Hiding from Western audiences of today's Nintendo Direct Mini was a gem of a game that looks to blend Harvest Moon with platforming and Action RPG elements. While the North American Nintendo Direct offered a tight 8 minutes of interesting partner franchises, only the Japanese version of the Direct featured the quirky and visually stunning Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin - despite the fact that it will release in North America, too.
In S akuna: Of Rice and Ruin, "players take on the role of Sakuna, a spoiled harvest goddess banished to a dangerous island with a group of outcast humans." On the island, known as Onijima [Eng: Demon Island], Sakuna explores a range of environments and does battle with the monsters that inhabit the island. The game features platforming sections, which showcases Sakuna's hagoromo or "Divine Raiment," a magical scarf that can latch onto high up platforms and propels Sakuna ever higher. Similar to Link's iconic hookshot, or Widowmaker from Overwatch's grappling hook, the Divine Raiment looks to be quite useful in helping Sakuna reach new locations.
A lot of the hype from the Direct has been centered around the Shin Megami Tensei franchise with an HD Remaster of SMT3: Nocturne on the way and more. But, as news spread that Japan's Nintendo Direct offered something different, that's when fans learned of the trailer for Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin.
The trailer shows off both the Action RPG-styled elements of the game, as well as the rice farming aspect. Fans looking to tap into that Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons farm life will likely find something to like here as this element appears to be just as important in the game as the action sequences.
Sakuna goes through all the stages of rice production, and is able to upgrade her tools along the way. The trailer shows her making use of the "Thousand-Tooth Thresher" to speed up the process of stripping down the rice stalk. It also seems that the better Sakuna does at producing rice, the stronger she will become.
The game will be getting a physical release, with a standard release going for $39.99 and the "Divine Edition" running at $59.99. The Divine Edition will feature an artbook, the full OST, and an omamori good luck charm featuring Sakuna. Niche titles often have a solid special edition of their physical release to reward core fans, like the upcoming HD remaster of the PS1 classic Grandia.
Sakuna looks like a fun game, with a unique combination of genres at play. It was a highlight of Japan's version of the Nintendo Direct Mini for sure.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin will release on the Switch as well as PC and PS4 on November 10th.