## 2025-06-22 **Guardians of Azuma** is better than **Rune Factory 5**. Not a high bar to clear, if you know anything about this series, but an important one. It feels like Marvelous finally figured out 3D development, which is great! Now whether you like the game personally depends on what you seek from these sorts of games. Any **Rune Factory** game that’s unnumbered is usually pretty experimental, and **Azuma** is no exception. It’s barely a farming game; instead it focuses on town building and management, akin to **Dark Cloud**[^1], and the relationship-building that’s par for the course with these sorts of games. That second aspect is heavily expanded, though — you can take characters on dates and whatnot, which is pretty cute. The cast so far has been fun and engaging, with the pervy old man trope being the only extremly exhausting exception. Plus as you grow your relationships with most of the cast, they get stronger or make you get stronger when you go out and fight on the field. Combat in **Azuma** is smoother than **RF5**’s as well. It’s not breaking new ground in any way, but it’s satisfying, especially because enemies drop a bunch of loot that you can use. And I think that’s the thing that’s most important about **Rune Factory**. Whether it’s farming, town-building, relationship-building, or a mix of the three, I come to these games so that I can enjoy an addictive and satisfying loop, where each mechanic serves the next, simiilar to [[Yakuza and the Joy of Gratification|Yakuza]] and [[Fantasy Life i - The Girl Who Steals Time]]. And I absolutely get that out of **Azuma**. If that sounds like your speed, definitely check it out. [^1]: Or **Dark Chronicle** if ya nasty[^2] [^2]: British