Developers often try to blend different genres into one, giving birth to new experiences and that’s what we love about gaming, playing something that’s not been done before.
After being shown at E3 almost three years ago, Edelweiss’ Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is finally here, mixing high speed combat with rice farming.
Raised in luxury, the Princess Sakuna - daughter of the warrior god Takeribi and the harvest goddess Toyohana - has become terribly spoiled in the Lofty realm where the gods dwell.
After a drunken encounter with Tauemon and his family who somehow made it to the heavenly realm, Sakuna burns the offering for the head goddess Kamuhitsuki.
As punishment the princess is banished to the Isle of the Demons and tasked with finding the origin of its monstrous inhabitants.
Luckily she won’t be alone as Tauemon and his family have no way of returning back to the human realm. Edelweiss have done a great job at creating an engaging story that is full of comedic witticisms and references to Japanese mythology.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin looks gorgeous, putting an anime spin on the famous Japanese Ukiyo-e style.
The dream-like hues blend well, making each scene look like a piece of artwork. Each character model has a grand design with intricate details, especially on the gods.
All of Sakuna’s attacks are flashy and stunning, players will get a sheer joy just seeing them in action.
Saying this, the level designs are slightly uninteresting and bland at times, areas do feature similar backdrops with accentuated features every now and then.
However this does not take away from the actual layout of the levels which are good.
The mythical behemoths that await Sakuna in each boss battle are just sensational to watch, one of the many highlights of this adventure.
One great thing about Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is the voice acting, with each scene playing out like an typical anime, accompanied by traditional sounding Japanese music.
The comical voice acting suits each character and an added bonus is the dual audio allowing players to switch between English and Japanese.
The spoilt goddess Sakuna is proficient in battle and agriculture, which dictates the different types of gameplay that make up the game.
Most levels will have players doing battle with demons while exploring and unlocking areas on the island.
There will be a main quest objective which will progress the story, and a side quest which will be handed down to you by Tauemon and his family.
Each stage will also have exploration objectives which vary depending on the area you are in.
Players will want to complete as much as they can as they will be rewarded with weapons, food to add to your dinner menu and more.
Each stage is filled with platforming elements that vary in difficulty, although I don't think this aspect of the game is challenging enough and especially with her magical scarf helping you to gain access to most areas, it can seem a bit too easy.
However, having a night and day meter adds a bit more depth to the exploration and difficulty with enemies being stronger at night and new areas being accessible.
Certain stages will have boss battles which are very hard and require a lot of skill and patience while others will allow players to simply forage for items.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin also has an RPG element which is quite in-depth, players will be able to increase her level improving attributes such as strength, magic, luck, health and more.
An important feature to keep watch of is Sakuna’s fullness gauge, once she has eaten and is full her health will automatically fill up when not fighting.
This is a great feature that will help with your strategy against bosses.
Players also have access to different equipment that Sakuna can use to fight, all based on tools found in ancient Japan they each can be enhanced by special stones called Spirit Boughs.
Players can also customize Sakuna's fighting skills that she learns from making rice, each skill can be levelled up individually.
I have to say that I'm deeply impressed and surprised by how detailed the RPG mechanics are, they certainly enhance the game.
The most detailed part of Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is the rice farming simulation. Players will be surprised at how much effort goes into creating the perfect harvest.
Your crop will have its own set of attributes that you have to monitor, from the hardness to the taste and more.
There's lots to master here and how players do things will affect the quality of your harvest, from how you plant the seeds, the type of fertiliser to how long you let the rice dry for - things can’t just be done half heartedly.
The quality of rice will affect Sakuna's strength, and allow her to learn new moves and even change the play style.
The accuracy gone into creating this agriculture simulator that rewards players for learning and improving is amazing, and if you didn’t know about rice farming you will after this.
The combat mechanics are pretty simple to learn but players will be able to pull off some amazing moves once they are mastered.
Sakuna will have two weapon choices that will allow her to perform a quick combo which does less damage but allows for more hits, and a heavy attack that does a lot more damage and can be used to send enemies flying into each other.
She will be able to use one of four fighting skills by pulling off a little sequence with the A button.
Finally Sakuna’s Raiment - her magical scarf - can be used to access new areas and whip around enemies, essentially dodging them.
These attacks at Saunka’s disposal allow the player to pull off some crazy combos. Players can juggle enemies, parry attacks and even use items within your surroundings to attack.
Combat is addictive and so much fun, with Sakuna constantly learning new attacks and gaining new weapons it seems the possibilities are endless and with the accessible controls, players will find this game hard to put down.
Gameplay outside of combat is hit and miss, I feel like the framing elements aren’t really that engaging as they could have been and even though there is a lot of depth, it can end up being slightly repetitive.
Saying that players may see this part of the game as therapeutic and a nice break from the chaotic battles.
Verdict
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, that could be improved. However I think Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is definitely one of 2020’s exceptional releases.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin launches on the Nintendo Switch and PS4 on the 20th November 2020 and PC on 10th November 2020
