Its been a while since I picked this game up, so I think I am ready to write a review on it. My mind is clear and my opinions on it have settled.

I am a frequent visitor on the steam store, searching for games that give "Okami" or "Touhou Project" energy in how it handles Japanese myth & folklore. I like all kinds of media that embrace the feeling of wistfulness and mystery inherent in any kind of folklore, but finding that can be difficult at times as far-too-frequent combat or painfully cozy games either turn their eye away from that, or mute it entirely. Sakuna of Rice and Ruin does not do that, it is a well-crafted as both a side-scrolling platformer and a farm simulator.

There are two main forms of gameplay, gathering/hunting (sidescroller), and farming (main hub). The gameplay is surrounded around the cycle of the day, the weather, and the seasons, with each season having three full in-game days to use. Time is rather confusing at first, as food spoils at midnight as opposed to dawn, but within the first year its gets to be intuitive and fun to manage your time. Each season has various unique traits to it that make it interesting to revisit early areas and see what you can forage. For example: any place that offers water may instead offer ice during winter, and some places that offer springtime foraged goods may not during summer. It makes the land feel truly fleshed out-- its an ecosystem, not just a fantasy place to tear up. The story also plays into this concept, though I won't spoil it for you.

My favorite gameplay comes from the rice farming. As stated both minutes into the game and shown in plenty of advertising, Sakuna is a deity of Rice (or at least, rice farming), while that is not all, it is the focus of her character for the story. As such, you have to... Farm... Rice. But do not be fooled. This is not a farming game where you simply pour water on the plant, use a scarecrow, and it is perfectly fine. The process of rice farming is laborious, meticulous, and requires you to actually pay attention to what you are doing. You have to pay attention to water level, amount of pests, diseases, and weeds. You can use things like pesticides and herbicides, but it may damage your crop-- leaving it vulnerable to disease. Or, certain diseases can be caused by pests or weeds, and are only a symptom of a larger problem. You can even collect animals to be released in the rice paddy, where they act as natural predators for pests and weeds, while improving the quality of your rice. This game made me research real-life processes of farming rice, and made me appreciate just how much work goes into putting rice in my bowl. I already have a deep connection with what I eat, and my appreciation for it, but this game made me appreciate it even more. Also, its just fun to know more about farming in general. I have done some small-scale farming, but not with a crop as fickle as rice.

With that being said, this isn't for everyone. It can seem confusing and difficult to handle all these different factors all at once-- but don't worry. That is the point. You will struggle at first, but as the seasons go by you will learn how to handle it all, and suddenly things will become second nature, and thus making the resource management and problem solving all the more fun. I promise that if you seem hesitant because you are used to simpler farming simulators, you will not be disappointed in the attention to detail this gives. And for those of you who wanted a farming sim that actually went into depth on how to care for plants, this is the perfect game for you.

I will admit, however, the weakest part of the game is the side-scrolling gameplay. It can sometimes be dry, as attacking often forces you to stand still, and the movement speed is awfully slow. While not every side-scroller can be a Megaman Zero, I still think having a way to increase movement sped and not stop moving to attack would be really cool and make it all the more interesting to play. That being said, parsing out how to handle certain enemies can be fun (if a little spam-y at times). I also found that the game expects you to spend most of your time running around gathering, which I was a bit irritated about until I got access to the gathering areas where I could spend a good chunk of the day. I realize there is also the dungeon-like combat zone, but frankly that was even more spam-y to the point where I practically never touched it aside from gathering excessive amounts of boar and bear meat to upgrade weapons.

Frankly I don't really like my games to be too realistic-- otherwise why even play a game? Just go outside. But I enjoyed the realism of the food spoiling over time. It made resources to preserve food like salt and alcohol particularly precious, having to pick and choose what you keep, and what spoils... But even when food spoils, it goes to use as compost! There were moments while playing where I would have to rush back as fast as I could to Myrthe to try and keep my food spoiling. Sometimes successful, sometimes not, it really changes how you have to manage your time in the following days. Of course, sometimes it doesn't matter, but losing a boatload of fish to the passing of time can really hit you hard when you see the notifications on the side.

I was surprised to notice that the cast of characters was not only varied, but interesting as well. I played the game in Japanese, and I noticed that Myrthe speaks decently broken Japanese because she is foreign; but she slowly improves as time goes on. Her speaking never becomes perfect, but its delightful to see such development play out. In fact, all the characters enjoy their fair share of development as they all learn to work together and live together on the farm. Tama was also an interesting character that I thought would be just another typical "cute helper friend" when it turned out he was really cool. Tauemon's struggle with his identity, his abilities, and what his past requests of him... Kinta's aggressiveness making sense but still being a potential issue in the situation everyone is in... The backstories of all the characters are well fleshed out, and the story of the game expands upon those backstories. And in that last cutscene... You just have to see it for yourself.

Sakuna of Rice and Ruin is a beautiful take on the interplay between Shinto and Buddhist themes (with some Christianity sprinkled in too). While comparisons with Capcom's Okami go beyond the simple aesthetics, Sakuna has a unique identity within the games that characterize themselves as similar to Okami. It's themes focus around what is means to survive vs what it means to live, what faith is, how do different beliefs live harmoniously under the same roof? What does it mean to be someone/something's legacy? The game, while cute and charming with jamming tunes and a unique style of humour, has a level of maturity that I did not expect from simply looking at the trailer.

I laughed. I cheered. I cried.

Despite the flaws (mainly with the gameplay) that I have, this is still a beautiful piece of art that I cannot resist singing praises for. It evokes emotion within you with each twist and turn, and when you hear the singer's voice regale you with a song, its hard not to be brought to tears. Play this game. You won't regret it.

I NEED MORE OF SAKUNA SERIES , I REALLY LOVE THIS

A decent rice farming simulator (maybe the only one ever) combined with really bad sidescrolling action and a cast of detestable characters who you'll want to shut up as soon as they open their mouths. There's a lot to dislike here, so maybe the developer could stick with some kind of farming game next time.

Rice is nice.

Really fun game. I liked the take on farming with actually placing everything and using fertilizer to determine stat growth. Overall recommend.

I rate this game 1 rice meal plus 3 extra rice out of 5

Welcome to the rice fields.
Really fun, really well-made game.

Criminally underrated gem. Polished like a perfect grain of white rice. So many unique ideas and great characters.

I have farmed so much rice its insane

I'm only 10 hours into the game, but it's been getting more and more fun with each passing hour. The main gameplay loop of this game involves farming rice and exploring mini-dungeons in a 2D platformer, hack-n-slash style.

Going into the game, I expected the farming mechanics to be reminiscent of games like Stardew Valley.

Nope.

This game's farming revolves entirely around just rice, and it's no cakewalk. You have to actually, actively cultivate the rice through each stage of its growth. You need to make the fertilizer, till the soil, plant the seeds one-by-one, manage the water level of the soil depending on the stage of growth, and actively pull out any weeds growing among the crops. Then when it's ready you have to dry it, thresh it and hull it.

While this all seems tedious (and to a lot of people, it will be), I've come to really enjoy this aspect of the game. There's something about it that's super soothing. The game does give you the option to skip the manual labor and let one of the NPCs do it for you, but I've never even felt the desire to do that.

And the payoff for all of this work is probably the most unique and cool mechanic about the game. Depending on the quality/quantity of rice you grow, your character's stats get boosted. This is the game's equivalent of leveling up, so you truly have to commit to understanding the intricate rice farming system if you want to maximize your character's growth.

I've only touched on the farming mechanics here, but there is of course the action part of the game. This is really fun in it's own right, with tons of skills and expressive ways to fight from the get-go. A lot of the combat and movement revolves around utilising your "divine raiment", which is basically like a grappling hook, and it feels super rewarding to get good with it.

I could go on about the art style, characters, etc. but if you've read this far and like the sound of the game then I'd highly advise giving it a go, especially while it's 50% off right now.