{"id":51982,"date":"2025-09-16T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51982"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:13:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:13:44","slug":"rune-factory-devs-created-guardians-of-azuma-as-a-way-to-experiment-with-the-ip-before-tackling-a-new-mainline-entry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rune-factory-devs-created-guardians-of-azuma-as-a-way-to-experiment-with-the-ip-before-tackling-a-new-mainline-entry\/","title":{"rendered":"Rune Factory devs created Guardians of Azuma as a way to experiment with the IP before tackling a new mainline entry\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Marvelous released <strong>Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma<\/strong>, the latest entry in the long-running fantasy sim JRPG series, on June 5. While the new re-imagining follows the series\u2019 tradition with dungeon crawling, boss battles, slow life and romance, it differentiates itself from past Rune Factory entries by allowing players to build their own village in a distinctly Japanese-style setting. It also introduces a number of playability upgrades compared to predecessors. In fact, for its creators, Guardians of Azuma was a place to experiment with the formula before tackling a new mainline entry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma \u2013 Launch Trailer \u2013 Nintendo Switch 2\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MRb4MwoDOWA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking to AUTOMATON, game director Shiro Maekawa says that the project was launched as a way to prevent the Rune Factory series from stagnating \u2013 a tendency he noticed with recent mainline entries. \u201cWhen we finished developing Rune Factory 5 (2021), I explained to our higher-ups that the game was essentially a direct port of Rune Factory 4\u2019s systems into 3D. Because of that, the overall impression felt quite close to Rune Factory 4, and I felt like the gaming experience didn\u2019t change that much. To be honest, even when I played Rune Factory 4 back when it came out, I felt that what it offered wasn\u2019t all that different from Rune Factory 3.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-header.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51985\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-header.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-header-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-header-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-header-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Maekawa believed that if continued into future installments, this tendency would cause the franchise to grow stagnant. \u201cI knew we needed to create something new. However, if we suddenly tried to insert something drastically different into a future \u201cRune Factory 6,\u201d that would be very risky. Fortunately, since the series already had spin-off titles like Tides of Destiny and Frontier, I figured I could follow that trend to try out something new.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order not to disrupt tradition in the numbered entries and risk disappointing fans, Guardians of Azuma became a place for the devs to test the waters. As such, it goes without saying that they\u2019re keeping a close eye on how players are responding to the game. \u201cWe hope to carry over well-received aspects of the game into Rune Factory\u2019s next numbered title.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1435\" height=\"806\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1435px) 100vw, 1435px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-003.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51987\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-003.jpg 1435w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-003-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/runefactory-20250912-357290-003-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of reception, Marvelous\u2019 experimental title has proven quite successful so far, selling over 500,000 units as of August 18 and earning a \u201cVery Positive\u201d rating on Steam with 91% of user reviews positive. The developers have felt this directly: \u201cWe\u2019ve been closely following user reactions, and we definitely feel a strong response. I think the combination of Rune Factory\u2019s existing potential and the improvements we made to playability this has attracted a wider audience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is available for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/2864560\/Rune_Factory_Guardians_of_Azuma\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/us\/store\/products\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-switch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Switch<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/us\/store\/products\/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-nintendo-switch-2-edition-switch-2\/?srsltid=AfmBOopt4Y440RmTZA2cKsQU5OwjpNUDJ-JEXUQ5cqb8GssbRubV_U5A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Switch 2<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma developers talk about their efforts to prevent the long-running series from stagnation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":51986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51982"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51988,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51982\/revisions\/51988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}