Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Reviews
For those wanting a fun side-scrolling beat’em up, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a fun and unique game that will provide hours of content. Those wanting a farming and village sim are better served by other franchises like Rune Factory.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin seamlessly blends 2D platforming action with 3D farm management.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a heavenly combination of realistic farming, combat and exploration served with a hearty side of great characters and writing
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is definitely an interesting title, mixing the mundanities of rice planting with 2D hacking and slashing. While an acquired taste, those who like their games unique should have a fun time with Sakuna. If you can forgive an unlikeable protagonist and some repetitive gameplay at times, Sakuna is a solid title that shines even with its flaws.
What a fun little surprise Sakuna Of Rice and Ruin has been. If you like 2D action rpgs and have always been curious about rice plantation, this is definitely the game for you.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a combination 2D side-scrolling combat game and 3D farming sim, and both elements are strong enough to stand on their own. You'll need to master each to be successful, and you'll have a fun time on both sides once you figure them out.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin yields a unique blend of farming simulation and action-platforming that manages to be a filling meal without providing much valuable nutrients. For the most part, the two gameplay styles work off each other in harmony, but each have individual faults injecting tedium into the experience. Thankfully, the art style, story, and characters are all rich enough to carry the game through any dry spell.
Japanese indie game developer Edelweiss has put a lot of heart into this long-awaited game, but some key flaws hinder this charming title.
Where Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is difficult to comment on is the whole experience. Making farming such a critical part is going to turn off a lot of people and even skipping it makes things more tedious than it needs to be. As for combat, it's fun, though not overly deep. I found myself having fun and easily knew what to do to prevent dying, even if I still occasionally got overran. Unfortunately, a lot of this hinges on how much of a deal-breaker farming is. Even if you can skip most of it, things just get harder or you need to devote different amounts of effort to it. For some that is fine but you need to make that call for yourself.
It’s a robust game with a fresh atmosphere and it’s found its own little niche where it undoubtedly has full reign... It’s safe to say I’m going to be knee-deep in water and checking on my rice for seasons to come.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin succeeds at offering both an exploration-based beat 'em up adventure and a relaxing life-sim experience. The combat may not be perfect and the difficulty feels uneven at times, but the addicting gameplay loop and charming world more than make up for it.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin delivers a remarkably in-depth set of mechanical systems. The interplay is impressive, even if the execution is somewhat flawed.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a wonderful mix of the two ideas. As a platformer, the game wouldn’t have enough driving force, and would wear out quickly. For farming, while it’s truly lovely, there’s too much downtime with not enough to do. Each of these things in a game of their own would be draining, but together it creates a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of a game that deserves recognition and continues to feel fresh and enjoyable even after 20 hours in.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is charming and challenging in all the right ways. Even now, as I sit here spending time working on this review, I wish I were playing the game. In spite of a few frustrating puzzle sections here and there, Hinoe calls to me. Knowing that my rice needs tending to and my pantry probably needs more dried meat so we can make it through the winter is all I want to focus on. That's when you know a game has its hooks in you. Pretty, addictive hooks that have me all in.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a charming experience, and its charming cast keeps things surging forward, even while the main story drags on for a bit. There's certainly a bit of a learning curve, and the game could do a better job with tutorials, but there are deep systems to dig into once players get the hang of them.
Lovers of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon may not find this game to be exactly the kind of farming they enjoy – it's more like, you know, actual farming, with all the tiny changes in fertiliser recipes and water temperature that farming requires. But for anyone who needs to practise mindfulness, patience, and appreciation for the small things (all 2,000 of them), Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin may just be the therapy you need.
Move over, Uncle Ben. There’s a new rice god in town. Sakuna of Rice and Ruin lets you have your grains and eat them too by serving up a nice heaping of action alongside one of the most detailed and meticulous systems for rice farming that you’ll ever see in a game. Admittedly, the agriculture side can feel like work sometimes and gameplay can become a bit repetitive as you go through multiple years. Its uncanny attention to detail and refreshing take on the farming genre, however, makes Sakuna a game worth adding to your daily diet.
In the evenings you can spend time with your new human family to chat and eat a meal using the food that you’ve gathered and grown yourself. Watching Sakuna slowly mature and start to care about more than just herself is a truly heart-warming journey. Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is an absolutely wonderful blend of farming simulator and action RPG. Whether you’re fighting off hordes of demons or trying to find the best way to manage your crop, there is constantly something new to learn and discover in this charmingly unique adventure.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a fun and entertaining game. I was quickly swept in by its charming characters, great writing, and rice farming simulation. Unfortunately, a lot of the game mechanics hold it back including the brutal day and night cycle and having to wait an entire game year just to level up Sakuna to make the game a little easier.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a breath of fresh air that shouldn't be overlooked. It's hard to believe that a game with this much detail and depth is from just two developers. The team at Edelweiss have created such a unique game with amazing production and polished gameplay. There are a few little features like enemy repetition and lacklustre level layouts at times that could be improved. However I think Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is definitely one of 2020's exceptional releases.