What began as Story of Seasons is now Rune Factory, and it will soon become Project Dragon. Story of Seasons, known in Japan as Bokuj Monogatari and previously known as Harvest Moon, is a series about agriculture. Specifically, a life simulation RPG in which players tend crops in order to turn an old farm into a successful one. Since 1996, the series has released a steady stream of titles. However, in 2006, it spun off the Rune Factory spin-off, which is also a fantasy farming RPG simulation game.
So far, there has been a steady stream of numbered Rune Factory mainline titles. The next one is Rune Factory 6, which is now officially confirmed to be in development alongside a new Rune Factory spin-off called Project Dragon. With this exciting news comes a lot to unpack, so let's go over Rune Factory 6: Everything We Know so far, including the story, gameplay, release date, and more.
What is Rune Factory 6?
Rune Factory 6 is an upcoming fantasy RPG simulation game in the Rune Factory franchise. The franchise spun off from its parent farming life-sim series, Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon, in 2006. Now, Rune Factory has released up to seven different games set within the same universe. So, Rune Factory will be the eighth game in the series. It will also be the next sixth proper mainline entry in the numbered titles.
Although each game features a different set of characters, settings, and stories, each game maintains a generally similar gameplay that revolves around romance, endless crafting, farming, and cooking gigs. It also means that you don’t have to play the previous titles to catch up. Similar to Final Fantasy, you’re free to jump into Rune Factory, or directly into Rune Factory 6, at any point in time.
Story
The announcement at the 2023 Marvelous Game Showcase event was pretty quick; the development of Rune Factory 6 was officially confirmed. He added that the new game will take place on the western continent of Adonea. No other game has taken place here, so players will experience a new adventure exploring new territory. Other than that, there isn’t much else we know about the story.
Gameplay
At the moment, all we know is that Rune Factory 6 will take place on the western continent of Adonea. Other than that, the reveal at the Marvelous Showcase event focused on the exciting development news and a logo featuring a heavenly city to go with it. If we’re to speculate, Rune Factory 6’s gameplay will likely follow in its predecessors' footsteps, and include ways to tend to crops on your farm, build relationships, and uncover mysteries along the way.
Development
As far as development goes, all we know is that Rune Factory 6 is on the way. The Marvelous Game Showcase only served as an official confirmation that the game is in development. However, we didn’t get wind of much else besides that. What was explored further, though, was the new Rune Factory: Project Dragon spin-off project. Rune Factory series director, Shiro Maekawa, revealed that the spin-off will take place in the East.
Rune Factory 6 was already teased to fans a while back during the Nintendo Direct in September. Along with Rune Factory 3 Special, chief director Shiro Maekawa revealed that there will be a new title entirely. In an interview with 4Gamer, Maekawa affirmed the same, saying that fans will receive an entirely new title sometime down the road. However, he reiterated that they are only bouncing ideas around for the new project. So, he couldn’t speak much about the actual gameplay or story of the game. However, he did confirm that the new game will be a numbered title.
Further, he explained that Rune Factory 3 marked the series’ last huge leap forward. Any game after that follows Rune Factory 3’s foundation. However, if the series is to evolve and players are to experience a new adventure in the next numbered title, they will need to make big changes to the formula. Maekawa felt that if they made the changes in the next numbered title, it could be a little confusing.
So, instead, the team chose to kick things off with the Project Dragon spin-off. The spin-off will maintain the three pillars that have held Rune Factory strong: life, love, and adventure. However, it will be “a completely new departure for the series,” that will shake things up, paving the way for Rune Factory 6.
Trailer
Marvelous Game Showcase 2023
At the moment, it doesn’t have a reveal trailer out yet. All we have is the official announcement at the Marvelous Game Showcase 2023 confirming the development of the new game. You can watch it here at the 19:45 mark.
Release Date, Editions & Platforms
At the moment, we don’t have any information on the release date, editions, or platforms. The announcement at the 2023 Marvelous Game Showcase event was pretty “on the surface.” We don’t know when Rune Factory 6 will launch. All the showcase event revealed was that the game is in development, accompanied by a logo featuring a heavenly city to go with it. According to chief director Shiro Maekawa, they will focus on developing Project Dragon first, refining the old formula re-used from Rune Factory 3, before jumping into the development of Rune Factory 6. So, Rune Factory 6 will more likely launch sometime in the future after Project Dragon is released.
As far as platforms go, previous Rune Factory games have been released on Nintendo platforms, including the Switch. So, it’s likely Rune Factory 6 will also feature on the Switch. Even though Marvelous is presently keeping further details about the new game under wraps, we’ll be sure to let you know of any new information that comes up. Meanwhile, you can keep track of new updates on the official Twitter handle here.
