Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma launches on May 30 with over 12 marriage candidates

Marvelous has confirmed the release date for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. The announcement appeared first on Famitsu, which revealed the Japanese Nintendo Switch release date on May 30. Update: Marvelous has since updated the Japanese official site with the details. The USA branch also confirmed that May 30 will also be the simultaneous worldwide release date for both Switch and PC Steam releases, with May 31 being the PC release date in the Japanese time zone.

The Weekly Famitsu magazine also revealed more details about the gameplay system. The basic gameplay still features farming, but there are two major differences from prior series games: The protagonist can use dance techniques to simultaneously process a wide range of crops, from watering to harvesting. Each of the four seasons will also be locked to a specific village area year-round.

In addition, the magazine revealed the 12 characters who will be available as candidates for marriage and bearing children, but these characters won't be all. This feature was never implemented in the mainline numbered entries (although it did somewhat exist in Rune Factory Oceans / Tides of Destiny*), but Marvelous will make it so that the protagonist candidate the player did not choose will still appear in the game as a marriage candidate. That means if the player picks Subaru, he will be able to marry Kaguya, and vice versa.

*Translator's note: Famitsu's article has the following line which we translated directly: "In past titles, the protagonist you did not choose would never get involved in the story, but this time they will appear as a romance candidate!" Even though Rune Factory Oceans / Tides of Destiny has a male (Aden) and female (Sonja) protagonist who can marry each other, the game only let you play as Aden from the beginning, so technically speaking it does not count as a game where you choose a protagonist at the beginning.

The other 12 marriage candidates are as follows:

1. Hina: A were-animal vixen who works as an archaeologist and visits Azuma via Mauro's airship.
2. Iroha: The poster girl of the Iroha Teahouse in the Spring Village.
3. Matsuri: An Azuma goddess who manages Summer and Swords.
4. Ulalaka: An Azuma goddess who manages Spring and Fun.
5. Kanata: The primary deity of Azuma who manages Heaven and Light.
6. Clarice: A foreign military leader who initially acts hostile to the protagonist.
7. Mauro: A foreign adventurer who travels around the world with an airship.
8. Murasame: A samurai who focuses on training and collecting swords while traveling around Azuma.
9. Kurama: An Azuma god who manages Autumn and Wind.
10. Fubuki: An Azuma were-animal god who manages Winter and Water.
11. Kai: An ogre god who rules the Underworld.
12. Ikaruga: An Onmyoji diviner sent over by the Shogunate.

The official site also lists two more characters who can also become marriage candidates, but only with a separately purchasable DLC. Otherwise, they will only appear as regular interactable characters.

1. Pilika: A hunter who hails from the lands north of Azuma.
2. Cuilang: A quiet mechanical expert who lives in the Autumn Village.

Marvelous has also uploaded a new official trailer for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and you can find it right below. The new game will be available worldwide for Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.