed Woolby by the player. The same black dragon from before attacks the village, but an airship commandeered by a treasure hunter named Mauro and an archeologist named Hina repels it with the player's help. To save the village's sacred tree, the player uses the drum that they got from the mysterious woman to revive it. The woman appears and reveals herself to be Ulalaka, one of Azuma's gods. The player helps restore her powers and later becomes the new village chief after the original chief steps down. After repairing the dragon shrine, the player performs a ritual to help Woolby regain his true form; he is the white dragon from the start of the story. At Ulalaka's request, the player travels to the other three seasonal towns to revive the other gods and save Azuma. As they visit the towns, they also experience similar dreams where the seasonal gods gift them with a new weapon and gives them advice on what to do to revive them.

In the Summer Village, the player locates the shrine where the summer god's weapon is, but discovers that it is stolen and searches for the thief, revealed to be a monster. After recovering and repairing the weapon, the player succeeds in reviving the summer god. In the Autumn Village, the player looks for the autumn god's missing mikoshi and takes part in a fighting festival to revive him, but this results in the god turning into a monster (due to him disapproving of the festival) that the player had to fight to pacify him. In the Winter Village, the player must defeat the winter god, who has transformed into a wolf monster, to return him to normal. During their time there, they also encounter a mysterious woman with blond hair. After a god is revived, the player becomes the new chief of the town that the god resides in. Once all the gods are revived, the player removes the first barrier around the epicenter, the area where the Celestial Collapse occurred. They then fight the Black Dragon and the other main character. After defeating them, they recognize the other main character before they retreat. The player must then help the gods fully regain their powers by completing tasks like befriending the townsfolks, taking part in festivals, doing farmwork, and solving problems. At one point, the player has a dream from their past where they learn of locations called Astral Shrines that they and the other main character (revealed to be their childhood friend) were sent to find and offer magical amulets to them to save Azuma. The player has a warrior named Murasame help locate one of them, to which he reveals that the shrines were built to honor Mihoshi. The player continues their search for the other shrines within Azuma with the help of other characters; however, some characters at first try to hinder the player's actions before eventually allying with them. For every shrine visited, the player experiences flashbacks of their past involving their friend. The last memory reveals that they formed a pact with Woolby, who sacrificed the player’s memory and half of their soul to make them an Earth Dancer while forming a pact between them, explaining their memory loss; the player deducts that their friend did the same with the black dragon.

Learning that killing the black dragon will also kill their childhood friend due to their pact, the player attempts to search the underworld with the help of Kai, the underworld god, to find out more about the dragon and a way to save their friend. They learn that the black dragon took Mihoshi's body to the underworld and it was given the power to absorb runes to destroy and recreate the lands, while Woolby guards Mihoshi’s heart and gives runes to the lands. Kai has the player get help from Kanata, the god who rules over the Heavenly Realm and the leader of the six gods, to help defeat the black dragon and free their childhood friend, but she is not willing to help them after revealing that it was she who caused the Celestial Collapse. The player throws a party with the help of the other gods to summon Kanata and bring her out of her depression. She explains that the reason why she caused the collapse is to revive Mihoshi and save Azuma, which is dying even before the incident occurred, but accidentally drained the land of runes. It turns out the object that crashed into Azuma is Mihoshi's heart. After some convincing, Kanata agrees to help remove the second barrier.

Once the barrier is down, the player defeats the black dragon and frees their friend with the help of Kai and Kanata, but their friend is mortally wounded by Clarice, the blond-haired woman from before, and her gang: the Dawnstar Trio. They are the leaders of a military organization called the Tagesanbruch, who seek to kill the six gods and conquer Azuma. The player escapes as their allies fight off the Dawnstar Trio. The player then has the option to summon the black dragon to save their dying friend, but it will come with a price that will cause the player’s stats or friendship levels to decrease or the loss of their wealth. Should they choose to sacrifice nothing or not summon the black dragon, their friend will perish. The player’s next goal is to activate the Holy Shrines in the land to keep the Tagesanbruch from reaching the epicenter until the gods recover, fighting Clarice and her accomplices along the way. During this, they gain the ability to shapeshift into a sheep-like monster called a Wooly to infiltrate the Tagesanbruch’s nearby base so they can speak to Clarice due to her having a soft side for Woolies. Through conversations with Clarice, Hina, and the gods, the player learns that the Tagesanbruch emerged from the fallen Sechs Empire, which is Clarice’s previous hometown, and that her family was murdered by the god Kamurosaki, the evil twin brother of the winter god, who is influencing Clarice for his own gain; her family’s deaths is the reason why Clarice bears a grudge against Azuma’s gods. The player undergoes training with Murasame and the summer god to strengthen their skills.

Once all the Holy Shrines are activated, the player helps Kai deal with a revolt in the underworld, but it is revealed to be a distraction to allow the Dawnstar Trio to obtain the Dragon Casket, a tomb that houses Mihoshi’s body hidden in the underworld, which will enable them to reach the epicenter and claim Mihoshi’s heart for their own means. The player arrives too late as Clarice has already escaped with the tomb, which is an aerial fortress, and pursues her to the epicenter. After defeating one of Clarice’s henchmen, the Hound, who is revealed to be Kamurosaki, they confront Clarice, who summons Mihoshi to destroy Azuma and recreate it as the new Sechs Empire under her own rule. The player manages to defeat Clarice and free her from Kamurosaki's curse, making Clarice finally see the error of her ways. The gods and the player's allies help them defeat Mihoshi and send him back to the afterlife, preventing Azuma's destruction. Afterwards, the group all celebrate at the Spring Village, with a reformed Clarice deciding to stay in Azuma. As with the previous games, the player is now free to do as they wish after the main story is complete.

Development of the game began in September 2021, following the release of Rune Factory 5. ^[2] Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma was officially announced during the Marvelous Games Showcase in May 2023, initially under the codename “Project Dragon.”^[3] It was originally meant to be released on May 30, 2025, but was delayed to June 5, 2025.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the game's blend of farming simulation and action RPG elements, as well as its engaging story and character development. Nintendo Life awarded the game a 9 out of 10, stating that it "manages to reinvent itself while still maintaining the bones that make the Rune Factory series feel like itself."^[6] RPG Fan gave it a 94 out of 100, calling it "the best series entry yet."^[7]

However, some reviewers noted shortcomings. RPG Site rated the game 6 out of 10, citing "boring dungeons and weak RPG progression tools" despite a "fun cast of characters and decent story."^[10] TechRaptor also gave it a 6 out of 10, mentioning that "despite character events being the best they've ever been, [the game] fails to offer much depth after its opening hours."^[11]

• Official website