Rune Factory 5 (PC) review

Farming and fighting feel different as Rune Factory 5’s shifts into the third dimension. While this port fixes quite a few of the visual blemishes of the original game, pastoral life still has a number of lingering issues.

It’s been a decade since the last mainline entry in the Rune Factory franchise was released for the Nintendo 3DS. Across the last ten years, the world has changed significantly. Hardware has advanced considerably, and platforms like the Steam Deck have provided unprecedented capabilities for a portable product. Series developer Neverland (Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, Record of Lodoss War) ceased operations in 2013, putting the future of Rune Factory in jeopardy. And while the farming sim had a small but dedicated following in 2012, games like Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, Summer in Mara have propelled the genre into mainstream popularity.

But like a perennial plant, Rune Factory has blossomed once more. Longtime series producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto established a new studio named Hakama in 2018. Employing key members from Neverland’s former staff, the upstart has maintained the time-honored blend of farming, fighting, and finding a life-partner. But this time out, Rune Factory 5 rendered its rustic tranquility in three dimensions, which produced quite a few changes.

Visual Purists, Beware

Upon its release last March, the Nintendo Switch struggled with running Rune Factory 5. Framerates sputtered when exiting a structure or whenever performing a dash to evade a monster. But the problem wasn’t just cosmetic. When swapping your watering can for a sword, fights with bosses were inundated by slowdown. Even attempting to speak with an NPC during a festival overburdened the Switch’s hardware. Occasionally, townsfolk appeared to phase out of existence, which tarnished the sense of involvement encouraged by a 3D world.

When Rune Factory 4 was released, Hashimoto explained that the game was designed to run at sixty frames per second, with every button press prompting an immediate reaction from the on-screen character. That wasn’t the case on Switch and tending to your crops felt fiddly. Largely, much of that will be remedied on even a modest rig, and we were able to get consistent 60fps fluidity on a RTX 2060 Max-Q running at 1080p. On a beefier machine, the game deliver 4K output while striving to maintain a 120 frames-per-second. Intermittently, the game’s cell-shaded visuals are attractive enough to make forget that this is a Switch port.

But then there are nagging reminders that the game wasn’t built from the group up for PC. When the game’s camera zooms in on a character, there’s an odd shader issue that constantly changes the lighting on faces. Collision detection is missing with interacting with NPCs, resulting in immersion-breaking clipping. Then, there’s the crashes, which happen with worrisome regularity. Rune Factory 5 doesn’t auto-save, but it’s instability will train you into recording your progress every few minutes. The port offers a pre-game launcher that allows for different display and graphical adjustments. Oddly, key remapping isn’t offering at the time of this writing. That’s a shame because the title makes some peculiar default selections.

Go Ask Ares or Alice

That said, there is still plenty to enjoy- if you can get past the instability of the current build. Like previous entries, you’re thrust into the world as an amnesiac protagonist. After selecting a gender (Ares or Alice), you’re given a brief taste of the action to come, as you save a young girl named Hina from the perils just outside the quaint town of Rigbarth.

But soon, the game reveals a bit more narrative substance than its predecessors, as you’re recruited into SEED, a local task force former to fight the growing pestilence plaguing the town.  Sure, the stranger who falls into the role of savior is a cliché in gaming. But it manages to instill incentive into Rune Factory 5, beyond the common activities of farming and finding a soulmate. No longer is getting wealthy or hitched the main goals. Now, you’re expected to be a protector, which feels rather refreshing for the franchise.

Protip: In bed by 1:00 AM, Just like College

The game’s dozen male, female, and even animal hybrid suitors offer an improvement over the bachelors and bachelorettes of the past. Some, like Beatrice cater to those who appreciate the challenge of getting to know a standoffish partner, while Murakumo is hulky werewolf who runs the local inn, so you’ll be chatting with him frequently. Yes, you’ll still woo them with trinkets and small talk. But the game’s enlarged culinary activities will have you preparing homemade dumplings and Glitter Snapper to fuel your prospective partner’s passions. This time out, you’re free to pair with any gender, providing additional longevity. Yes, after four-five hours courting a slightly tsundere princess, I had to catch that wolfman. Awooo!

The best part is that dialog isn’t limited to interactions with potential spouses. NPCs in Rune Factory 5 extend comical quips instead of just transactional small talk. Similarly, many of the game’s item descriptions are referential or offer playful puns. After scouring through drab descriptors in countless role-playing games, I’d like to raise a toast to XSEED’s localization team.

By the Power of the Rune!

As with any Rune Factory title, your virtual days are filled with a multitude of tasks to chase after. At the beginning of the game, you’re given a small section of your own farmland, two handfuls of seeds, and a water canister to chase after their agricultural ambitions. Agreeably, many of the customary policies have been revised, allowing you to try to grow any crop at any time of year. Now, the emphasis is on quality and yield, injecting a bit of intricacy into farming.

One major benefit brought by the move to 3D is found in Rune Factory 5’s dungeons. Yes, these venues are often too small but the shift in perspective allows the game to shroud its contraptions. As such, there’s a sense of exploration rather than just navigation as you fight monsters and solve light puzzles. While you can monster-hunt for resources, ethical farmers might want to tame monsters. Do this and they’ll drop the items you would usually obtain by killing them.

Cultivation is Better Than Combat

But that’s not say combat is remarkable. Disappointingly, you’ll be hammering the same button or key as you exterminate enemies. While fighting subordinates is relatively painless, higher-level monsters are trickier and habitually attack you from off-screen. Given they can effectively one-shot you (if help isn’t on standby), Rune Factory goads you into grinding.

On the upside, nearly every activity you do will improve your skills. As Rigbarth is a rather spread-out realm with lots of unused spaces, you’ll likely level your walking skills quickly. If Alice or Ares is loquacious, you’re bound to be found more attractive by others. Given the autonomous nature of the game, rewards for completing a multitude of tasks tend to prod players to tackle new undertakings. You’ll also learn that fighting alone probably isn’t the best tactic. Bringing in a few tamed monsters or friends tends to get the job done, allowing you to play the role of medic, if you’d like.

And that’s the thing that I hope always is part of Rune Factory; it’s always fulfilling to play it your own way. Except you’ll have to play it in 3D. Hakama is imposing that requirement, for better and for worse.

Rune Factory 5 was played on PC with
review code provided by the publisher.