At its core this game is all about time and resource management. Your farm won’t run itself and you must keep an eye on everything to make sure it’s taken care of. At the top of your screen there is a clock which ticks down. You must keep an eye on the time of day as shops are only open at certain times and in the evening the ability to chat with characters will be severely limited. The clock ticks down when you’re outside but time bizarrely freezes while in your home or another building. Another thing to keep an eye on is what season you’re in and this is displayed next to the clock. I spent a lot of cash on a bunch of fruit and veg which is meant to be grown in Summer and Autumn then discovered it was Spring and I’d have to wait a while.

Another thing you must keep an eye on is the physical condition of your character. This is split into two bars, energy and health. Your energy bar decreases while doing physical tasks such as farming or using weapons, though strangely not from moving around. The use of farming tools will reduce your energy bar by a small amount while using the range of weapons has more of an impact. The health bar may seem self explanatory but it’s worth mentioning one important aspect. Your health bar is reduced not only when you receive damage from attacks but also when your energy bar is depleted. This means that when your energy bar is empty, even while working on your farm, further work will eat into your health bar until that is also empty. When this happens you’ll lose consciousness and wake up with the possibility of a cold and reduced energy.

The second part of the game is a more aggressive. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, even more aggressive than pouring water on helpless plants. In this part of the game you get to hit monsters with various weapons which can be bought from the local weapon smith, who happens to be a very cute elf. There’s a strange looking plant growing somewhere in the village. If you water this plant it will grow into what looks like a giant beanstalk. You are then able to climb this beanstalk and reach the floating Whale Island above. The island is filled with various creatures and in Zelda-style you’ll be smacking them with various weapons in no time at all. It’s not all mindless aggression though. A long-haired chap will kindly give you a special glove which allows you to tame the creatures you encounter. This is a nice addition to the game as when successful you can choose to have a creature follow you around. Each creature has its own ability and will aid you in fighting or working on your farm.

The visuals in Rune Factory: Frontier are bright and colourful which helps create a warm playing experience. There are some nice looking creatures roaming around and not least of which are the cute and cuddly sheep you come across quite early in the game. The welcoming atmosphere is rounded off with some pleasant music throughout the game. The game includes some voice acting though this is barely noticeable as it rarely pops up. When speech does make an appearance only a few words are spoken at the beginning of a sentence rather than the whole thing.

Rune Factory: Frontier is a relaxing game and it’s really easy to find yourself caught up in what’s going on. You can take a few minutes out to attend to your farm and before you know it a couple of hours have passed. The easy-going pace is perfect for those who want to jump in and out of a game without feeling any pressure to reach the finishing line. Young children will enjoy the visuals while a slightly older kid will have a better understanding of what’s going on and get a little more out of the game.

8/10

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