Thank you XSEED Games for sending us a review code!

Rune Factory 3 was originally released in 2009 for the Nintendo DS. The Special edition is remastered with enhanced visuals and 3D models as well as improved battle commands and NPC interactions. There’s also a Newlywed mode available for each of the eleven bachelorettes, and they have a short interactive story for each of the couples. Unlike the main campaign, these stories are fully voiced. I played the story for Shara and it involved searching for a mythical flower. Since I didn’t bother with town requests or farming, I was able to reach the conclusion in about ten minutes. You can play through these short stories even if you haven't married the female character involved.

The main campaign begins with your character, Micah, falling from the sky and landing in front of a flower shop. Micah is in his monster form, which happens to be a cute sheep-like creature called a Wooly. He gets dragged indoors by a girl who takes pity on him. The owner of the house is upset that his granddaughter dragged an injured monster into his dwelling since humans and monsters don’t get along.

The next morning, Micah wakes up in his human form and flees from the unfamiliar surroundings. He runs into a couple of girls, one which is his rescuer only to find out that he’s an amnesiac who doesn’t know anything about himself. Again the girl takes pity on him and with her grandfather’s blessing, allows him to live in the Sharance Tree which is quite roomy and has a couple of fields to grow and tend seasonal crops for some income.

For decades the humans and Univirs (elf-like monsters) have been at odds with each other. Neither side knows what started the argument or why they are supposed to hate each other. It’s your quest to unite the two sides in order to make the Sharance tree bloom again.

Like previous Rune Factory games, there’s an equal blend of farming, dating, and RPG battles. As you use skills, you’ll earn experience and level them up. This goes for farming, fighting, sleeping, walking, fishing, cooking, etc. When it comes to forging, cooking, and making medicines, the higher your skill/level, the better chance of success you’ll have in making the desired items. I don’t think there is a penalty for failing a weapon or accessory, but in cooking you’ll wind up with a failed dish that will do damage to a person/monster instead of healing them. You can sell failed dishes or give them to one of the bachelorettes who actually enjoys them. Her name is Sofia and she’s a bit odd and tends to speak in opposite terms, just like her father.

To earn favor with the bachelorettes you can talk to them daily, give them gifts (especially on their birthday), or complete requests posted on the bulletin boards. The bulletin board system is a bit buggy in this game. The mayor of the town will typically post requests on the bulletin board at the entrance of the Sharance tree. I found out a couple things the hard way in regards to this message board. If you have a pending request from the mayor, all town events and story progression will be broken until the request is canceled or completed. The townsfolk will leave requests on the bulletin board by the flower shop. I was only checking the board by the tree and missed out on the quests that would reward me with a starting axe, hammer, and a fishing pole. I wound up buying my own. Once you complete those requests you’ll see postings in both of those spots. The final bulletin board is in the Univir village which is a town with a humanoid monster race that despises humans.

Marriage is required to complete the game. I’m happy to report that marriage is traditional in this game with no LGBTQ+ accommodations. After a few weeks of marriage your wife will become pregnant and you have the option of choosing your child’s gender or leaving it as a surprise. After the baby is born, the calendar will advance a year so the child can walk and talk and apparently be left home alone while you run errands.

Rune Factory 3 Special is pretty family-friendly but there are some issues worth noting. Magic use is encouraged and there is bloodless violence when battling monsters. A couple of the townspeople are witches, but they are also the resident doctors. Alcohol is present in the game and there are town murmurings of one of the residents not being able to hold his liquor. During the summer many townspeople spend time at the beach wearing bikinis. Some of the females wear revealing outfits all year round. Lastly, there is some language (d*mmit).

I enjoyed the thirty-five plus hours I spent playing the main campaign. I can see the appeal of playing it multiple times to explore different marriage routes. If home-cooked meals are important to you I would advise against marrying Shara as she often fed Micah flowers when he was expecting traditional meals. There are thirty-eight Steam achievements available and I missed out on a few of them due to the mayor quests conflicting with the town events. Despite the game glitches, I enjoyed my time playing Rune Factory 3 Special.