Rune Factory 4 (2012)
4.20 from 346 ratings
1119 members have it in their collection · 104 playing now · 416 backlogged · 273 wish listed
How long? Main story 10h · with extras 96h (from 7 logged playthroughs)
Rune Factory 4 marks the return of the popular Harvest Moon spinoff that combines farming with dungeon adventuring. For the first time in the series, the player can select to play as a male or female hero, and potential suitors of either gender are also available in order to pursue love, marriage, and possibly a child. As the newly-appointed prince …
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Rune Factory 4 marks the return of the popular Harvest Moon spinoff that combines farming with dungeon adventuring. For the first time in the series, the player can select to play as a male or female hero, and potential suitors of either gender are also available in order to pursue love, marriage, and possibly a child. As the newly-appointed prince or princess, you can fulfill your royal duties of protecting the town from invaders, or take a more rural approach to governing by raising your own fruits and vegetables and helping townsfolk. Should some dungeon adventuring be on the days itinerary, you can select from the castles vast armament of swords, spears, and staffs along with magic for battle against dangerous foes, or even bring along a companion or friendly monster to aid you during your travels.
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Details
- Developers
- Neverland
- Publishers
- Marvelous AQL, XSEED Games
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
- Themes
- Action, Sandbox
- Franchises
- Rune Factory
- Series
- Rune Factory
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release dates
- Jul 19, 2012 (Full Release) (Japan) Nintendo 3DS
- Oct 01, 2013 (Full Release) (North_America) Nintendo 3DS
- Dec 11, 2014 (Full Release) (Europe) Nintendo 3DS
Also available on
- Rune Factory 4 Special (2019) · NSW, PC, PS4, XONE
- Rune Factory 4 Special: Archival Edition (2020) · NSW
Rating distribution
5 stars
166
4 stars
106
3 stars
57
2 stars
12
1 star
5
Community All Reviews Statuses
Review Morcys 5/5 · May 30, 2024
In the past, I had held the opinion that Rune Factory 3 was the pinnacle of the series, but boy was I wrong. Rune Factory 4 is undoubtedly the best game in the franchise and probably in the entire genre. I was surprised by the amount of things you can do in this game (without getting bored), it's simply wonderful. …
Read moreIn the past, I had held the opinion that Rune Factory 3 was the pinnacle of the series, but boy was I wrong. Rune Factory 4 is undoubtedly the best game in the franchise and probably in the entire genre. I was surprised by the amount of things you can do in this game (without getting bored), it's simply wonderful. If you're considering diving into the Rune Factory series, there's no better place to start than with Rune Factory 4.
Status Bliceheart Dec 17, 2023
After a very patchy start I managed to focus on this somewhat which I am pleased for because the plot is better than in 5. The controls in this one are a mad janky.
As much as I love mechanically heavy games, good god restoring soil statuses suck for me
Status Shirochwan Nov 10, 2023
Allez. On y croit. Cette fois on va le finir ce jeu et pas stagner à l'acte 2 !
Review scaredofspiders 3/5 · Mar 8, 2022
Good entry
I've played through the story of this game twice and if there's a flaw in it, it is that the story ends before you can actually form relationships with most of the rescued characters. Once you fly with the dragon and roll credits I sort of check out.
Review Witt997 3/5 · Dec 27, 2021
a caccia di rune
gioco carino e piacevolissimo, sebbene non il mio tipo. molto lungo e grosso focus sull'agricoltura, crafting e relazioni, che non è ciò che cerco in un gioco. dungeon carini, anche se il combattimento è impreciso. Voto: 7.8/10
Status SIGINT Jun 2, 2021
I didn’t expect when starting this up to play for 3 hours, nor did it really feel like that long, which is a good sign. Though the NPCs aren’t as good I guess, I overall like it more than the somewhat similar Stardew Valley, probably just because there’s slightly more of a defined structure and action-RPG element. I don’t …
Read moreI didn’t expect when starting this up to play for 3 hours, nor did it really feel like that long, which is a good sign. Though the NPCs aren’t as good I guess, I overall like it more than the somewhat similar Stardew Valley, probably just because there’s slightly more of a defined structure and action-RPG element. I don’t feel like any one particular part of it is amazing so far, but it’s all coming together into a fun whole.
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Status fanofgames Mar 15, 2021
wanted to like this game.. but i dont like the combat and i dont like the farming. dont include soil depletion without including some sort of crop rotation mechanic to counteract it... feels like its a rich full game underneath all that. but those are two hurdles i can't get past.
Status supersaiyanchrono Mar 16, 2020
I think I'm done with Rune Factory 4 for now. I beat the story and had a kid, so with no real visible long term goals my desire to play has waned. I usually get really bored really fast with these sort of life simulator games, but Stardew Valley was the exception to this rule, becoming one of my favorite …
Read moreI think I'm done with Rune Factory 4 for now. I beat the story and had a kid, so with no real visible long term goals my desire to play has waned. I usually get really bored really fast with these sort of life simulator games, but Stardew Valley was the exception to this rule, becoming one of my favorite games. I was hoping Rune Factory 4 would be another surprise, but didn't quite do it for me. Though I can't really say for sure why, outside the random nature of town events which was a major source of frustration. I liked the music, the efficiency thanks to teleportation and high level farming tools, and the whole monster recruit system. Not a huge fan of the art style, as the characters all look 6-10 years younger than their actual age, and grinding for specific skills like crafting felt tedious and time consuming. Still a solid game and definitely recommend for anyone who typically enjoys farm simulators.
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Status thewritingj Aug 26, 2018
The humor in this game is magnificent. I love that I have the option to be a snarky asshole at all times.
Also why... WHY is Bado not a love interest oMFG
The humor in this game is magnificent. I love that I have the option to be a snarky asshole at all times.
Also why... WHY is Bado not a love interest oMFG
Status thewritingj Aug 20, 2018
THIS GAME IS SUCH A TROLL. It was playing the END CREDITS. I thought the game was over??? i was like... well that was a really short game. OMG. NOPE.
Status thewritingj Aug 19, 2018
this game has an "escape" spell that instantly teleports you back to your bedroom and I have never wanted any superpower more than this
Status thewritingj Aug 18, 2018
When I booted up this game, I had apparently played it once before for 28 in-game days and then never came back..... and I'm almost to the 28-day mark this time and might end up doing the same...
I've already blown through 3 dungeons, but there's isn't really a lot of character events yet... and that's kind of the driving …
When I booted up this game, I had apparently played it once before for 28 in-game days and then never came back..... and I'm almost to the 28-day mark this time and might end up doing the same...
I've already blown through 3 dungeons, but there's isn't really a lot of character events yet... and that's kind of the driving reason why I play these games. Where's my romance!? haha.
Also you have to unlock new seeds by fulfilling requests from the box... and I accidentally chose one to raise my crop shipping rating to 10% which I guess you can only do by having a variety of items shipped out... x___x and there's no way to cancel a request... you only get one at a time... hngggg.
Status thewritingj Aug 16, 2018
...Why does the recipe for an IRON hammer require bronze????
Status thewritingj Aug 14, 2018
Instead of wishing other games were more like Rune Factory, I decided to just go play Rune Factory, haha. I bought this one years ago but never got into it... so I'm going in with fresh eyes!
I set the combat on hella easy because I suck at hack-n-slash, but this is honestly almost too easy, even for me. Which …
Instead of wishing other games were more like Rune Factory, I decided to just go play Rune Factory, haha. I bought this one years ago but never got into it... so I'm going in with fresh eyes!
I set the combat on hella easy because I suck at hack-n-slash, but this is honestly almost too easy, even for me. Which is saying something, LOL.
Also the tutorial is a major troll. "I'm going to teach you how to give people gifts! Do you already know how to do this?" I selected yes, and it goes "But I bet you want to hear it anyway!!" OMG.
Status dreadnoughtus Mar 12, 2018
This is basically the first Rune Factory game I've really tried to play after being a huge fan of the Harvest Moon series and I'm already addicted to it.
Status AloneWeStand Apr 1, 2017
This is my favorite game on the 3DS. It just sucks you in and doesn't let go. There's so much to do. So many little quirks. The quality of life improvements over its older brother series Harvest Moon make it feel better too, like being able to pick up a stack of crops/the same item just by holding down the …
This is my favorite game on the 3DS. It just sucks you in and doesn't let go. There's so much to do. So many little quirks. The quality of life improvements over its older brother series Harvest Moon make it feel better too, like being able to pick up a stack of crops/the same item just by holding down the A button (which then teeter precariously over your character's head but never fall). Cook, make medicine, forge weapons, armor, talk to townsfolk, make friends, fall in love, fight with many different weapon types, and of course farm and raise animals.
Rune Factory 4 is not a game you pick up and play through, it's something you incorporate into your life for a time, if you're lucky enough to fall under its trance (and not everyone will be able to).
