Back in 2006, when blending fantasy farming and combat was a dream, Rune Factory felt like a breath of fresh air. Originally born as a spin-off to the more farming-focused Story of Seasons (then known as Harvest Moon) series, Rune Factory has come into its own over the past near-2 decades.
With five main games and three spin-offs, there’s plenty of Rune Factory to go around on Nintendo’s consoles. So, with the recent release of Guardians of Azuma on Switch 1 and Switch 2, we thought it was high time to gather the fantasy farm sims together and see what you lovely readers think of them.
As always with our reader-ranked lists, this will update in real time, so if you want to vote for your favourite click on the star next to the game and give it a score between 1-10. This list won’t sprout by itself, after all! We’ve included the two Switch remasters in the rankings, but we have excluded the Piczle Cross spin-off.
So, it’s time to settle down, fight some foes, and feed some friends with your list of the best Rune Factory games of all time.
10. Rune Factory 5 (Switch)
Do you like RPGs or farm sims? If you answered yes to either or both, then you’re sure to find something you’ll love in Rune Factory 5. The relaxing pace, RPG elements, and charming aesthetic make this a compelling experience, but issues with poor performance, disappointing visuals, and sometimes clunky gameplay hold it back from greatness.
If 3D visuals aren’t a dealbreaker for you, we’d recommend you pick up Rune Factory 4 Special first, as it oddly feels more modern in some respects.
Despite flawed execution, Rune Factory 5 still comes recommended — if its precise and unique genre blend really clicks with you, you’ll forgive many a flaw. Just know that it doesn’t truly excel in any area.
9. Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (Wii)
Before Guardians of Azuma, there was Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny — another game that puts combat ahead of the series’ tried and true farming elements. Instead of living in a town, you ride along the high seas on the back of a beast called Ymir. Your Golem can be used to find hidden islands which you’ll then need to explore and salvage.
Depending on who you ask, though, Tides of Destiny (also known as Oceans) may be their favourite or least favourite entry. The reduced farming elements and lacklustre story have put off many, but others love the variety and the characters. Still, this isn’t your traditional Rune Factory experience, so this may be one for the series’ biggest fans on.
8. Rune Factory 3 Special (Switch)
The real draw is the ability to play Rune Factory 3 on a console that doesn’t have ‘DS’ in its name. About 90% of the experience is exactly the same as the original, and that remaining 10% doesn’t exactly cover a whole lot.
Luckily, Rune Factory 3 is and always was a great farm sim/RPG hybrid, and it’s something that we can still easily recommend to new and returning players alike. That said, if you fall into the latter group, we’d encourage you to consider how much you want to shell out to replay this on modern hardware. It’s a great game, but it’s effectively the same as your DS copy.
If you’re looking for another very solid farm sim to add to your Switch library—and you haven’t played it before—this is definitely one to consider.
7. Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
As enjoyable and extremely addictive as Rune Factory is, it’s very much a Marmite game. For fans of Harvest Moon and RPGs, it’ll be some sort of dream game; those who find regular RPGs dull will be comatose during most of Rune Factory – after a week of solid playing you’ll only just finish the first season, with just the one cave complete and no expansions, a few tool upgrades, and that’s about it.
If you have enjoyed previous Harvest Moons for their longevity and aren’t particularly bothered about the reduced cuteness — all animals are gone now, replaced by monsters — then you will love Rune Factory. It comes highly recommended to farmers and fighters alike.
6. Rune Factory 4 Special (Switch)
There’s something here for everyone in Rune Factory 4 Special, but its greatest strength is how it ties together everything into one thoroughly enjoyable package. Varied gameplay, strong writing, and an emphasis on progressing at your own pace make this one of the best farm sim games available on the Switch.
The new features do little to justify the cost of entry for those who have already played it on the 3DS, but on Switch, Rune Factory 4 Special proves itself to be a modern classic that melds farming and combat into a beautiful RPG experience.
5. Rune Factory: Frontier (Wii)
Rune Factory: Frontier is both the best Harvest Moon game of its generation and an enjoyable dungeon-crawler, too. It may not have the battle depths of its competitors, but the two elements blend seamlessly to create one of the most addictive games on Wii, and certainly the stronger of the two console offerings.
The world is among our favourite settings in the series, and this is also one of the prettiest Wii games. And while it takes a while to get going, it’s hard to put Frontier down when it has its hooks in you. We hope to see this get a remaster at some point, because we’d love to revisit this one.
4. Rune Factory 4 (3DS)
A fan-favourite in this long running series, Rune Factory 4 perfects the combination of fantasy farming, dating sim, and action RPG elements. And if that sounds like your cup of tea, you’ll have an absolute field day with the game — whether its on DS or Switch.
It’s bursting with bucolic charm, backed up by masterful writing and an irresistibly positive outlook, and plays like the pinnacle of a genre it invented. Whether you come for the adventure, the romance, or simply the turnips, Rune Factory 4’s inviting world will draw you in and give you plenty of reasons to stick around for many seasons to come.
3. Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
Taking the bones of the first fantasy Harvest Moon spin-off, Rune Factory 2 is a net upgrade in every single way, and in terms of “pure” farming and action RPG gameplay, you can’t do much better.
A simpler story doesn’t hold things back here; and with improved controls and a much-expanded “second generation”, allowing you to have kids, explore more dungeons, and even cook make this a slow-burn that’s extremely rewarding. This is where Rune Factory started to come into its own, and we’re all the more grateful for it.
2. Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
The most polished of the Harvest Moon spin-off series on DS, Rune Factory 3’s new features over the previous games are little more than bullet points and, by comparison, make each new entry in the slow-evolving Pokémon franchise look like a total paradigm shift in game design.
But it’s still the biggest entry in the series and a must for fans of farming and fighting. If you’re only going to play one Rune Factory on DS, this is the one you’re after. It’s also on Switch in Special form, although not special enough to warrant double dipping if you’ve already got this in your collections.
1. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Switch)
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma manages to reinvent itself while still maintaining the bones that make the Rune Factory series feel like itself. It takes bold new strides in unexpected directions that thankfully pay off. The farming is less the focus this time around, with characters and combat taking centre stage in what is a fantastic spin-off.
Guardians of Azuma is a must-play for Rune Factory fans and is well-suited for newcomers to the series as well. And, if you have a Switch 2, you can get an enhanced edition!
That’s a healthy crop of games on the DS, Wii, and Switch. As Rune Factory continues to grow, we’ll aim to keep this list up to date!
In short, Rune Factory is a spin-off of the Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons series, developed to celebrate the farming sim’s 10th anniversary. At this point, it’s dropped the Harvest Moon moniker and becomes its own series, and it has a few distinguishing traits.
One, the series is more firmly rooted in fantasy and magic. Some Story of Seasons games feature magical creatures or events, but Rune Factory is very much rooted in fantasy rather than countryside living.
Second, and perhaps more crucially, Rune Factory is an action RPG as well as a farm sim. Combat, levelling up, and progression are just as important as (sometimes more important than) farming.
If you want some fun combat and tons of systems to mess around with? Rune Factory is right there. However, if you’re looking to just chill and grow crops and get married, then Story of Seasons is what you’re after. Have a look at our list for the best Story of Seasons games to find out which one you should pick up.
