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Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (JP) is an action RPG developed by Edelweiss and published by Marvelous for the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay[]
The player controls Princess Sakuna, who must both clear the Isle of Demons of monsters and look after a group of humans by farming. The monster sections are 2D, while the farming sections are 3D.
Plot[]
The game follows Princess Sakuna, a spoiled harvest goddess who, along with her familiar Tama and a group of humans, is banished to the Isle of Demons after the humans are accidentally let into the Lofty Realm and cause chaos. Lady Kamuhitsuki, the head goddess, tasks Sakuna with looking after the humans while also clearing the Isle of Demons of monsters before sending 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.
Reception[]
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin received generally favorable reviews according to the review aggregator Metacritic. It was a commercial success, with over 850,000 copies shipped by January 29, 2021. The game had sold 1 million copies by June 4, 2021.
In other games[]
Sakuna, Tama, and Kokorowa appear as Spirits in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
External links[]
- Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin at GameFAQs