In just a couple of months, Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin has soared past sales milestones, becoming a huge hit with both the farming simulator community and gamers favoring sidescrolling platformers.
Players assume the role of Sakuna in Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin, a bratty harvest goddess working her way up to her true potential, but she hates farming. Developed by Edelweiss, this game combines rice farming simulation with 2D platforming action to create an atmospheric and exciting coming of age story. By splitting these mechanics into two sections, Sakuna balances relaxing activities like exploration against combat to ensure that it isn't so challenging as to be stressful. Having released around the same time as Cyberpunk 2077, Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin flew under the radar as an exceptional RPG experience.
In just the first two weeks of its release, Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin surpassed 500,000 sales, leading to a surge publisher Marvelous Entertainment's stocks. On Steam, the title currently brandishes "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews, with many players recommending the game for its polished farming mechanics alongside the soul delivered through its Japanese storytelling.
On Twitter, some players commend it for offering such a unique experience while some others have even listed Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin as one of their top games from 2020.
The farming sim genre has been quite crowded lately, with Stardew Valley's 1.5 update having released at the end of last year and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town on the horizons, but thanks to Sakuna's combination of 2D platforming, it's certainly an interesting twist on the regular farming sim formula.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is available now for the Nintendo Switch, PC, and PlayStation 4.