Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Switch review - don't let visuals get you down

I love farming games. I really do. I’ve never played a Rune Factory game, though, so I jumped at the chance to review Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and I wasn’t disappointed. Well, mostly. The game offers a huge range of things to do and quests to keep you occupied, but it looks a little lacking on my OLED Nintendo Switch. Guardians of Azuma is packed with your standard cozy, wholesome, farm game fare. You can fish, furnish your villages, build them up, move people around, and of course, farm a vast variety of crops. You can head out into the fields and hit some enemies, and take down some bosses while you’re at it, then head back home and whisk away that special someone for a date at the teahouse. The most important thing I want to address first is the performance of the game on Nintendo Switch. It runs fine, but it looks iffy. I’ve had no crashes, screen tearing, or any real frame rate issues, but the aesthetics did suffer somewhat. Bushes and furniture items pop in as you approach, and NPCs are very jittery until you’re close to them. Textures can take a moment to load, leaving the paths, mountains, and rock faces looking blurred and flat. Overall, loading times could also be quicker. Continue reading Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Switch review - don't let visuals get you down MORE FROM POCKET TACTICS: The best farming games, The best indie games

Jun 2, 2025 - 12:30

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Switch review - don't let visuals get you down

I love farming games. I really do. I’ve never played a Rune Factory game, though, so I jumped at the chance to review Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, and I wasn’t disappointed. Well, mostly. The game offers a huge range of things to do and quests to keep you occupied, but it looks a little lacking on my OLED Nintendo Switch.

Guardians of Azuma is packed with your standard cozy, wholesome, farm game fare. You can fish, furnish your villages, build them up, move people around, and of course, farm a vast variety of crops. You can head out into the fields and hit some enemies, and take down some bosses while you’re at it, then head back home and whisk away that special someone for a date at the teahouse.

The most important thing I want to address first is the performance of the game on Nintendo Switch. It runs fine, but it looks iffy. I’ve had no crashes, screen tearing, or any real frame rate issues, but the aesthetics did suffer somewhat. Bushes and furniture items pop in as you approach, and NPCs are very jittery until you’re close to them. Textures can take a moment to load, leaving the paths, mountains, and rock faces looking blurred and flat. Overall, loading times could also be quicker.

Continue reading Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Switch review - don't let visuals get you down

MORE FROM POCKET TACTICS: The best farming games, The best indie games