Rune Factory 5 Review

An amnesiac from an unknown location wakes up in a new town and instantly becomes a farmer with duties to a town they instantly become loyal to. Sounds unique, right? ...Right?

Rune Factory 5 is a farming simulator and role-playing game hybrid with optional dating and marriage elements. For those unfamiliar with the series, Rune Factory 5 serves as the fifth mainline entry in Rune Factory, a spin-off of the Story of Seasons series that was formerly known as Harvest Moon (but that’s a long story for another time). Each game in the Story of Seasons and first Harvest Moon (there is a very fun legal explanation I cannot go through, but there are now two Harvest Moon series — kinda) franchise has a focus on farming and social interaction, and Rune Factory is not an exception. The sub-series is known for mixing the standard Story of Seasons gameplay with fantasy RPG elements, such as raising monsters that the player captures instead of the standard cow and chicken, all of which Rune Factory 5 does perfectly. That’s part of the problem.

While there is definitely safety in sticking to a formula perfected over the course of at least five games (there are spin-offs of the spin-off, after all), Rune Factory 5 falls flat due to its inability to provide something new and refreshing to the player. This is incredibly disappointing when taking into account that the last game in the series, Rune Factory 4, was originally released in 2012. There has been little innovation in the series and it is extremely disappointing that when given an entire decade since the last entry to change or possibly create new gameplay elements, nothing new has been done... with the exception of gay marriage. That’s pretty cool, not gonna lie.

With that poor segue, let’s talk about the romance. While each marriage candidate is dateable regardless of gender — something that I love as a queer person — romance is... weird. An issue with many games in Rune Factory is the odd age range of the player’s dating pool. Rune Factory 5 is no exception, with many of the dateable characters looking and even acting like children, while other candidates for marriage can look and act much older than the player character. It’s a system that lacks consistency and can make an adult player feel uncomfortable. Two examples that immediately come to mind are the extremely young-seeming Fuuka and the older gentleman known as Lucas.

Fuuka is a rather young-looking wolf-girl who does not speak the nation’s language, instead communicating through barks and growls. This is especially odd when you consider that the other furries — sorry, “were-animals” — speak the player’s language. She is constantly on the search for shiny things and often has childish statements and impulses. When she is not playing, she is quite literally on the floor working for the extremely attractive but undateable adult Elsje. If I’m extremely honest, her character is at the very least an accidental romanticisation of second-language learners and foreigners. At worst, this is literally a furry child who cannot communicate well and is somehow more comparable to Pluto the dog than Goofy when it comes to the town’s interactions with her. She, quite honestly, should not be a candidate for marriage.

Of course, with quite the statement there, I have to keep in mind “what if the target demographic for this game is younger and Fuuka is within a respectable age range for romance?” And that may well be possible (ignoring literally every other issue with her character), as Rune Factory 5 has a PEGI-12 rating. But then what is the deal with characters like Lucas?

The antithesis of Fuuka, Lucas is an older man with a posh accent, a missing memory, and the possible powers of a god. His long grey hair and light beard imply that he is very much an adult man, unlike many of the marriage candidates. Honestly, I rather enjoy his personality. He’s definitely not my favourite person in the game, but he’s charming in his own right. So what exactly is my problem with this older gentleman? It’s really weird to be able to date him while also being able to date Fuuka and every other young-looking character (and there are quite a few). Characters like Cecil, Lucy, and the aforementioned Fuuka make the dating pool extremely awkward with older characters such as Murakumo (best boy, by the way), Ludmila, and Lucas.

Actually, I should say that characters such as Murakumo, Ludmila, and the aforementioned Lucas make the dating pool awkward, as the majority of datable characters look less-than-adult. Characters Reinhard, Beatrice, Scarlett, Martin, Priscilla, and Ryker all toe that very fine line between adult and teen. This is common in many games and there is no real issue with it, but it does make the six characters that don’t toe this line stand out a lot, which is literally why I’m bringing it up. It also goes beyond art style because it has been proven that this game can make some very attractive adults, many of whom aren’t able to be courted. Characters Simone, Elsje, Misasagi, and Terry (whom I found out wasn’t an option after I started throwing my eggs in that basket, ugh) immediately come to mind because I can’t date them but I really, really, really want to. It’s a huge bummer and an even more significant missed opportunity.

Beyond my grief with Rune Factory 5's dating and marriage candidates, the game is fine. It is a standard farming simulator and action RPG combination with dating elements. Unfortunately, there’s just not much to say. Farming involves maintaining the land, planting seeds, and waiting around seven to 14 in-game days to harvest the crop. Fighting monsters is pretty self-explanatory and raising them is honestly underwhelming and didn’t add much to the game for me. Social interaction with all the characters, aside from all the issues mentioned above, is very bland, as most characters are one-dimensional and don’t offer much. Same-sex marriage is a great touch but is also literally the bare minimum and should be included in most dating-related games at this point. It’s also worth mentioning that the original Japanese release of Rune Factory 5 did not include this feature, as it was added for the worldwide release. The feature was eventually patched in, however.

Overall, Rune Factory 5 is a good-looking game that plays well and meets all of the goals the developer, Marvelous Inc., set. However, it does not do nearly enough to stand out from other farming simulators and adds nothing to both the series and the genre.