Preview Code provided with many thanks by Marvelous Europe and Decibel-PR
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a Sidescrolling Action Adventure game developed by Edelweiss, a highly regarded Japanese indie game developer, and published by Marvelous Europe. The game will release November 10th on PC and on the 20th of November for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4.
Banished from the Lofty Realm
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin puts you in the role of Sakuna, a spoiled and rather cheeky goddess who gets banished from the capital in the Lofty Realm after an incident. She gets sent to the Demon Island to destroy the various demons that inhabit the island.
However, the Demon Island also was her parent’s old home, so she will also have to learn about her Birthright as the daughter of the Warrior God and Harvest Goddess.
The game looks absolutely beautiful with its cell-shaded art style and aesthetic and it also runs really smoothly with the game being 60FPS on the Nintendo Switch and that’s really good for an action-adventure game. The soundtrack and voice acting which I have set to Japanese is also really well done.
Fight and Harvest Your Way Through!
The gameplay of Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is as follows. You will need to go into various dungeons to beat up demons and gather resources to use for food and rations. These grant you various effects depending on what you eat during your rest at the House where Sakuna and her entourage of mortal partners stay at.
You can use her Divine Raiment in the dungeons to traverse over various obstacles and gaps in the terrain but you can also use it in combat to pull enemies towards you or get out of the way of enemies. You can even use it to pull off some really fun and stylish combos between that and the tools Sakuna uses.
Outside of travelling the various dungeons you also have to take care of some farming at Sakuna’s home. You get to plant rice seeds and see them grow and even harvest those at a later time. During the growth process, Sakuna can also get new skills as the rice plants grow, divided into fighting skills and raiment skills which you can perform during combat after equipping the skills.
You also need to make sure that Sakuna stays well-fed: if she is hungry you will not be able to use the various buffing effects of the food that she eats. Ingredients can also get spoiled over-time so you need to really take good care and note of what you have in your inventory.
There is a Lot to Love!
Honestly I am having a really fun time with the game so far. It looks beautiful and the combat system is fun to play around with. Crafting is a lot of fun and stylish looking combos are something I really love in Action games.
So there you have it, my impressions on Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin! There is definitely a lot to love for fans of action-adventure games and people who enjoy farming simulator games. There is also a lot to love for people who enjoy Japanese Mythology as the game does base itself in that particular mythology.
Feel free to comment and share if you are hyped and excited for the game!
You can also check out my Gameplay Preview down below here to see the game in motion!