Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin Review (Nintendo Switch)

I am going to open up and say that I seem to be in the minority opinion on this game. Despite the positive reviews the game has been getting, and a lot of the praise I do feel is warranted, I just do not like this game. Judging by what I've been reading, I am a bit over half way through the game as of writing this review.

Following around the Goddess Sakuna, you are tasked with discovering the origin of the demons of Demon Isle. Aided by the humans who snuck into the realm of gods (by shear accident it would seem), you now live on the Isle and in addition to fighting demons, have to hunt and grow your crops.

I like that, given Sakuna is a goddess, her power comes from her offerings. This ties the volume and quality of the rice you grow directly to your power. In addition to that, better rice can effect bonus's from eating. The two aspects of the game play very well together both mechanically and thematically. That said, it's in the farming aspect of the game I begin to find my dislike of the game.

There is no getting around it, the entire farming aspect of the game feels like a chore. The only thing you grow is rice, and the methods don't change every cycle of seasons. The only changes that are made are learning abilities to speed things up. The game play loop becomes exceedingly repetitive whenever doing anything related to the harvest. I didn't realize how much I disliked doing any of it until I messed up and had to redo a few things and go back to a save file. It's was maybe twenty minutes I would have to do, but even just that my response was extremely negative.

It's a shame, because the action portions of the game are a lot of fun. Complete objectives beyond completing an area to increase your explorer level and discover new areas, there are a lot of fun moves to learn and play with, and using your scarf for a lot of extra mobility options is a lot of fun. Given the nature of the game, however, you'll find yourself replaying the same areas multiple times, so even this portion of the game-play loop can start to feel a bit dull after a while.

The story is pretty interesting after you get more invested in the characters. I wouldn't call any of them fantastic, but it's a solid cast that grows on you over time. You learn more about Sakuna's parents and the history of the Demon Isle, growing tensions between Sakuna and her friend back home, and little things about the humans that you currently live with all come in slowly.

What it comes down to is how much you enjoy the harvesting portion of the game loop. If you're like me and find it boring than half of this game is going to feel like little more than a chore. If you don't mind it or even enjoy it, you're going to have a blast with this game. Despite the repetitive nature of it, the systems in place in this game are very well made and put together, and have a lot of fun ideas behind it. My suggestion is to watch this video of someone giving farming tips, as it showcases a lot of what you are going to be doing in terms of the harvest, and know this is a core loop of the gameplay. If you think it looks enjoyable in this regard, the rest of the game is going to be worth it if you like action platformers.