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I’m so glad Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is actually good. Not just good, but great. I was genuinely terrified after Rune Factory 5, considering the execution and certain design decisions. But the differences are immediately visible, and getting invested in the adventure highlights how different and daring it is. There’s so much to this new game, especially with the new village development options, and it finally feels like we have a worthy successor to Rune Factory 4. 

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma begins with a battle before the two protagonist options Kaguya and Subaru. The one you picked is riding on a white dragon, while the opposing one is on a blight-spreading black one. During the assault, our avatar falls off. They awake in the Spring Village with amnesia. However, even so, they know they are an Earth Dancer and, with the aid of a flying mascot creature that resembles a small Wooly with horns named Woolby, becomes the one person capable of reviving the lands’ gods, restoring the flow of Runes, and saving everyone from the blight. 

I don’t want to say too much more, as I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. However, I really appreciated how the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma story goes. Even though it involves the trademark amnesiac protagonist the series is known for, Marvelous tackled it in such a way that I appreciate the choices made and eventual reveals. It also got me more invested in the adventure, as I prioritized campaign quests over enjoying farming and socializing with the bachelors I might marry.

As in past Rune Factory games, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma involves a mixture of a farming life sim with romance paired with JRPG style gameplay and village management. When in a town, you can interact with characters to befriend and romance them, build up a village, and farm. In addition to bachelors and bachelorettes being folks you can talk to, add to your party for the action-RPG adventures, and marry, the certain important NPCs in each village can be befriended and brought along as an ally. In addition to giving gifts, you can level up your social skills in the skill tree to make options like talking about certain topics, getting meals together, and visiting specific locations means of building up affinity with folks. Farming involves creating the right types of terrain with Woolby, then placing it so you can grow crops suited to the season represented by that village. 

As for the village development, I’m amazed at how compelling it is. Initially, it’s rather freeform. You get a plot in each place for placing fields for planting crops, putting down buildings for businesses or new NPC villager homes, and decorations. However, these elements can improve your avatar’s stats! You get experience for each village for things like number of crops grown or decorative scores! Villagers may be better suited for certain tasks, making swapping ones between cities advantageous to fill gaps in other locations. When villages level up, you can get more space, new recipes, and the freedom to build more. Not to mention, terraforming and deg things so they look pretty is fun. I found myself taking breaks from the main story because of it. Will this quest give me more stuff to shove on this barren plot of land? It will? Hook me up. I’ll cause a mass extinction event for a new kind of lantern for the cafe theme that gives me 0.05% more RP.

However, I will say that sometimes it feels like that is the priority over farming. There are a decent selection of crops, and more open up as you explore areas and find rarer seeds. However the structure is such that farming and caring for monsters don't feel like the focus. Rather, it's often like something you set up and then allow visitors to handle while you take part in the JRPG elements in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.

When outside of a town, we find the action-RPG battles and open world exploration elements in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Upon heading into the field, there will be jizo statues to tidy up, holes you can roll onigiri into to satisfy a mysterious being’s hunger, targets to hit with your bow and arrow, treasures to find, blight-striken spots to purify with certain Sacred Treasures, frog statues to visit for recipes, shrines to check in at for weapon recipes, hidden hot spring baths, and of course monsters to fight or eventually tame. Rather than actual dungeons, major encounters can involve heading to specific points in the world and dealing with bosses you find there. We gain access to a number of different weapon types, such as varying sorts of swords, and ranged options include a bow and arrow or talismans. The Sacred Treasures from gods involve in-battle uses, as well as making areas able or accessible. And when it comes to boss fights, which are replayable, these larger foes require hitting weaknesses with the right weapons or Sacred Treasure elements to break their guard to do greater damage.

It’s all usually satisfying, especially when it comes to unlocking access to new areas and getting new recipes. Though in the case of the Switch version, there are some issues. The blight involving a fire-spitting flower does experience some frame rate issues when viewed from a distance. There are frame rate problems for some enemies. A few technical hiccups come up in battle as well. I also did experience an occasional bug with the dual blades ultimate that involved my avatar spinning in place for a minute before things automatically corrected, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s patched. I do wish the light platforming wasn't so frustrating though, as there are some times when, even after getting the correct abilities, reaching spots to get last hidden secrets isn't much fun due to the struggle to find footholds and get there.

Heading up into the sky on the back of that white dragon discussed early also involves even more exploration opportunities. These floating islands can involve additional interactions and experiences. That can mean more recipes and side quests. Except in this case, I feel like it made my Earth Dancer character feel special. We can head up there, journeying to these unknown places. We can gain additional rewards because of it. It adds an additional sense of weight and depth to the nature of Azuma. 

But what I really appreciated about the adventuring is both how well it ties in to the range of side quests we collect and the variations we can use when building up a party of characters. All Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma romance options and major NPC characters can be talked to and befriended. Upon hitting the first rank of friendship, they become potential allies. Each one is tied to a different archetype, such as attacker, buffer, debuffer, healer, or tank. So, for example, we initially have characters like the Attacker Murasame, the Tank Iroha, the Healer Mauro, and Iroha’s little sister Suzu, who is a er. I loved how the game encouraged us to talk to everyone, rewarding us with allies for doing so. And since the social options assign the same level of weight to certain interactions that cost us time in place of gifts, we can save those items to sell to maintain our villages. 

Because yes, villages involve maintenance. The management portion involves ensuring healthy populations, money to folks, and happiness. We’re incentivized to care about them due to the quality of life elements. Typically, new seeds and items come from beating enemies, gathering in the wild, and crafting. Building up towns and placing shops, as well as leveling, means gaining access to more seeds we can use, recipes, and development options. Having villagers assigned to jobs like farming, herding monsters, logging, fishing, and mining gets us resources when we get busy with quests or don’t feel like caring for animals and crops.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma restored my faith in the series, thanks to its ambitious sense of scope. There are a lot of tasks to balance in this life sim, farming game, and JRPG, and it feels like there’s much more to do than in past Rune Factory entries. But the same time, it doesn't feel like each of them carries the same weight, as farming can take a backseat to socializing, exploring, and simulation elements. Village management feels more important than farming and caring for livestock, and heading out into the world or sky to explore yields some of more valuable materials and experiences. Rune Factory 4 is my favorite entry in the series, and I think Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is close to being its equal in some ways.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will be available for the Switch, Switch 2, and PC on June 5, 2025. 

The post Review: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Is a Return to Form appeared first on Siliconera.

Back in January 2025, Marvelous confirmed Sakuna and Tama from Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin would appear in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and now there’s a full trailer for the free DLC. It turns out that, after we the add-on, she’ll appear as a villager and be able to seen around town or added to our party as an ally when adventuring. It will be available at launch.

The video begins with a close-up of Sakuna’s character model in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Then, we see her use some attack actions with her hoe. After that, we can see her with Tama in front of a house and some rice paddies. It is then that a player using the Subaru male avatar comes up to speak with her. 

After that, it confirms Sakuna won’t be confirmed to the village in-game. She’ll be considered one of the NPCs you can add to your party as an ally. She is an Attacker type unit, and of course her physical attack is stronger than her magical one. The footage of the menu shows her at level 20, and there’s more gameplay that highlights the height difference between the avatar and her.

Here’s the full Japanese trailer:

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will be available for the Switch, Switch 2, and PC on June 5, 2025, and the Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin free DLC will debut on that same day. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is available on the Switch, PS4, and PC. 

The post See the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Sakuna DLC appeared first on Siliconera.

A new system in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will allow players to use a technique to travel between worlds and timelines to pursue additional romance options with the bachelors and bachelorettes you can marry. You’ll be able to go to an "alternate future," where you have a new partner, all without losing any of your progress.

While Marvelous didn't update the English version of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma website yet to include the localized name of this mechanic, the Japanese name literally translates to “Technique to Travel Between Worlds.” With this feature, you can go to alternate timelines with a new partner, all without having to lose your current family, level, or inventory. You can travel freely between worlds, and each save data can have up to thirty different timelines. This gives you the opportunity to explore the twelve different romance options in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma without having to completely restart your progress or give up a current love affair with one of the other bachelors or bachelorettes.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the latest entry in the long-running Rune Factory series. This spin-off features a Japanese-inspired setting, and there are two protagonists you can choose from. The gender of your protagonist does limit romance options in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, as all love interests can be married regardless of your choice. Marvelous first revealed this game during the August 2024 Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase. 

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come out for the Nintendo Switch and WIndows PC via Steam on May 30, 2025.

The post Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Lets You Romance Multiple Characters appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous shared a new trailer for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma DLC introducing the bachelor Cuilang. The romance route for this bachelor can only be accessed by players who have acquired the the Seasons of Love DLC bundle. That adds him and Pilika.

Cuilang is a mechanical expert residing in Autumn Village in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. While Cuilang seems to be somewhat aloof and not a very social person, the villagers rely on him and he never turns away people requesting his help.

In the new clip shared, protagonist Kaguya approaches Cuilang at a shrine and asks if he’s the god of autumn. When Woolby talks, he seems to be surprised at meeting a talking Wooly, to which he asks if he's some sort of mechanical doll or puppet. The video ends with a glimpse at his romantic confession to the female version protagonist.

You can check out the Japanese trailer below.

Kengo Kawanishi voices Cuilang in the Japanese dub of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Kawanishi has previously voiced Miyamoto Iori in Fate/Samurai Remnant, Aventurine in Honkai Star Rail, and Soya Kawata and Nahoya Kawata in the anime adaptation of Tokyo Revengers.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come out on June 5, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC via Steam, and the DLC will add a bachelor and bachelorette. The release date was moved in order to coincide with the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.

The post See Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma DLC Bachelor Cuilang appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous shared a new statement on social media confirming that Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion, like the original game, will involve Bandai Namco Studio Sound Team working on the soundtrack. The team as a whole also shared a statement on the title and its goals for the music. The concept this time will play off “organic and inorganic” for the songs about the futuristic mech title. 

Here is the Bandai Namco Studios Sound Team statement about the Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion soundtrack:

“The Bandai Namco Studio Sound Team returned to create music for this title as well. We brought our varied strengths and experiences to the table to contribute to bringing this world and story to life.

Drawing from the concepts of ‘organic’ and ‘inorganic,’ the music incorporates rock, classical, and electronic sounds in tandem with more traditional and mysterious elements. It has been an exciting and enjoyable experience to work on this project while watching the gameplay develop into something more and more captivating every day.”

You can hear some of the Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion soundtrack in the first trailer, which came up during the April 2, 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Direct.

These aren’t the only recent development updates on the game. First, Marvelous shared a statement from Creator and Producer Kenichiro Tsukuda. That was followed by a note from Mechanical Concept Designer Shoji Kawamori. All of these are coming up on social media.

As a reminder, we did know about this sequel for quite a while ahead of its reappearance. Marvelous announced it in May 2023. More details then came up a year later in May 2024.

Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion will come to the Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on September 5, 2025. You can find the first game on the Switch and PC.

The post Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion Soundtrack by Bandai Namco Sound Team appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous announced that Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is slightly delayed in order to ensure the multiplatform game launches alongside the Switch 2 too, which means a new release date for every platform. It originally was going to appear on May 30, 2025. It now won’t show up until June 5, 2025. There will also be an Upgrade Pack, as well as an Earth Dancer Accessory Set limited edition.

Marvelous only revealed prices for certain items tied to the release. For example, we know the standard Switch and PC versions will cost $59.99. (Physical copies are the same price.) If you get the Digital Deluxe with DLC, that brings the price to $69.99. A Super Digital Deluxe with digital artbook and soundtrack in addition to the DLC packs, that’s $79.99. The standard Switch Earth Dancer Edition with a soundtrack consisting of 2 CDs, the art book, a fan, a Woolby keychain plush, and the DLC packs is $99.99. The newly revealed Earth Dancer Accessory Set gets you just the two CD soundtrack, art book, fan, and Woolby for $49.99.

Here’s how that Earth Dancer Accessory Set looks.

As for the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Switch 2 details following the adjusted release date, those are slim. We don’t know the price yet, so it is unknown if that version of the game will be more expensive. It is possible it will be, as the upgrade pack will be a paid addition. The price for that upgrade is unknown. However, that will add mouse controls, higher framerates, and higher resolution.

The new Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma release date is June 5, 2025, and it will come to the Switch, Switch 2, and PC. 

The post New Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Release Date Coincides With Switch 2 appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous opened pre-order product pages for the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Switch release, and we now get to see the pocket plush of the Suffolk sheep in the Edition. It is tradition for Bokujou no Monogatari games to include a stuffed animal of one of the pets or livestock you can raise in the game. This time around, it costs $49.99 for the version without any bonuses and $69.99 for the one with the sheep.

Right now, only the Switch pre-order pages are live. It isn’t possible to do so with the PC copy. On Steam, it is possible to wishlist that version of the game though.

For those unaware of the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar contents, here’s a closer look at what you get. In addition to a copy of the game, there’s the small Suffolk sheep plush. A cloth poster showing the two avatar options alongside all the romance options is in the box. So is an art book and a CD soundtrack. 

Here's the official photo showing everything:

It’s pretty much guaranteed that the edition of these Story of Seasons games includes a new pocket plush stuffed animal. A Wonderful Lifecame with a goat. Pioneers of Olive Townhad a buffalo with it. A Strawberry Cow could come with Friends of Mineral Town. 

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025, and it is possible to pre-order the console version now.

The post Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Pre-orders Open appeared first on Siliconera.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is coming back, giving us a chance to once again start a new life in Zephyr town and balance farming and selling. It’s been quite some time since it debuted on the DS as Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, and already a number of changes like new romance options and a glider appear. Siliconera spoke with Story of Seasons Manager Hikaru Nakano to learn more about what went into preparing this latest remake.

Jenni Lada: What Made you decide to return to Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar? 

Hikaru Nakano: Out of all of the titles in the Story of Seasons series, Grand Bazaar is one that is particularly characteristic or unique in the content that it has in the game. It’s also one that we think is quite easy to play as well. So it’s easy to pick up and enjoy for players. Those are the reasons that we decided to choose this title. 

But, looking at it from a wider lens, from the perspective of the player walking through the town and [by] the townsfolk, understanding their environment, and also interacting with animals, this was a title that we thought was good in those aspects in particular. So in our goal to make an easy to play and enjoyable experience for players that they can enjoy for a long time, we decided to go with Grand Bazaar.

Given this entry originally appeared on the Nintendo DS as Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, what challenges did you encounter when preparing Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar for new platforms like the Switch and PC? 

Nakano: Yes, we did face various difficulties when bringing the title from the DS to these modern Switch and PC platforms as well. In particular, all of the art and graphics on the DS were in 2D, so we actually recreated everything from the ground up for this title. It was completely remade graphically. 

One example to dive into there is not just the art, but even animations for the various, like their eyes, their mouths, and that type of thing. The ways and styles of doing that back in the DS era were a lot, let’s say simpler, than they are in the modern area just because of the limitations of the time. Now we have the ability to create a lot more detail in those kinds of animations and expressions. So we took great efforts into making sure that the expressions of characters were more detailed and filled with feelings so that we could create a more immersive experience for the player in the modern era.

What kind of quality-of-life adjustments did you come up with when creating this new version of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar for modern platforms?

Nakano: There really are so many improvements that we have made that it is difficult to talk about all of them, but maybe one example that I can bring up as a representative is the way that we handle animals now. So first, I want to talk about maybe the graphical improvements with some of the animals and the gameplay as well. 

We wanted to make the player feel closer to their animals as they raise them and help build relationships between them. We put a lot of effort into the way that the animals, the livestock and pets, will react to you when you interact with them. Whether it’s like petting them, brushing them, or milking them. There are a lot of animations and interactions between the player and the animals in that way. 

But specifically with quality-of-life stuff, an example that I can give is in the original Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, you had to push them or corral them yourself to get them to go outside for the day. But now you can employ your pets, your dogs and your cats, to herd the livestock, the cows and the chickens, outside so that they’ll go graze in the pasture on their own. 

There are many examples like that [where] we endeavored to decrease the stress for the player and improve the gameplay experience. 

There’s one more related to animals that I thought of that I wanted to share as well. You may recall from that older era of Story of Seasons games that oftentimes you would need to, in other titles, put only the amount of feed that the animal would eat in the feeder each day. So you would have to put the feed out for them every single day. In the original Grand Bazaar, one thing that we thought was very good and was a quality-of-life [feature] at the time too was that that you could put feed in for multiple days at once so you didn’t have to add the feed for the animal every day. So in that way, there are also things that we kept from the original title that we think were good for the time too.

I noticed one of those gameplay elements that you kept is that there is still no shipping bin in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. What made you decide to maintain that decision and not bring the shipping bin box. 

Nakano: I mentioned at the beginning of our talk that Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is, among other things, quite unique and characteristic in some ways. Building on that, all of the titles you play as this farmer and you raise your cows and your chickens, you harvest your milk and your eggs, or perhaps you go to the field and you harvest your vegetables, or you go to your tree and you harvest your fruit. That is something that is shared, but what is unique about this title is that once per week you gather up all the things that you have produced and you bring them to the bazaar and then you interact with your customer directly to sell them and turn all of your hard work into your earnings that you can then use going forward. 

We did actually consider adding the shipping box during development to this title as well, but we decided instead, that it would be best to maximize  what is the unique point of this title. You know, we put a lot of work into making the bazaar very fun for our players, and we definitely want them to experience that aspect of the game to the fullest. Because of that, we decided not to add this.

In the original Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, you were able to experience cooperative multiplayer with other players and they could see your farm, so is it still possible to have that online or multiplayer experience in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar?

Nakano: There is no multiplayer in this version of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar.

Is multiplayer something that you would perhaps explore in future Story of Seasons games?

Nakano: Essentially, yes, I would like to consider that kind of multiplayer again in the future, but with the caveat that we do want to make sure that it is chosen for the correct game and implemented in the right way so that it is a good and fun experience for the players. 

There are certain games that are fun as single-player games, and certain games that are more fun as multiplayer games. We would like to consider the possibility of multiplayer on a title-by-title basis. It might be a little more complicated with the caveats that I just mentioned, but in essence yes. I would like to consider it for the future and would love to see how we can make that happen. 

When it comes to romance and marriage elements, in the demo it seemed like there were no restrictions. So no matter what kind of character you play, you can romance everybody in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar?

Nakano: Yes, that is correct. That is something that we have implemented in our past few titles, like [Story of Seasons: Pioneers of] Olive Town. The way it works is that no matter the players’ characters’ gender, they are free to choose [whichever] marriage candidate that they would like. We don’t want our players to have to worry about that kind of thing when they are enjoying the romance in our games. 

Arata is one of the new romance options in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. How did you come up with his personality and what made you decide to make a connection between him and Samir? 

Nakano: From the planning stages [when] creating this game, we knew that we wanted to add new marriage candidates. The way that we looked at it was looking at the current cast, as well as the setting of Zephyr Town. What kinds of characters would increase the overall appeal of the cast, as well as fit in well and exemplify the world of Zephyr Town. You know, with the connection with Samir, he is a student studying from abroad. So we knew that we wanted to create some kind of connection there to further build out the world of Zephyr town and make it feel more robust and alive. 

As far as the kind of characterization that Arata has, he’s got, compared to the other characters, more of like a wild side. When I say wild side, I don’t mean crazy. I mean like outdoorsy. We also added like a mountain area in this game as well. So we thought Arata’s outdoorsy side would fit with that kind of setting too. 

Overall, we look at the whole picture and think of what will further exemplify the world and what will make the whole cast shine.

Likewise, when creating Diana, what was the inspiration for her and how did you decide to make her tied to the Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar bazaar?

Nakano: To explain her case, I actually need to talk a little bit about the original Grand Bazaar game. So in that game, just as in this one, the bazaar starts very small and it’s run down. You work to make it bigger and prosper, and grow the bazaar. However, in that older game there really isn’t a reason or explanation for that. There are no cutscenes. There’s basically not a real story surrounding it, and that’s something that we wanted to add and improve upon in this title as well. 

So we knew that we wanted to create the story around the bazaar, and one way that we’re doing that is improving upon Felix’s character and his motivations too, drawing out his emotions as well. He has motivations to [build] the bazaar too, but we couldn’t do it with just him. We also needed to have this other organization that would be pushing the story along too, so it wasn’t just Felix as well. Putting [in] a character that could be like the face of that committee makes it more relatable.

We thought that it would be great to add a marriage candidate as the person that was involved with that committee so that we could better tell the story, then tell the story of the marriage candidate within that committee as well.

In the original Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, you were only able to have one child, and the child had a default look to them. In Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, will it be possible to have more than one child? Will they be able to look like you and your partner? 

Nakano: I believe that it is only one child in this title as well. However, the appearance is affected both by the appearance of the player character’s avatar, as well as the partner. That’s something that we’ve been doing in [Story of Seasons: Pioneers of] Olive Town and A Wonderful Life as well. We try to take in some elements of both of the parents.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025. 

The post Interview: Preparing Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous revealed that Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is going to return and provide us a chance to play a former Nintendo DS exclusive game on the Switch and PC. It’s always been one of the more unusual ones, due to the fact that there’s a balance between farming and acting as an actual vendor. After getting some hands-on time with it, it still feels like that sense of balance is preserved.

In my first moments with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, I first got to actually make a character. Like more recent entries, a player picks out every element of their avatar. You choose one of two body types, select the facial features, decide on the hair, and choose an outfit. You also name yourself, of course. After that, it’s off to town and learn how Felix hopes your arrival can rejuvenate the bazaar they were once known for. This segment also led to a tutorial showing how that element is prioritized. 

In Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, you’re attempting to build up a selection of products, which you will then sell at your booth whenever the bazaar opens. This means items foraged, things grown, products from farm animals, and whatever you make. Improving the quality can increase the value, so a big element also involves putting in the effort to constantly improve what you can offer. During the bazaar segment, I was also able to see how not only putting out products was enough, but ringing a bell to draw potential customers’ attention and building up a gauge that would allow the Harvest Sprites to chime in and provide buffs and basically a “fever time” would make my time at each bazaar more valuable.

From there, I was able to explore. In addition to the farm area, where you can tend animals, have your pet herd your flocks, and care for crops, the mountain area provides foraging opportunities. During my session, I was able to see the mushroom log, which I was able to upgrade with materials in order to result in eventually higher quality mushrooms, and the beehives. It also was the perfect place to test out the glider. In this entry, you can jump around environments to cross rivers or go to higher or lower terrain. A new addition in the remake is a glider that lets you drift from one spot to another while in midair. This made it easier and faster to get from the outdoors back to town again, I found.

Part of these initial moments spent in Zephyr Town with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar entailed getting to see some of the love interests. I got to see a heart event with Jules, for example! He was easy to spot in town by the fountain, and this time there are no gender barriers around pursing characters. That event should feel familiar to those who played the original game, as it involved a talk about books. After walking a bit further, I was able to visit Sophie and Felix in their home for her heart event. There, it was possible to encourage the mayor to trust his daughter more and allow her to assist in running the town, and in return to assist in housework so she doesn’t feel stuck indoors maintaining a home.

I also got to meet the two new love interests in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, which are the romance options Arata and Diana. He’s connected to Samir, and he can be found training (and living) in the forest or running a booth at the bazaar. Diana is tied to the bazaar commission and, as such, can often be found at those grounds. The in-game compendium already seemed quite adept too, as I was able to look both up already and see she likes sweets and red items, but hates greasy foods. Meanwhile Arata enjoys hearty meals and blue items, but can’t stand sour food.

Finally, the last part of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar I got to experience firsthand ended up involving preparations for dealing with bad weather. Hurricanes and other events can strike the town. While in some installments, that means hunkering down for a day and dealing with it, there are extra efforts to take here. In this case, I needed to go to my field, a mushroom the mountains, and the beehives in the mountains to put up precautionary screens to protect against the storm. If someone doesn’t craft and place them, the crops, beehives, and mushroom log could all be destroyed, so there’s a sense of purpose. This means you really need to check the weather and prepare to alter your schedule as needed.

Like the DS version of the game, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar feels like it will make selling at the weekly market a priority. The updated graphics seem to suit the area, while still preserving the European atmosphere and character designs. It also seems like it’ll be fairly easy to set a schedule and get into a groove. We’ll know more though, of course, when it debuts this summer.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch on August 27, 2025. 

The post Preview: Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Takes Us Back to Market appeared first on Siliconera.

During the March 2025 Nintendo Direct, Marvelous announced that it would release a remake of Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, which appeared on the DS, on the Switch as Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. It will debut on August 27, 2025.

As a remake, this is now a fully 3D version of the game. Players will head to Zephyr Town. There, they will not only farm and raise animals. They will also be tasked with running a booth at the weekly bazaar and helping to revitalize that point of commerce. There will also be an opportunity to find love with villagers. In addition, this is a more dynamic entry that involves jumping around areas. However, this time a glider function will be available to allow your farmer to further jump around and get through the area.

You can see the first trailer for the game in the video below. 

Since the focus of the game is a bit different, that means Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will feel a bit unique. You won’t use a shipping bin each day, and instead save stock for the weekly bazaar.

This is the third remake to show up on the Switch. The first was Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, and that was followed by Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on August 27, 2025. 

The post Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Brings a DS Game to Switch appeared first on Siliconera.

It’s been a while since there’s been a Rune Factory spin-off game, but Marvelous is bringing that idea back with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. This installment features a new setting, new gameplay elements, and a whole new region that feels inspired by Asian cultures. To learn more about what to expect from this installment, Siliconera spoke to Producer Fujii Hisashi about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, its development, its world, its characters, and what it’s like to romance a love interest and have children.

So when did development on Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma begin? 

Hisashi Fujii: Development started in September 2021.

How did the different regions and cultures in Japan help shape depictions of the regions in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma? 

Fujii: Specific examples aren’t coming to mind, but there are, of course, areas in the game that were inspired by specific areas in Japan. And, I’m sorry, just to help clarify, while there’s undoubtedly influence from Japan, it’s not intended to be Japan. It has a lot of Asian influences. It isn’t meant to be one-to-one with Japan. 

In the case of the monsters, how did you ensure that the new ones would fit in with the new region while still blending in with existing Rune Factory monsters from past games that make an appearance here? 

Fujii: Regarding the monsters that are new to the game, many of them were inspired by classic yokai from Japanese folklore, such as the kappa and the karasu tengu, the crow tengu. And so that’s kind of where the inspiration for the new monsters came from. 

Are there any regional variants of returning monsters? Like, is there a new version of the Buffamoo based on the new locations in the game and the new seasons? Or is there just one type of Buffamoo, one type of Wooly, and that kind of thing.

Fujii: It’s a mixture of both. There are monsters in the game, such as the Woolys, that are, essentially, globally the same between Azuma and the world of the previous Rune Factory games, and then there are some monsters that have slight variations based on being in Azuma, such as color variations or slight appearance variations.  

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, there’s a really big city management and building element. How did you come up with that idea? What kinds of challenges did you face when implementing that and keeping it balanced with all the other farming and fighting elements? 

Fujii: Regarding the village building elements in the game, a core theme in the Rune Factory series is the idea of the Earthmate using their power to restore the Earth. And a big part of that, and part of the reason why we created this feature, is because we wanted a part of that to be not just restoring the Earth, but restoring the villages that the characters live in. Also to give players the ability to restore them as they see fit or to customzie them to their liking. So that was the impetus for creating the feature.

A number of the bachelors and bachelorettes of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are gods and goddesses. How did mythology shape their specific designs, abilities, and personalities? 

Fujii: There are marriage candidates who were inspired by existing Japanese myths and gods, but that’s really not all there is to it. There’s really a lot of influence in various elements of their design. To give one specific example, the god of summer Matsuri. Her outfits are inspired by traditional Okinawan outfits, and her motif is the Okinawan hibiscus flower.

In the Rune Factory series, there are always a lot of romance options and opportunities to have relationship events when you’re starting to get together, when you’re dating, and when you’re married. Is that going to happen with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma where there will be romance events continuing to happen even after you make a commitment? 

Fujii: Pre-dating and post-dating, the scenarios are clearly divided. Before you start dating, you have the events to build your bonds with various characters. And the way of building these bonds is different from after you confess and actually start dating. And once you start dating, you’ll have date events. So that’s clearly demarcated within the scheme. And then also, of course after you get married, there are events around having a child. But there’s not a specific post-marriage scenario outside of just living together, having a child, and sort of the daily interactions.

Speaking of having a child, considering how you can assign people to work in town, can you put your child to work when they grow up and come of age in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma? Since you can have multiple people with you going into dungeons now, can your child become one of your allies? Can it be like a whole family trip?

Fujii: You can have up to two children in the game. The children can’t be put to work in town. You can’t assign them tasks, but you can bring them on adventures with you as party . And as with the other major NPCs in the game, you can raise your bond level with your children and through interactions and gifts. And also, bringing them with you will raise their bond level. As their bond level goes up, there will be certain skills that are unlocked that they can use in battle. And that’s true of all the NPCs you can bring with you.

I noticed when you have your allies in battle, there can be party banter. Are there going to be romantic rivals for the player in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma if there are characters who seem like they kind of get along like in older Story of Seasons games’ rival marriage?

Fujii: There is no rival marriage in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, but as you noticed, there are many different variations on battle dialogue that can play depending on which characters are accompanying you into battle. If a character has a good relationship with another character within the game setting, then there may be a very specific dialogue that will play between them in battle. So we think that really players of the game can enjoy experiencing just how many kinds of variations on these battle dialogues there are. 

Also, which characters are friends with other characters is something that’s set within the game. It’s not something that the player can necessarily influence. 

How did Rune Factory 5 shape Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma? 

Fujii: As the development team, we took the we received from s on Rune Factory 5 very seriously and made our best effort to improve some elements in Guardians of Azuma. 

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025. 

The post Interview: Developing Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma appeared first on Siliconera.

There’s a lot going on with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma! It’s a new entry in the series, but also a spin-off. It’s adding a new type of gameplay, given we actually build up towns. There’s also the whole thing of the previous entry experiencing some issues. However, this new game seems like a new opportunity and, after some hands-on time with it, makes it seem the team learned learn from past missteps and mistakes.

In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, players step into the shoes of an Earth Dancer. It’s a special kind of warrior not unlike an Earthmate. They are connected to the land and able to heal and foster its growth. Which is good, as a blight hit Azuma affecting many villages there. This means using sacred treasures to grow crops, banish corruption, and fight foes. 

When I first stepped into Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for the demo, town management and farming were the focus. You’ll need to get necessary items to build up a village and place buildings or plots of land for farming. These affect the Earth Dancer, for example increasing HP. It can also mean new items are available to buy or access, and adding fields provide chances to grow crops. After land is cleared and places are built, citizens who returned to the area can be assigned jobs or roles to help out. They may have abilities or traits that make them specifically suited to certain tasks. 

As part of this prep, the sacred treasures came into play. For example, an umbrella could be used for water-based attacks in a fight or to gently glide from one elevated landmass to another, or you could use it to water crops. A drum? It could be used to attack and heal or to speed up growth by one day. There’s a sense of connection, so I could see how everything’s purpose could change and provide different benefits based on context. It also seemed great for ensuring there was no clutter among the tools. Especially since each piece of equipment would also be used to banish a certain type of corrupted growth, indicated by color. 

When it comes to fighting, these treasures are more of a prized resource due to needing energy to be used. As such, every Earth Dancer relies on one of those equipped pieces alongside a secondary weapon that doesn’t require any type of saved stamina to use. These can be melee ones, like the traditional swords from past Rune Factory games, or new ones like a ranged type of talisman like a Touhou Project danmaku. I got to test out these, as well as see how a full party of four worked in-action, in a cleared dungeon. You can have up to three people you in your quest. In this case, the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma romance options Murasame, Iroha, and Ulalaka were by my side. Each is designed to take on certain roles based on their personality, so Murasame was an aggressive warrior and Iroha was more of a tank-type. Heading in meant facing various monsters inspired by yokai, as well as facing an equine boss. Said boss could also be staggered and temporarily stunned by exploiting weaknesses, with the sword sacred treasure and its fire attack proving critical for that.

While developing the land and quickly running through a dungeon were the initial focuses of my Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma demo experience, romance with some characters came up as well. The two scenes I got to see involved the bachelor Murasame and the bachelorette Iroha. He’s a warrior who ended up needing to survive on his own in the wild for a time, and the event with him focused on that. Meanwhile, Iroha runs a teahouse, and hers ended up being a mix of making it a success and luring in more people to the town she loved. In each case, it felt like the characters got to be the focus, which is exactly what I feel we want from these heart events. Also, I appreciated the quality of life adjustment tied to finding them. When both were available, I could see special icons on the map highlighting that I could get to know them better and further our relationship.

It seems like ensuring the four core gameplay elements of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are well-balanced could prove critical to ensuring this entry’s success. We aren’t just farming, fighting, and finding love anymore. A whole region’s success depends on us managing rebuilding efforts. It should prove interesting to see how well that goes.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025. 

The post Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements appeared first on Siliconera.

G-Mode announced that Bokujo Monogatari: Minori no Shima, an old mobile flip phone Harvest Moon (known as Story of Seasons nowadays) game, will release on March 29, 2025 in Japan. The game will cost 1,500 yen (or approximately $10) and will appear on the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam. [Thanks, PR Times!]

To celebrate its release, the game will be 30% off on sale for 1,050 yen (~$7.07) on both platforms. The sale will last until May 27, 2025 on Switch, and April 11, 2025 on Steam. The original title of the game translates to Harvest Moon: Island of Crops, and the game originally released on 2008 as a digital for mobile phones exclusively in Japan.

The game was divided into a "for Boy" release which appeared first on April 3, 2008, and a "for Girl" version which released on August 8, 2008. The new port will include both versions of the game in a single package, which will be available only in Japanese. The re-release of the game will be part of the G-Mode Archives+ collection.

G-Mode specializes in ports of old Japanese mobile games that aren’t available anymore. The company already released ports of mobile game Bokujo Monogatari Mobile: Live & Love back in September 2024.

Bokujo Monogatari: Minori no Shima will reléase on March 29, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.

The post Harvest Moon Mobile PC and Switch Port Release Date Shared appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous released a new bachelor trailer for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, the latest entry in the series, and it focuses on Murasame. He is a samurai training to become the strongest swordsman in the world, and you can date and marry him.

The trailer shows female protagonist Kaguya, who is accompanied by bachelorette Ulalaka, talking to Murasame about his swordsman training. The clip also shows a glimpse of the one-on-one love confession from Murasame to the player character.

You can check out the new Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma short trailer introducing Murasame here:

Marvelous has yet to confirm who voices Murasame in the English dub of the game. Meanwhile, Murasame is voiced by by Makoto Furukawa in the Japanese dub of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Furukawa is well known for his roles as Saitama in the One-Punch Man anime adaptation, Sylvain in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Gepard in Honkai: Star Rail.

You can check out how Furukawa sounds as Murasame here:

The previous bachelor trailer for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma focused on treasure hunter Mauro. Additionally, Marvelous released a general bachelor and bachelorette trailer showcasing all the possible romance options in the game.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come out for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on May 30, 2025.

The post Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Bachelor Murasame Introduced appeared first on Siliconera.

Marvelous released a new video revealing new details about Mauro, one of the bachelors and love interests in the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Mauro is a treasure hunter who travels all over the world in search of them.

In the new trailer, Mauro can be seen pestering fortune teller Hisui as he stumbles upon the female protagonist of the game. Meanwhile, the second part of the trailer shows his love confession to the protagonist. Marvelous USA has yet to reveal who voices Mauro in the English dub of the game.

You can check out the trailer for bachelor Mauro in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma here:

Marvelous also released a Japanese version of the same trailer. He is voiced by Yuki Kaji (Adol Christin in the Ys game series, Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan.) You can check out how he sounds as Mauro below.

We already knew the full list of romance options and love interests in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, since Marvelous had released two trailers focusing on the bachelors and the bachelorettes in the game back on Valentine’s Day 2025. The developers also talked to Famitsu about the decision to allow players to romance the playable protagonist of the opposite gender in the spin-off.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come out for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam on May 30, 2025.

The post Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Bachelor Mauro Highlighted appeared first on Siliconera.