The Rune Factory series has truly come into its own with its most recent releases. Once a spin-off of the Harvest Moon series, the Rune Factory games are a bizarre combination of life sim and action RPG, which sounds like it shouldn’t work but remarkably does. When not tending to crops or bonding with villagers, the player is off experiencing the overarching story as they cut through dungeons filled with cute and scary monsters alike.
The series is ever-evolving. Each iteration adds new mechanics and quality of life improvements that ensure the series is always taking at least one step forward, even when one or two games may take a step back.
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny changes quite a bit of the series’ established formula. The farming system was completely revamped, putting most of the work on the player’s tamed monsters instead of the player, meaning what crops are planted and how well they grow rests on the shoulders of the monsters; the player simply plants seeds and harvests the crops. Mining was also given a similar change, where the types of ore the player can mine are determined by the monsters living in their barn.
This change ultimately harmed the game’s reception, as many long-time fans were disappointed by the lack of proper farming. Meanwhile, the lack of proper farming pushed the game’s combat to the forefront, which is something newcomers to the series found equally underwhelming.
7 Rune Factory 5 Was A Rough But Appreciated Return For The Series (68)
Rune Factory 5 was the series’ triumphant return after years without a truly new installment. Unfortunately, the game received mixed fanfare upon its release. The most common problem gamers had with the game was its performance issues, which have improved since the game’s release but are still present nonetheless.
Beyond the performance issues, many found the small town of Rigbarth not small enough, while others had issues controlling the camera. The game’s graphics were also a sore spot for some players. However, despite its many flaws, players had fun with Rune Factory 5, so the series’ charm wasn’t lost with its newest outing.
6 Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Is A Long Game And Perhaps Too Long For Its Own Good (77)
The second game of the series, Rune Factory 2, tried to do things differently from the first installment. The biggest of these changes came in making the story a generational one, where the player takes on the roles of father and child in the game’s two-story arcs. Unfortunately, the implementation of the two generations isn’t handled in the best way. The first generation of the game is incredibly slow as players aren’t able to access the dungeons or discover more about the story until generation two.
Even after the generations change and the main story fully kicks into gear, the numerous dungeons are littered with age-old tactics to artificially pad the game and make it longer than it is. While Rune Factory 2 has many good ideas, they generally miss the mark in execution.
5 Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvestmoon Is A Classic Example Of ‘If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It’ (77)
Despite its name, Rune Factory 3 is actually the fourth game in the series, and in being number four comes with the looming threat of a series becoming stale. Yet, seemingly despite this, Rune Factory 3 is generally well-received. Many praised its small quality of life improvements and declared that the series’ formula shines bright in this installment.
Many others have also praised the combat system for becoming more dynamic and interesting, likely thanks to a new ability that allows the player to transform into a monster. On top of all that, the many villagers have been given more charm and personality, rounding out a successful and familiar game.
4 Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Was A Surprising Hit For Its Day (78)
The game that started it all, Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon was a unique outing both for the developer, Neverland, and for the Nintendo DS itself. Many praised the different direction the game took from the main series of Harvest Moon games.
Despite the novelty of the game for its time, the series has evolved beyond what its foundational installment can provide, and many find that newer players to the series will find the first Rune Factory a jarring and somewhat clunky experience without the many quality of life changes made in later installments. The missing improvements are also quite noticeable, as this is easily one of the more difficult games in the series, though not necessarily for the right reasons.
3 Rune Factory 4 Is A Step Above Its Predecessors (78)
For the longest time, Rune Factory 4 was the newest game in the series until Rune Factory 5 was released. In addition to numerous quality of life improvements, Rune Factory 4 improved the villagers by making them more dynamic. It added depth to the crafting mechanics, included town events, and even placed the player in charge of the entire town of Selphia.
With several other improvements besides these, many found Rune Factory 4 the best in the series. Despite the many improvements to the life sim mechanics and a more refined story, Rune Factory 4’s one sticking point was how it didn’t do much to update the combat.
2 Rune Factory Frontier Added Manageable Complexity And Depth (79)
Released for the Wii shortly after Rune Factory 2, Rune Factory: Frontier is the only game in the series that’s a direct sequel to a previous game. Picking up one year after the first Rune Factory, this installment is largely praised for increasing the level of complexity and depth over its two predecessors, but in a way that was manageable for players and allowed them to adventure at their own pace. It’s also praised for avoiding the padding pitfalls of Rune Factory 2, making the gameplay of Frontier more meaningful.
The only thing that holds Frontier back is an infamous system fans have dubbed “the Runey system.” Runeys are tiny nature spirits that give life to farms and fields, and while they appear in every Rune Factory game, Frontier integrates them into the actual gameplay. Players have to preserve the Runeys in their fields, and if all the Runeys die out, crops will barely grow, if at all. While it sounds interesting, the Runeys died far too quickly, making the process frustrating.
1 Rune Factory 4 Special Takes The Most Successful Game And Adds A Cherry On Top (81)
A special edition rerelease for the Nintendo Switch and the holder of the highest Metacritic score in the series, Rune Factory 4 Special takes everything great about the previous version and adds to it. The game’s graphics were given a noticeable improvement with the jump from the 3DS to the Switch, and two new game modes were added that presented side stories for the player to experience.
While Rune Factory 4 Special didn’t receive any major changes or overhauls, many felt it didn’t need them because what was added to the game was more than enough to improve its already excellent quality.
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