typical Western-style Rune Factory locale, which is struggling in the wake of a cataclysmic event called the Celestial Collapse - the crash of a large object into the world which split it apart. Now, a lack of runes and a threat called Blight have turned Azuma into a barren husk of what it once was, and it’s up to the player and their newfound powers to restore it.

I was able to spend about two hours with Guardians of Azuma, and several changes were evident right away. While the title does keep the same blend of combat, relationship building, and farming, there’s also a heavier emphasis than ever before on large-scale village building. There’s also a bigger focus on the overall emotional impact of relationships - every cutscene is fully voice-acted, and there’s the most romance candidates of any Rune Factory, with 16 total. Players have the choice between a male and female protagonist, and the character not chosen becomes romanceable as well, another franchise first.

Waking Up In Rune Factory's Azuma

An Amnesiac Adventure, As Is Tradition

The first portion of the hands-on preview started at the beginning of the game, with my chosen protagonist waking up in a tea house bedroom following a mysterious dream about dragon riding and a fight with an unknown foe. According to Iroha, the sweet tea house proprietress, I’d been there half a year after randomly crashing through the roof one day. The tea house is one of the last remaining active businesses in the Spring Village, home to a once-great cherry blossom tree that’s now begun to rot and wither.

The next day, following a dream about the spring goddess Ululaka, wherein she sought my help repairing the village, I awoke to a Wooly named Woolby on top of me who’d appointed himself my new partner. I was then given a magical drum, which introduced the new mechanic of Kamiwaza - as an Earth Dancer, players can utilize divine tools to enhance the world and their combat in a myriad of ways. Once bestowed my instrument, I wandered around performing drum dances to revitalize the village trees, culminating in reviving the aforementioned cherry blossom tree.

Utilizing Kamiwaza requires RP, which slowly refills over time and can be sped up with certain foods. The more divine instruments are used, the more they’ll be able to do via experience put into a skill tree. In just my bit of time reviving the village flora, I was able to unlock the Shockwave move, which allows the drum to be hit during combat in order to stagger enemies.

Combat In Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma

The Same Fighting Fans Know With Some New Weaponry & Techniques

My first taste of fighting came next, which in many ways felt similar to the combat in previous titles like Rune Factory 5 - it’s fast and fluid, with an emphasis on dodging and powered-up attacks. Tasked with finding a missing carpenter who was last seen traveling to an abandoned shrine, my short sword and I set off through the woods, taking down bunches of red oni and chicken enemies that hindered our journey. Like in past games, monster barriers often form during these fights, necessitating players take down all enemies before they can proceed.

Guardians of Azuma brings back the mechanic of a perfect dodge, an expertly-timed move that allows players to completely avoid damage and briefly stagger an enemy when performed correctly. Instead of weapons needing to have their Stun stat raised through upgrades, bigger enemies - like the abandoned shrine’s boss Mezuki - have a stun gauge. Once hit a certain number of times, monsters will be temporarily incapacitated, leaving a window for a barrage of attacks. The tutorial stated some bosses also have exploitable elemental weaknesses, but it’s not something I experienced first-hand.

As relationships rise, players will be able to recruit friends with different abilities into their fighting party, but at this early stage I was adventuring solo. At the end of my mission, I was given a bow - a first-time weapon for the series - to utilize on future journeys. It’s one of two new ranged pieces being added to the franchise alongside talismans, the latter of which I didn’t get to utilize, but seems to be a kind of long-range magical weapon.

Farming & Town Building In Guardians Of Azuma

It Really Does Take A Village

The first preview section also went over farming basics, which look a bit different this time. Players will now shift into the entirely new Village Builder Mode and utilize the TerraTiller in dedicated development zones. This tool helps clear out debris, leaving room for Woolby to be called in to place plantable terrain tiles. Outside of it being a separate mode, planting, watering, harvesting, and shipping crops works much as it always has, but this time Kamiwaza also comes into play. The same drum dance can be used to make crops grow faster, as well as revive withered ones.

The world is not only new in the sense that it’s a never-before-seen region, but also in the way it functions, with separate villages - which players are largely responsible for - with outside dungeons scattered throughout versus a single hub.

However, the Village Builder Mode goes far beyond farming, and is an overall integral part of player progress. In the second part of the preview, I was transported to the Autumn Village a bit later in the game to learn all about village building. Loaded with a slew of crafting supplies and cash, I traveled to the carpenter to acquire a myriad of buildings and decor. This included everything from homes, businesses, carts, mills, and distilleries, to tanuki statues, pagodas, stones, bridges, and wells that could be placed in development areas.

Management goes far beyond just placing structures - there’s a summary screen where players can see stats like the level of each of the four villages, as well as all inhabitants. The villager menu shows the special stats of each one, like the burly trait that enhances logging and mining output, as well as their current job; they can have these roles switched between things like resource collection or manning any of the placed businesses. The village itself can be leveled up through achievements like improving the scenic score, and leveling up unlocks new building recipes and moves in more people.

Relationships In Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma

Romancing Characters & Building Bonds

The final portion of my journey took me to a sort of romantic crossroads, loading to a save point where I could pursue a relationship-building quest for tea house proprietress Iroha or swordsman Murasame. I didn’t have time to complete both, and opted to finish out Murasame’s since he actually called our outing a date. In some ways, this relationship event did feel reminiscent of ones in past games - like many, it was a simple excursion during which more of the swordsman’s backstory and motivations were revealed that moved our relationship forward incrementally.

However, this instance felt a lot more immersive than previous games, largely due to the inclusion of full-voice acting. The overall change in perspective, from the typical top-down or portrait-based conversations of the past, to a more up-close scene approach where characters move throughout in third-person, also made a big difference. Even though it was a fairly simple sequence about gathering chestnuts, the scene felt more meaningful and the characters seemed more alive, a change which will no doubt behoove the overall emotional impact of the game’s narrative.

Rune Factory: Guardians Of Azuma Is Shaping Up Nicely

A New World, Fresh Faces, & Rejuvenated Aesthetic With The Same Foundations

Guardians of Azuma is a very interesting spin-off in the way it manages to hybridize its core Rune Factory foundations with new ideas. The world is not only new in the sense that it’s a never-before-seen region, but also in the way it functions, with separate villages - which players are largely responsible for - with outside dungeons scattered throughout versus a single hub. The presentation prior to the hands-on emphasized that this entry is more focused on exploration, and will include environmental puzzles throughout to keep things engaging.

Though some comparisons have been made between Genshin Impact and Guardians when it comes to graphics style, I think the choice to make a spin-off also look different aesthetically is a strong one. Especially considering village building is so important, it makes sense that the appearance of the world would in turn be updated. It aligns well with the overall aim of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, shifting focus in some areas while still maintaining the core facets like fluid combat and relationship building to create a new kind of experience for fans that I’m personally quite looking forward to.

ScreenRant attended a special event for the purpose of this preview.