Preview: Rune Factory 3 Special Is Relentlessly Charming

The first thing you encounter when loading up Rune Factory 3 Special is a glorious disco song. It was an unexpected, yet welcome blast of catchiness that instantly put me in a good mood for the game when I began briefly playing for the preview. It set a high note that it happily managed to keep up during my brief time with it.

Rune Factory 3 Special is a remaster of the third Rune Factory game for the Nintendo DS. This sub-series of the Story of Seasons franchise is another farming-focused life sim like its parent, only with more standard RPG fare such as dungeon exploration and combat. Of course, if you played the original games, you already know this. In fact, based on what I’ve played of this Special release, original players aren’t going to see many differences based on what they’ve already experienced.

You play as Micah, a strange boy who fell from the sky as some kind of sheep monster. After turning back into a human, he finds himself in the world’s nicest town. Here a local girl named Shara hands him a cool treehouse and encourages him to take up farming. And that’s the premise. You are now left to your own devices, which means you can farm, fish, and befriend to your heart’s content.

Screenshot by Siliconera

The game does an excellent job of getting you up to speed with its many systems. The opening of Rune Factory 3 Special is simply a walkthrough of basic farming techniques and a couple of quick fights to introduce you to combat. This is followed by an introduction to the quest system, which is then used to gradually introduce the player to even more elements. You have to introduce yourself to every person in town, giving you a quick rundown of the game’s cast. You’re taught how to fish. You’re shown how to mine. Before you know it, you know to work all the many systems available to you.

The gameplay loop is extremely compelling. You maintain your farmlands to help grow crops while fulfilling requests for the townsfolk. There’s a lot to keep track of, whether you’re trying to collect a pile of lumber for a local resident or remembering to water your plants. Helpfully, it’s all managed with an intuitive equipment system mainly accessed through a tap of a shoulder button.

In the time I spent with the game, however, this sometimes felt like a little too much from time to time. While the quest system does an excellent job of keeping you on the path, I kept getting curious about things I hadn’t been introduced to and ended up falling down rabbit holes I probably should have avoided that early on. It’s just too easy to wander off and end up learning about five recipes you can’t make because you haven’t bought a mixer yet. But while this could initially be overwhelming, I think it’s also a huge strength of the game. While Rune Factory 3 Special is happy to guide you through its systems, it’s equally happy to let you wander off and do what you want on your own terms.

Screenshot by Siliconera

It helps that Rune Factory 3 Special is relentlessly charming. The townsfolk are universally lovely, all smiles and welcomes when you introduce yourself. They’re also consistently memorable. From Karina the sleepy General Store assistant to the slightly deranged witch-in-training Marian, each of the townsfolk has their own quirks and mannerisms that instantly endeared me to them. The only exceptions for me were the residents of the local mansion, whose “opposite-speak” became grating the moment they were introduced.

However, players who loved the original are unlikely to find much new here. This is a faithful remaster, for better or worse. There is a lot to the game that gives away its DS origins. Menus can sometimes feel convoluted in a way that likely made more sense on a second touch screen. Some of the limited character animations are a bit too much on the silly side. While the visual improvements are welcome, it does tend to feel like a prettied-up version of a game from 2009 above all else. If you’re looking for everything you loved about the original Rune Factory 3 with some visual tweaks, though, it seems you’re getting it here.

As a newcomer to the series, I found my time with Rune Factory 3 Special to be a brilliant introduction. I loved the characters, the gameplay loop had me so engaged I didn’t want to stop and there was plenty of mystery in the storyline to make me want to find out more. Rune Factory 3 Special is already shaping up to be a brilliant entry point for newcomers while remaining a faithful overhaul for fans looking to relive their experience.

Rune Factory 3 Special will release for PC and Nintendo Switch on September 5, 2023.