Normal town revitalisation games make you focus on the well-being of one town. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma takes that idea and runs with it, putting you in charge of four villages that need help. The land has been ravaged by corruption, ruining the environment and creating dangerous beasts. It’s up to you as the Earth Dancer to become the chief of all four villages and restore prosperity for all.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma expands on the typical franchise formula by adding several improvements that make the game come alive. Restoring villages through farming and development genuinely feels like a team effort instead of a one-person job. It does take considerable time for the game to get started, and the story does feel repetitive at times. But Rune Factory has never felt better, and it’s a step in the right direction for the series.

As with all RPGs, you start as an amnesiac protagonist, who in this instance has forgotten about their Earth Dancer duties. After being taken into the Spring Village, they do their best to help out, but can’t stop the land from dying. People are leaving for even a sliver of a better life elsewhere. But after reuniting with their supposed partner, the protagonist gains the power to revitalise their surroundings. They must travel to four villages and restore the land’s prosperity before it’s too late.

The amnesia feels overdone, but I enjoyed being an Earth Dancer. You take on a more proactive role in developing your farm and fighting, but with a bigger purpose. The land is corrupted, and you are the only one who can save the four villages. But it’s not like people have given up; they just don’t know what to do. You are the figurehead who masters their powers to give the villages a fighting chance for survival. Once you start, everyone else chips in to make their home better.

Rune Factory’s cast is always large, and Guardians of Azuma is no exception. You have several options for friendship and romance regardless of the gender you pick. As you develop your relationship, you can take on special quests and even recruit characters on your adventure. It gives the cast more meaning than simply being eye-candy to look at; everyone has a chance to shine. I also liked how it made you feel that you aren’t alone and the villagers will help you any way they can.

This also ties into the dominant Japanese influence throughout the game. You use traditional dances and instruments to restore the land. Goddesses are a key part of life and gain their power from the well-being of their environment. Building designs are inspired by medieval Japan. Festivals, hot springs, and cherry blossom trees are a welcome sight. I felt it created an authentic experience where culture plays a role in the story instead of being an afterthought.

This makes the experience more immersive than before because it doesn’t feel like a one-man adventure. I liked having the villagers take a proactive role in revitalising their home because it felt like a team effort. While I was still in charge of gathering resources, fighting monsters, and going on adventures, the village was utilising those efforts. They manned the stores I created and tended to the crops that I planted. It gave me a new appreciation for my efforts that I haven’t seen in other games.

Having four villages to help sounds like a lot, but it also gives you more variety. They also have different specialties that you can use to benefit the others. For example, the Summer Village gives you the power of fire that lets you burn down corrupted plants affecting every region. There’s a good incentive to nurture each village and actually pay attention to their problems. You aren’t just managing a farm but are providing for people’s livelihoods.

Combat also has more variety thanks to an open world to explore. You must pay attention to your surroundings from a 360-degree angle, utilising various tools and weapons to defeat enemies. Weapons have different strengths and weaknesses, letting you develop a combat style that works. It’s also a bit more than a hack-and-slash; some enemies have certain weaknesses that make you think tactically.

I liked the depth of the combat as it made me think about the next steps. Instead of swinging at enemies, I would pay attention to their positions and figure out the best way to win. If I made the wrong choice, I’d retreat to regroup and consider something else before going back. I also couldn’t neglect ranged combat and would often get into firefights. Combat felt more alive and enjoyable as a result, even though most of the fundamentals remain the same.

As strong as the game is, it does have an overly long introduction. It feels like you are constantly on a tutorial until you leave Spring Village. While the game does open up, it doesn’t let you become truly independent until that point. That did stall my enjoyment since I wasn’t able to truly manage my own schedule or decide what I could do. It pays off, but it feels like the tutorial could be shorter to let you interact with the world sooner.

The story also feels repetitive as you travel to the villages and help them out. It’s almost as if you are dropped into the same situation with strangers, and you must constantly reintroduce yourself. While this is understandable for story purposes, you would think word of your efforts would have spread. Instead, it feels like the same song-and-dance, and I thought it hampered the game’s potential.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma greatly improves the series formula, and it shows. I enjoyed my time with the game and loved helping the villages rediscover their prosperity. It wasn’t perfect, but the flaws didn’t stand out in the long run. Once the game opened up, I truly felt like I was the Earth Dancer helping to bring balance to the world. It’s never been more fun to help out a village, and the immersive experience nailed every aspect.