Marvelous Europe and XSEED Games have announced that Rune Factory 4 Special will be launching on Nintendo Switch both physically and digitally on 28th February 2020 in Europe and slightly earlier on the 25th in North America.
The game - an HD remaster of the RPG simulation title that previously appeared on 3DS - has been treated to a brand new release date trailer (as seen above). A press release covering the announcement also tells us that the new Switch release will feature both English and Japanese audio as well as text localisation in English, French and German.
If you're after a digital copy of the game, you can actually go ahead and pre-purchase it from the Switch eShop today for $39.99 / £32.99 / €39,99 / $59.95 AUD. Doing so will grant you the Swimsuit Day DLC as a bonus - a digital pre-order and physical Archival Edition exclusive. Early buyers will also get the 'Another Episode' DLC for free at launch; it'll then go on sale for £4.49 / €4,99 / $7.50 AUD starting from 26th March.
Looking forward to playing this one next month? Let us know if you plan on buying it with a comment below.
Comments 36
I've seen the physical version pretty cheap but I still think I'm going to pass. I put over 100 hours into the game on 3DS and loved it but don't think I can find the time to play it again from scratch with how big my backlog is at the moment.
This looks interesting. Can anyone who’s played this on 3DS tell me what a comparable game to this is? I see Stardew Valley but with better combat in most places but I trust this comments section more
Ohh man i loved this game on my old 3ds (RIP), i will double dip in a blink.
Edit: Also loved 3 on the DS. I just love this series. I hope in the next direct, they show us more info about the incoming Rune Factory 5.
Good to hear they're adding Japanese voices.
Played the JP version on 3DS, so it'll be my first time playing it in English.
Ordered the LE, though it's expensive (£62.54 with postage) compared to the normal version.
Looking forward to this. Got the Archival Edition ordered from the US as it worked out cheaper than via the Marvelous store.
I loved the one on the Wii. Will definitely get this eventually, but it is coming out too close to Animal Crossing for me to get day 1
Never played rune factory but I believe it was the inspiration for stardew valley, so I can't miss this one.
I totally loved it on my 3DS. Seems like another month or two of my life will be going down this drain in anticipation of RF5.
...I don't get the point of swimsuit day as a preorder bonus....you can already see them in swimsuits during the summer. lol
Anyways, it's about time they said something about this game....remember when this was supposed to come out last year? >.<
@TriggerAD It's basically that. Better combat, crappier farming options. For me, it's a good game, but not in the same league as Stardew Valley. I still recommend it, but I'll definitely be passing on playing it again on Switch. Looking forward to RF5 though.
Very much looking forward to this.
@Joeynator3000
For real I've been wondering when this was coming out. Like I wanted to try 4 on 3ds (I already own it but irl got in the way of me getting far) but I kept thinking maybe I should wait for the remake, they say it's coming 2019...
@Averagewriter @roadrunner343 thank you both. I never played a game in this series before. Think I’ll give it a shot
@BLD I think it was originally Spring 2019, then XSeed kept silently delaying it constantly until now. >.<
I only hear good things about Rune Factory, but I'm yet to try one, and... that trailer... it seems to focus on cooking, and having a male saying 'all the right things' to a female - kinda gives off the vibe that it's tailored toward a 'traditional' girly perspective, so I'm not sure how much I'd get out of it. Marriage and doting boys are not really my thang.
@TriggerAD It is very similar to Stardew Valley, but the main difference is it has a much bigger emphasis on RPG elements like dungeons and exploration. In Stardew Valley the split is probably 20 / 80 in terms of RPG to Life Sim, in Rune Factory it's much closer to 50 /50.
That said if you liked SV, you'll fit right in here.
Yesss, about time. Over 400 hours om 3DS and dipping back in for more!
Oh man, I’m there. Over 1500 hours on 3DS and ready to throw myself back in there on Switch. Better finish Fire Emblem quickly before my Switch becomes a Rune Factory machine.
If I'm not mistaken this announcement only applies to Europe and Australia so far? Correct me if I'm wrong...
@TriggerAD Adding to what others have said, Rune Factory 4 is also much more story focused. Stardew Valley has a very loose story - you inherit a farm and are trying to improve it - while RF4 has a more traditional RPG storyline. Although there is plenty to do after beating the story, there is a specific endgoal, final boss, etc.
But the differences essentially boil down to this (imo): Stardew Valley is a farming sim with combat elements, while RF4 is an action RPG with farming elements.
I know we've gradually come to accept that almost every game has to have some kind of DLC, to the point that people complain about Nintendo "not supporting their games" if they don't provide DLC after launch, but...
Isn't part of the point of these re-releases to have both the main game and any subsequent DLC on the cartridge/disc? Why do we have to buy DLC for a frigging remaster? What's the point of it all?
Just waiting on release day! My preorder awaits!
@Kochambra The original game had no dlc, and the dlc for this re-release seems like nothing important.
I'm also pretty sure this isn't a remaster, just a port.
Stardew Valley was my first and so far only dip into the 'farming sim' and I absolutely loved it and got a good 100 or so hours out of it so if Rune Factory 4 is anything like that..I'm totally in.But I might have to go digital as it sounds like the kind of game that will never end..
Those not wanting to play on Switch are missing out on something truly fun and exciting.
I might give this another chance, but then again I hated the crafting system so, SO much...
I have yet to decide if I want to go digital or physical on this. The reason why is that I have not played the Rune Factory series before but I do love Stardew Valley and the Story of Seasons Series.
I don't see it in retail stores in Ireland yet to preorder so it might end up being a digital purchase for me (for now) but prefer to get it physical as I don't know what to expect and if I don't like i then I can sell it.
This will help hold me over while I wait impatiently for news of the Friends of Mineral Town localization.
Can anyone tell me? Should I try this or wait for the 5th game that we know is coming?
Get it while you can once the SE is gone you got eBay Scalpers to buy from. Unless you go standard the is the other option. I am going to get the SE for Collection for extras and then to game with.
Loved this game! Can't wait for it to come out. Hopefully they fixed the wedding events so they arn't rng based, still never got it in my original save file on 3ds.
@Heavyarms55 perhaps hard to say as we don't know when the fifth game is coming, unless I have missed that somehow?
4 is a wonderful game. I would say 5 won't come out this year and 4 is worth playing if you have even the slightest interest in the genre.
Will it really have the border around it? That will kill it for me
@TriggerAD its kinda what you said but its more harvest moon then stardew valley
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