Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Review for PS4

Have you ever wanted to spend your whole day virtually farming rice? You will after trying it out in Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, a side scrolling combat based game with heavy farming elements by XSEED Games and developer Edelweiss. Play as Sakuna, the harvest goddess of the world, as she is sent on a mission to expel demons from the unclaimed land of the gods. Sakuna is sent on the mission after a group of mortals crossed the bridge from their lowly realm into the lofty realm, the realm of the gods. Once in the lofty realm, they crash a banquet of the gods and through a series of unfortunate events, lead to the destruction of all offerings to the goddess of agriculture Kamuhitsuki. Because Sakuna was involved, Kamuhitsuki sends Sakuna to a land riddled with demons, with the task of clearing the area so that Kamuhitsuki can claim that land for herself and the rest of the gods.

The gameplay is very unique and interesting. Sakuna and her crew (the mortals who set this all in motion) have the home base area, everyone there has their function and helps Sakuna in their own way. At the base, Sakuna can build new weapons, new gear, eat food and farm rice. When outside of the base, Sakuna has levels to choose from, the goal in all of these levels is to “explore”. Each level has 2-5 tasks that you can complete in the level, once you have fully explored a level, a new one will open up with more to do.

Exploring is only half of what this game offers. When you aren’t exploring, you’re farming rice. This is where Sakuna differentiates itself from other games. In game time passes through days AND seasons. Throughout spring and summer, you farm the rice thoroughly with all the actual steps of farming rice. Plant it, let water in through the gates, fertilize it, harvest it, thresh it and hull it to make it rice. It takes a while in game but is a fun relaxing chore, much like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing chores. Once your crop is complete, your stats go up significantly, this is essentially leveling up. The more you farm, the more farming abilities you unlock, increasing the quality of life aspect of farming that would have come off as tedious and repetitive otherwise.

Overall, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is fantastic. From the art style and the world building to the action filled boss battles. It’s always giving you something to do. Just when you think you are on your last task for the day, Sakuna will give you another level to explore and the next thing you know you’re threshing your rice again.

The thing to remember if you’re thinking about buying this game is that it sorta plays like a farming game more than a combat centered side scroller, which for the record, I am all for. The farming is really well done AND rewarding. I not only applaud Sakuna for trying out a new type of game, I praise them for executing it very well.

9/10

Check out the Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Gameplay Trailer:

For more information, please visit: https://www.xseedgames.com/games/sakuna-of-rice-and-ruin/

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Jude Walsh

I'm a second-year student at Michigan State University and, I grew up mostly on Nintendo games, specifically GameCube and Wii. My favorite games growing up were Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Wario World and Super Smash Bros Melee. Nintendo was a huge part of my upbringing, but that did not prevent me from trying other consoles. I built my own PC for gaming when I was around 13 and that is where most of my gaming resides nowadays, I do however have a plethora of consoles because some games are meant to be played on a TV. My favorite Video games right now are the first Portal and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but that tends to be malleable.

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