Rune Factory 5 (2024)

Rune Factory 5 (ルーンファクトリー5, Rūn Fakutorī 5) is the latest entry in the Rune Factory series.^[5] It was released for the Nintendo Switch on May 20, 2021 in Japan; March 22, 2022 in North America; March 25, 2022 in Europe.

Synopsis[]

After losing their memory, the protagonist begins their new life in Rigbarth, where they are recruited into a peacekeeping organisation called SEED. In order to protect the peace of the town, the player must solve various cases.

Apart from their duties as a SEED ranger, the protagonist can tend to a farm, fish, find love, and much more. They can team up with townspeople to battle monsters and unleash powerful attacks.^[6]

Plot[]

In the Kingdom of Norad, a girl wanders in the forest by herself. She is nearly attacked by a Wooly and screams. Lying on the ground nearby, the protagonist wakes up without memories but realizes the girl needs help. After defeating the monsters, the two return to the girl's town, but the protagonist collapses at the gate. While Priscilla is attempting to take a step out of town, she and Lucy witness the protagonist collapse and rush over to help.

The player wakes up at the clinic and meets the mayor and local doctor, Simone, and the innkeeper Murakumo, revealing to both of them that they suffer from amnesia. Lucy is not sure if they should allow the player to stay, but her mother suggests they try the Soul Sphere, a device supposedly able to discern the nature of someone's soul. She and the player go to Rigbarth Outpost and introduce them to Captain Livia. As the player touches the Soul Sphere, it shines brightly. Livia says that the player is not dangerous.

Livia offers to let the protagonist live at the Rigbarth Outpost in exchange for joining SEED. Suddenly, Cecil bursts in and says says Yuki's glasses are missing. Livia sends Lucy and the protagonists agrees to work together. Livia then tells Priscilla to teach the protagonist how to farm.

Priscilla takes the protagonist to the field, gives the protagonist a worn-out hoe, watering can, and turnip seeds. She explains how crops can be harvested and eaten raw, cooked, or shipped (by 8 AM each morning). She shows the protagonist their room at Rigbarth Outpost. She tells the protagonist to get some rest.

The next day, Lucy and Priscilla deliver a message from Livia telling the protagonist to meet all the villagers. The protagonists finds the Nine-Tailed Fox in the Whispering Woods and defeats it, transforming it into Misasagi. They return on the Farm Dragon and Livia makes the protagonist an official member of SEED. She senses a disturbance in rune energy and sends the protagonist to Belpha Ruins.

The protagonist later helps a SEED agent named Scarlett capture a thief named Oswald, but he escapes. After finding him again, they learn that he is partnered with a dragon, but it quickly turns on him. After Oswald willingly turns himself in, he gives them info in exchange for his freedom: SEED (revealed to have been founded after the destruction of the Sechs Empire) is doing more than protecting innocents as its warden Gideon, revealed to have been the one who freed him, has ulterior motives and that Oswald himself was a pawn. The protagonist resigns from SEED upon hearing this. Oswald later requests their help in rescuing a friend of his after SEED raided his hideout, revealed to be a girl named Ludmilla. Along the way, the protagonist encounters a girl who bears a grudge against them as she believes they killed her sister; she is also revealed to be the dragon from earlier. After rescuing Ludmilla, Oswald convinces her to stay in Rigbarth. Once the protagonist tells Livia about the dragon, Livia reveals that she herself is a dragon and that the dragon that they encountered is her younger sister Radea, who is being used by Gideon. While helping Livia regain her powers, the protagonist regains a part of their memory that reveals that they were part of unleashing Livia. After dealing with three rune disturbances, a black mist appears and begins draining the townsfolks of their memories and runes; this is revealed to be Radea's doing. The protagonist confronts and defeats Radea before they are rescued by Livia. Once back in Rigbarth, they explain the truth to Radea. In turn, she reveals that Gideon used her and Oswald to drain people of their free will by absorbing runes so he can control them; however, she does not know where his hideout is. The protagonist rejoins SEED and locates Oswald for help and he explains that Gideon's lair is in the sky, but powerful defenses prevent anyone from getting close. The protagonist requests the help of a god named Lucas to create a portal to Gideon's lair after they help restore his powers. Radea accompanies them to get revenge on Gideon for tricking her, but they are overpowered and Gideon escapes with Radea. Livia believes that Gideon is being manipulated by an evil entity called the Fathomless Dread. Again requesting help from Lucas to locate Gideon, he opens a portal there, even after revealing that he isn't supposed to interfere in mortal affairs. Upon catching up to Gideon, he reveals the truth behind his plot: he wants to create world peace by controlling people's will after seeing the chaos that happened after the Sechs Empire collapsed. After defeating Gideon, Livia reveals that he is controlled by the Fathomless Dread so that he can unknowingly help free it from its prison and he breaks free from its control. It then takes control of Radea and triggers an explosion that rips open a hole leading to its prison, with Gideon sacrificing himself to save the others. Entering the Fathomless Dread's prison, they find Radea unconscious before proceeding to fight the Fathomless Dread. Although the protagonist manages to defeat it, the entity merges with them and intends to use their body to escape. Lucas contacts them through a portal and the townsfolks struggle to free them from the Fathomless Dread's control, eventually succeeding with Livia and Radea's help. With the Fathomless Dread destroyed for good, the group return home.

Development[]

Due to the success of Rune Factory 4, the creator, Yoshifumi Hashimoto, said the game’s reception was good enough to green light a sequel in a Famitsu article^[7], but did not say that it was in development. During the February 2019 Nintendo Direct, it was announced that Rune Factory 5 was in development.

In the May 2019 issue of Nintendo Dream, two developers (Maekawa and Hashimoto) said that they are excited for the games progress and hoped people will like it^[8]. During Marvelous' latest financial results briefing, they said that Rune Factory 5 will "definitely not" release before April 2020.^[9]. On July 25, 2019, a teaser trailer was shown during the end of a Rune Factory 4 Special livestream^[10] On September 17, 2020, a gameplay trailer for Rune Factory 5 was shown off in a Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase.^[11]

Content[]

• Beyond the Blue Yonder
• Characters
• Rigbarth
• Requests
• Calendar
• Directives
• Crops
• Cooking Recipes
• Forging Weapons
• Crafting Accessories
• Items
• Farming
• Fishing
• Skills
• Tools
• Monsters
• Locations
• Festivals
• Events
• Outfits

Features[]

• Players with Rune Factory 4 Special save data will receive two special guest characters from Rune Factory 4^[12].

Premium Box[]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

• The title screen changes depending on the season of the last-loaded save game.
• The intro video changes after certain events in game. The first intro video shows the main characters rotating golden hoops with their fingers. The second video plays out differently.
• The protagonist can change the soundtrack to hear previous Rune Factory title themes instead.

Links[]

• Official Website (JP)
• Official Website (ENG)
• Nintendo

References[]