Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin - Review
Games that tend to focus on farming generally fall into one of two categories, pixelated throwbacks to old school games or modernish attempts at farming with a massive focus on relationships. It is very rare to find a game that offers farming as a core mechanic but doesn't fall into either of those two groups and that is exactly what Sakuna of rice and ruin does, the question remains can a game with a large farming element survive without falling into either of those groups?
Sakuna tells the story of Sakuna the Goddess of rice, who amidst the celebrations of the annual tribute to the Goddess, partakes of a bit too much sake and discovers that some humans have wandered into the celestial temple. Realising that she inadvertently led them back to the temple she chases them away only for them to set fire to her yearly tribute of rice and as punishment, Lady Kamuhitsuki, banishes Sakuna down to the lowly realm and tells her to grow rice. A very simple thing for someone who is the Goddess of rice, but Sakuna is a spoilt little goddess, don't mention her height she is touchy on that, but as she feels entitled she thinks the humans who caused her problem should be the ones to fix it. The problem is they have all been banished Hinoe Island, which has been reclaimed by the monsters and that is something that the humans can't deal with on their own, very begrudgingly Sakuna decides to clear the path to where they all live in order to go to the rice and assist with her restoration to full godhood.
As Sakuna is the daughter of the war God and harvest Goddess, she has the power to grow and fight, which given that the island is currently overrun by monsters is a very handy thing and that no-one else can grow anything. Well the initial moments will have you running around fighting, then planting rice and things slow down quite quickly and that is one of the game's biggest strengths. Planting rice is not something I've ever done myself, but even a quick look on Google will tell you it is a slow and laborious process and the game takes great pride in simulating that. It's not a real-time simulation of rice growing, but you don't plant the seeds and then the next morning you have a field full of rice, you have to manage the water flow, you have to pick out the weeds, everything you might think to normally do when trying to grow something. The reason why growing rice is important is because as harvest Goddess herself, or at least part one, Sakuna grows stronger as your crops grow, so it's a very good reason to invest time in growing rice.
Of course once you are a bit stronger you can then venture out and start fighting against those who called the island home and this is another shining example of how the game takes a very simple mechanic and makes it its own. Combat combines heavy and light attacks, along with dashes to allow for a lot of versatility in how you fight, the biggest addition though is that Sakuna’s shoal can be used to pull her through the environment and most importantly around enemies. If you run into an enemy and just attack them you'll do a at basic style of attack, where things become interesting is that if you change the direction on the stick your attack changes, point the stick up and you will do an attack that may launch the enemy into the air. Combining that attack system along with the mobility that Sakuna has make fighting fun and it was something I wasn't expecting to be as rounded out as it was.
Some of the more devastating attacks that you can dish out require what they call SP, which is something that you accumulate automatically as you fight, so if you feel like skipping a lot of enemies in a row it may come back to bite you when you encounter someone you can't rush past. As you pull off some of the more out their attacks you'll use up some of your SP and the system itself does work and there were only a handful of times when I ran out of SP and realised it was because I was attempting big moves when I wasn't quite close enough to actually have them land. The downside to all the combat though is that when Sakuna takes damage, she can actually take a lot of hits in a row and not in a good way. Basically if a stronger enemy lands a good attack on you, there's no moment where you can recover before getting up and fighting on yourself, what happens is the enemy can deal out multiple attacks in a row which significantly lowers your health. Whenever I got caught in one of these moments, I would honestly pause the game and walk away, because it was just purely frustrating. The other issue with combat is that during the day you are stronger, but at night all the monsters grow more dangerous and it was generally here where I would encounter enemies that were just too strong for me, as you level up going back and completing missions at night is much easier, but it is more of a challenge than you might think.
Thankfully, when you are not laying the smack down upon all who would defy your godly might, you can return to the top of the island where you live with the humans and take part in growing some rice, but more importantly enjoy a meal. Meals are important because not only do you get to interact with Tauemon and the rest of the crew but you can also eat food which can improve your next bout to fighting. While being the goddess of rice eating rice would be good for you, as you explore the world through your combat missions you will discover other ingredients you can use to make meals, finding these ingredients is tantamount to getting good dishes made because some of the effects can be really amazing for you. Of course all this comes into effect alongside the levelling up of Sakuna, which can also unlock multiple new skills so finding the balance of skills and meals to make fights go your way is a bit of a puzzle that is fun to try and figure out.
Looking at the presentation of the game it's easy to see its influence I mean it pretty much where is it on its sleeve and chest and baseball cap, it's a mix of old school Japanese art and modern Yo-kai design. Sakuna herself looks really good when in combat you can't really notice any issues with her character model or look, which is very nice, but more than that whenever she's interacting with humans or the other gods, she never stands out. Each of the humans that inhabit the island with you all have silhouettes that help you identify who they are pretty much straight away, I mentioned Tauemon before and he's large body makes it easy to know who he is. Tama is Sakuna’s advisor and sword and it's constantly shifting between the two states, when he is in his advisor look, think a more plump cat, and again the design matches the world's aesthetic. As for the world itself it's honestly very generic at times it is an island that has a lot of bush and trees and rocks, with most of the enemies fitting that same aesthetic. None of it is decidedly bad, it's just not as inventive as I'd liked it to have been and it really stands out when you fight some of the bosses because they are very inventive in both a visual design and a gameplay design, so those less inspired designs stand out and not in a good way.
As for what your ears will enjoy that is going to take some getting used to because, as a Japanese developed title it does the weird thing where it has speech for major cut scenes and major in game moments, but then text for everything else. When you do hear voices did generally pretty solid, Sakuna’s voice actresses does a really incredible job there, most of the humans are ok and some of the Gods are decent, but the rest feel like they were given a checklist of what they needed to do and didn't vary from it. A lot of the voice work feels half-hearted and while not bad or broken I do wish there were a little more life in each of the performances outside of Sakuna. When it comes to the music there is a very heavy Japanese influence on the score, which I mean duh, and it honestly clicked with me. A lot of game scores can be either incredible filled with pieces of music that you would hear in orchestra play, or suitable for the game but not something you might listen to outside of it, Sakuna’s score falls in that first category, maybe not all of the tracks, but a lot of them are just incredible.
Playing Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin was an experience that I wasn't quite ready for, it offers a solid combat system that lets you choose how you want to play it, a farming simulation that removes a lot of the boredom from farming simulation and manage is to wrap everything up in a fun and quirky story. The concerns that I had with the game being too linear at times and lacking a map, when you're out fighting don't impact the overall enjoyment that you will get from it, and now if you'll excuse me I feel like eating some rice.
The Score
8.5
Review code provided by Marvelous
The Pros
+Solid combat feels great and gives you options to explore your own style
+Growing rice is more of a collection of mini games, than anything overally complicated
The Cons
-Some eneimes can juggle Sakuna in combat, leaving you stuck and taking damage
-A lot of repetition of enemies in fights, with most having bland designs
