The more modern frame of reference is Stardew Valley, but alongside farming and romancing the Rune Factory series has a larger focus on crafting and combat. All of these systems link together, with your farming providing the ingredients you use to craft items that you use to beat up big angry trees (with lovely apples) as per the header image above. Rune Factory 4 originally launched on Nintendo 3DS back in 2012, but RF4 Special came to Nintendo Switch as recently as 2020. Its a gussied up version of the original game, with a new Hell difficulty mode, and some new animations. Chiefly, it added a “Newlywed mode”. Once you get married in your main playthrough, this mode unlocks and lets you play an extra scenario featuring your spouse. There’s 13 of them, and they’re short, lovey-dovey vignettes, fully voiced and around 45 minutes long. Rune Factry 4 Special will get married to Steam on December 7th. It’s worth noting also that Rune Factory 5 is currently in development, and looks like it’s doing the thing of every JRPG at the moment and taking a major leap forward in terms of visuals and accessibility. It’s currently only announced for Nintendo Switch, however.
