Rune Factory 5 Reviews

Rune Factory 5 is ranked in the 40th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
INVEN
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Sep 14, 2021

'Rune Factory5' is a game where you can experience 'Fantasy Life'. It provides an environment where players can play combat and stories harmoniously while following the main story, and they can access and enjoy all the things in various ways.

Review in Korean | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is a refreshing farming RPG that should really appeal to fans of the niche genre…It may not be a perfect or highly innovative game, but Rune Factory 5 is definitely worth the time spent playing.

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3.5 / 5.0
Mar 22, 2022

Rune Factory has always been a chill experience with some light action RPG elements to it, and that’s exactly what the newest title delivers.

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7 / 10.0
Mar 30, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is a solid revival of a franchise without a new entry for the best part of ten years. It pushes the formula forwards thanks to its 3D perspective, and nails the gameplay that made the series such a hit in the first place.

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Evan Norris
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Apr 10, 2022

It boasts an invigorating sense of player agency, a clearly-defined framework of rules in which to make your fun, and a carefully-calibrated concoction of farming, role-playing, and life simulation designed to keep things interesting.

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Jul 29, 2022

I had never played a Rune Factory game before – not even that but any game of this genre. If you want a good idea of what Rune Factory is, it is like Stardew Valley where you harvest yourself a field of crops, go on adventures, interact with the town people, and so on and so forth. This brings us to Rune Factory 5. How was it? Was it a great harvest from start to finish? Was it a great game to be introduced into the harvest genre? Let’s find out!

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7 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is an excellent addition to the series, with plenty of wonderful stuff to enjoy, but its lack of polish limits its potential.

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6.8 / 10.0
Mar 28, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is a good game, but it's hamstrung by a mediocre technical implementation. Fans of the series will be able to find the usual series of bucolic activities to do between dungeons, but those who appreciate nice-looking and fluid graphics will find it hard not to prefer Stardew Valley.

Review in Italian | Read full review

65 / 100
Mar 22, 2022

‎Rune Factory 5 can be a very lasting and deep entertainment if you overlook its insufficient graphics, made worse by very questionable artistic design decisions. Their country life may not be so idyllic, and the combat system is very basic in nondescript dungeons. It is not translated into Spanish.‎

Review in Spanish | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Mar 31, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is more of the familiar, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It makes enough small improvements that it does feel newer, but if you are looking for something leaps and bounds different from the last game, you will be disappointed. The game has a lot of charm and love put into it, but the abysmal frame rate does make it hard to recommend, even though I thoroughly enjoyed it. With some future patches addressing the game’s framerate issues and input delay, Rune Factory 5 could easily turn into a wonderful game.

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6.5 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2022

Rune Factory 5 does a few things differently that'll interest long-time fans of the series. The jank and slight annoyances with farming will turn most newcomers away though.

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6.5 / 10.0
Mar 23, 2022

WORTH CONSIDERING - A lack of innovation, boring exploration, and disappointing graphics make Rune Factory 5 a game you could probably skip over unless you’re a super fan of the series. Newcomers might find enough to like here, but might be better served waiting for a price drop just to make sure.

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65 / 100
Apr 11, 2022

If you're a follower of the series, Rune Factory 5 is a solid choice. In terms of gameplay, it's an excellent choice for individuals who want to unwind in peaceful, cheerful, and vivid surroundings and those who like being swept up in a deluge of content. However, despite its potential and the story's intriguing premise, Rune Factory 5 falls short compared to comparable titles.

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6 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is entertainingly chewable fodder thanks to the soil fertilized by its predecessors, but its attempted leap to a 3D world leaves it struggling with lots of frustrating technical issues.

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6 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2022

Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.

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Mar 22, 2022

Aside from the new additions to gameplay, I feel the title still played it too safe as there wasn’t too much to separate its overall experience from past titles. The familiarity and reuse of certain gaming mechanics may be fully welcomed by fans who have waited so long but I feel more is needed to differentiate the overall experience.

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3 / 5.0
Mar 22, 2022

Long-time fans of the series might be disappointed, but it is at least check the same boxes that all of the other titles in this niche genre do. More casual players will probably just want to pass on this entirely, as the pros won’t outweigh the cons.

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Mar 22, 2022

Rune Factory 5 is a good fit for longtime fans of the Rune Factory series and could be a fun way for slice-of-life gamers to combine enjoyable combat with the relaxation of farming.

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6 / 10
Mar 22, 2022

All in all, this was actually a very bittersweet review for me. I am a huge Rune Factory fan and have been excitedly waiting for this new entry in the series. Unfortunately, I can’t say that it met my expectations. The good news is Rune Factory 5 is a familiar experience for those who are used to the genre. The love interests are a bit cringy, and it has god-awful graphics, but if you have a bit of patience and don’t nitpick as much as I do, it will be a mostly enjoyable experience.

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Mar 23, 2022

Rune Factory 5 may have one of the franchise's most involved storylines, but its overly ambitious graphics overshadow that effort with ease. By giving the game a 3D makeover, the franchise's customary charms are harder to make out in this new release. Still, at its core, Rune Factory 5 excels at the everyday tasks it asks characters to complete. From farming to fighting, everything is much the same here as it was in previous games. This time, though, Rune Factory's stale mechanics are easier to notice thanks to its flimsy visuals. Fans new and old will be left wondering where the series' allure snuck off to.

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