Rune Factory 5 is a Good Game that Needed More Development Time

Game: Rune Factory 5

Developer: Hakama Inc.

Publishers: Marvelous, XSEED Games

Platforms: Nintendo Switch and PC

Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch

Released on: March 22, 2022

Introduction

Rune Factory 5 is a game that I thought would never be made. The previous game in the series released in 2012, and I have played it numerous times. When Rune Factory 5 was announced I knew I had to purchase it when it came out.

Story

I think that the story was decent. There were a lot of story elements that I guessed. The story also felt like it was too short. I didn’t dislike, I just thought it was okay. For those new to the Rune Factory Series, you don’t need to play the previous games to understand the story. It has a standalone story from the others. Just like you can understand the story of Rune Factory 4 without playing the previous ones. There are some references you might miss, but that’s about it.

Game Play

Game Play is fairly simple. You start out with quests that serve as a tutorial so that you can learn to play to the game. After that there is usually a main scenario mission that you are assigned. There is never a timetable for these main missions. You can complete them whenever you feel like doing them. Though delaying them will prevent you from accessing certain things. There are also side quests that you can do.

You have the freedom to do want you want, though some areas can’t be accessed as previously mentioned.. You can fight monsters in dungeons, or focus on your farm. Learning new recipients and crafting new items is also something that you can do. There are several tutorials at the beginning to help people new to the series.

Unfortunately Rune Factory 5 suffers from performance issues which I fully explain in the Dislike section.

Music

Honestly I had to listen back through the OST. The only songs I can remember are the town theme and the opening. Other than those, I couldn’t remember anything else.

Likes

Dungeons felt more dungeon like, at least to me. I like the graphical improvements from the other entries in the series. I also liked that they expanded the number of party members that you can have.

Dislikes

One of the glaring issues with Rune Factory 5 is the performance. Every time you leave a building the frames tank. This is an issue throughout the entire game. I think this is inexcusable as this is an issue that anyone play testing would have noticed. It’s something that is glaringly obvious and happens at the very start of the game. I usually don’t bring up technical issues unless it is something like this that impacts game play.

After updates it appears as though this issue does not happen as often, but it still occurs. This was an issue that occurred when the game was released. I am unsure of when this issue was addressed as when I finished the game, there were no other updates.

Another thing that I disliked was the length. The game honestly felt way too short. I remember in Rune Factory 4 spending at least 3 or 4 in game years to finish the story. In Rune Factory 5 I finished the main story in the first in game year.

Other Thoughts

One huge part of this game is crafting. One issue that I ran into was having to look up what enemies drop certain items because there is no way to do that in game. It made it difficult to make items when you had no idea where to get the specific material. I think going forward the Rune Factory series would benefit from some kind of log that has enemies, their drops, and locations.

Conclusion

Rune Factory 5 is enjoyable for what it is, but could have been better if it had been released later. I think Rune Factory 4 was better. I think that the story was a little better and the game kept me playing for quite some time. I’m probably not buying any new releases until Soul Hackers 2 in August. As always thanks for reading!

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