Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.9 Update

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Developed by the indie team behind Astebreed, Edelweiss, this game combines side-scrolling action with deep crafting and rice cultivation in a captivating tale about finding one’s place in the world.  This is an action role-playing simulation video game developed by Edelweiss and published by Marvelous.  It was first released in North America on November 10, 2020, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and the PC through Steam. It was later released in Japan on November 12 and in Europe and Australia on November 20.

Sakuna, a spoiled harvest goddess, finds herself exiled from her luxurious celestial home to an island overrun with demons. In this untamed wilderness, she must reconnect with her heritage as the daughter of a warrior god and harvest goddess by enduring harsh weather conditions, battling monsters, and cultivating rice, the source of her power.

Accompanied by her guardian Tama and a group of outcast humans, Sakuna must work alongside her unlikely companions to tame both the soil and the demons of Hinoe Island. Spoiled harvest goddess Sakuna finds herself banished from her opulent celestial home to an island overrun with demons.

In the untamed wilderness, she must rediscover her birthright as the daughter of a warrior god and harvest goddess by weathering the elements, fighting monsters, and cultivating rice, the source of her power. By her side in this forbidding place is her guardian Tama and a group of outcast humans. Together, these unlikely companions must join hands to tame both the soil and the demons of Hinoe Island.

GAMEPLAY

Players control the goddess Princess Sakuna, who is tasked with exploring the Isle of Demons and clearing it of monsters while also looking after a small group of human characters. The game is split between two separate gameplay styles: side-scrolling hack and slash platforming levels that are gradually revealed on a map of the island as players complete objectives, and a farming simulator where the player must grow rice in a small paddy in the hamlet where Sakuna and the humans live.

The side-scrolling levels employ a 2.5D perspective while exploring the hamlet and most rice farming tasks are done using a third-person perspective from behind the player. In the side-scrolling levels, players explore and gather resources and use Sakura’s farming tools to fight demonic animals. Players can also grapple onto surfaces and zip about using a “divine raiment”, a magical sash Sakuna wears that can extend to great lengths. The game features a day/night cycle, with enemies becoming more powerful and dangerous once night falls.

At the end of the day, Sakuna can return to the hamlet and sit down to have dinner with the humans, eating a meal made using ingredients that the player has gathered. The meal restores Sakuna’s health and stamina. Depending on the dishes served, the meal also activates certain abilities and provides various temporary buffs to Sakura’s stats for the next day. Sakuna can also ask the humans to help her gather resources, preserve ingredients for future consumption, and craft upgraded farming tools and clothing items. Players cultivate rice through a process that takes place over several in-game seasons, with one season consisting of 3 in-game days.

Growing rice requires multiple steps that take the form of several minigames which include tilling the field, planting the rice and adding fertilizer, and managing water levels and weeds before harvesting the rice and hulling it. Each rice harvest permanently increases Sakura’s stats, which players can further boost by improving the harvest’s quality via careful management of their crop. Sakuna can save time by asking one of the humans to complete each rice farming task for her, though they will do so with less skill. By performing the tasks themselves, players will eventually unlock new abilities to make the process faster and more efficient.

STORY

The game follows Princess Sakuna, a spoiled warrior and harvest goddess who is banished with her familiar Tama and a small band of humans to the Isle of Demons after the humans inadvertently enter the heavenly Lofty Realm, where the gods reside, and accidentally cause chaos while Sakuna tried to stop them. Unable to immediately send the humans back home, head goddess Lady Kamuhitsuki tasks Sakuna with looking after them while also clearing the island of demonic beasts before the time comes when she can send the humans back to their world.

DEVELOPMENT

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin was developed by Edelweiss, a two-man team who previously developed the 2014 shoot ’em up game Astebreed. The team began working on Sakuna in 2015. Before they decided to focus on the farming and fighting elements, the game was going to be a sequel to Edelweiss’ earlier title Fairy Bloom Freesia. With Sakuna the director Nal wanted to address the criticism of their previous games for their lack of length, world-building, and story most of the development time was spent making the rice-harvesting simulation as realistic as possible.

Koichi, an artist for the game, conducted research by growing rice on his balcony and reading about agriculture from public libraries (such as the National Diet Library) and archives in rural regions. To research traditional Japanese homes, he visited Kyoto and Shirakawa-go. The game was first announced at E3 2017. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2019 but was delayed to 2020. Towards the end of the development, more than ten people were working directly on the game. Edelweiss set an initial sales target of 30,000 copies sold. According to Edelweiss, there are no plans for downloadable content for the game.

KEY FEATURES

• Refined Side-scrolling Platforming Action: Use farming tools as weapons to chain together quick, heavy, and special attacks to defeat demonic beasts. Master the magical “divine raiment” to grapple distant platforms, evade danger, and conquer powerful enemies.
• Detailed 3D Simulation-style Gameplay: Learn the ancient art of agriculture by following detailed steps from planting to harvesting to cultivate the perfect crop. As a harvest goddess, Sakuna’s strength grows with each rice crop, with attributes such as aesthetics and flavor directly correlating to her combat abilities.
• Creating a Home in the Wilderness: Sakuna’s mortal companions create weapons, armor, and meals for her using the materials and ingredients she gathers on her adventures. Completing quests for them will unlock even more options.
• A Fresh Take on Japanese Mythology: The game features a pantheon of gods and demons inspired by traditional Japanese mythology, with unique twists. The story and world are filled with intricately crafted details, some familiar and others original.