A new financial report from Marvelous is sharing some good news–Rune Factory 5 sales have officially surpassed 500,000 worldwide. This milestone includes both digital and physical copies of the game, which only released worldwide in March 2022.
For the unfamiliar–Remember Harvest Moon? The farming RPG series has been a smash hit since the first title was released on the Super Nintendo back in 1996. In 2006, Rune Factory: Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS became the first title in a new spin-off series. Rather than focusing exclusively on farming and making friends like one does in Harvest Moon (or Story of Seasons) games, Rune Factory games introduce a fantasy setting with more dungeon crawling and a more concrete story.
Rune Factory 5 was a title long overdue. The first entry in the series since Rune Factory 4 was released in 2012, the game follows a protagonist who has lost their memory–a commonality across games in the series. The character ends up joining SEED, a small group of rangers in the small town of Rigbarth. Players tend to the land, help the townspeople with various tasks, and battle monsters to help maintain peace while attempting to recover the memories they have lost.
One of the draws of Rune Factory is the dating portion. With twelve characters to choose from, Rune Factory 5 was actually the first title in the series to offer same-sex marriage. in the global version. Though not part of the original Japanese release, it was patched in later.
In a March interview with RPG Site, director Shiro Maekawa discussed his simple design philosophy.
“Players can spend their days doing whatever they want. We created a game that appeals to people who only like going on adventures, people who enjoy focusing on the romance elements, and people who just want to farm,” Maekawa said. “You could say that giving players the freedom to play however they please is our core design philosophy.”
Rune Factory 5 was released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan in May 21 and worldwide in March 2022.
